Browse content similar to 29/08/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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A spectacular Opening Ceremony kicks off the biggest Paralympic | :00:13. | :00:18. | |
Games ever. But will there be any benefit to people living with a | :00:18. | :00:22. | |
disability in the United Kingdom. What is it that breathes higher | :00:22. | :00:26. | |
into the equation, and makes a universe for them to describe. | :00:26. | :00:30. | |
the next 11 days, more than 4,000 athletes from all over the world | :00:30. | :00:35. | |
will give of their best. Stephen hawking sets them on their way. | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
There is contrasting views about what the games will achieve. | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
won't change the world, but it will have a positive impact. It will be | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
about exceptional, inspiring individuals, I think it will set up | :00:46. | :00:52. | |
this divide between the good and bad cripple. Amidst the excitement, | :00:52. | :00:58. | |
protests off stage about the Government's major reform of | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
disability allowances, estimated to save billions from the Welfare Bill. | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
We will hear from the Minister for Disabled People, and a specially | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
convened panel. Nick Clegg's unilateral declaration of intent on | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
an emergency wealth tax is dismissed by the Chancellor. Is | :01:12. | :01:22. | |
:01:22. | :01:25. | ||
this any way to run a Government. Let the games begin once more. The | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
Paralympics were founded in Britain in the aftermath of World War ll. | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
Now this year's London games are being billed as the second-largest | :01:33. | :01:38. | |
international sporting event in the world after the Olympics. Can the | :01:38. | :01:42. | |
13th Paralympics bear the weight of expectation heeped on it, of not | :01:42. | :01:46. | |
just being a festival of sport, but a game-changer for the way disabled | :01:46. | :01:56. | |
:01:56. | :01:58. | ||
people are treated every single day. Our disability specialist reports. | :01:58. | :02:04. | |
People look for an understanding of the world, why it exists at all. | :02:04. | :02:08. | |
And why it is as it is. Opening ceremonies are designed to | :02:08. | :02:15. | |
set the stone for the whole event. And the message here is clear, | :02:15. | :02:22. | |
disabled people can excel, and in much more than just sport. But can | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
this parade of glamour have any effect on another side of | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
disability in Britain today. Proposed benefit cuts, increasing | :02:30. | :02:35. | |
reports of verbal and physical abuse, and a growing sense by many | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
disabled people of being undervalued and misunderstood. | :02:39. | :02:44. | |
Over the next few days, this stadium will be packed with people | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
watching the finest disabled athletes in the world. Their | :02:47. | :02:53. | |
exploits on the track, on the wheelchair basketball court, will | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
often seem mind-boggling, far exceeding the abilities of those | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
watching. The word "inspirational" will hang heavy in the air. For | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
those working to improve the situation of disabled people, this | :03:05. | :03:12. | |
has the potential to be a watershed moment. The opportunity is not lost | :03:12. | :03:18. | |
on campaigning organisations, like Scope. I'm still relatively | :03:19. | :03:21. | |
optimistic about what the Paralympics can do. And about the | :03:21. | :03:25. | |
visibility it will bring. I think there is also a point to be made | :03:25. | :03:29. | |
about the people who are commentating, who are disabled | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
sports people, who understand the amount of training and preparation | :03:33. | :03:41. | |
and so on, that has gone into producing a Paralympic athlete. | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
spanking new wheelchairs, worth many thousands of pounds, and | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
prosthetic limbs made to order, are a far cry from the lives of | :03:50. | :03:55. | |
thousands of ordinary disabled people. Work by Scope has | :03:55. | :04:01. | |
established, that for many disabled people, life now is tough and | :04:01. | :04:07. | |
getting tougher. What the general public sees is the stories about us | :04:07. | :04:14. | |
being scroungers and benefit cheats, and being fit for work, when we say | :04:14. | :04:19. | |
we're not, and taking Disability Living Allowance, when actually we | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
are perfectly capable of playing golf, or whatever it happens to be. | :04:23. | :04:27. | |
It is those kinds of things that the general public sees, they don't | :04:27. | :04:31. | |
see the cuts, the genuine distress, the problems that disabled people | :04:31. | :04:38. | |
are experiencing. This sport is not one of the more glamorous | :04:38. | :04:45. | |
Paralympic events, Bottia, a form of bowls, was invented to provide | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
competition for people with more severe disabilities. It has taken | :04:50. | :04:53. | |
Nigel Murray all over the world, and brought him gold medals in | :04:53. | :04:56. | |
Sydney baijifpblgt he acknowledges that previous games may not have | :04:56. | :05:01. | |
done much more disabled people here, having them in London is the key | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
factor. I think this time it is going to be different, because | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
really, in previous years gone by, the Paralympics have just come and | :05:09. | :05:14. | |
gone. And once the media attention is gone away, I think, that's it | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
for people. But I think the fact that we are the host, it is going | :05:18. | :05:24. | |
to be taking place in London, there is going to be unprecedented | :05:24. | :05:32. | |
amounts of coverage. Liz Carr doesn't give a jot about sport. | :05:32. | :05:38. | |
would be free, no we'd be compelled to cure it. Drama is her thing, and | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
here she's rehearsing a play which explores how easily disabled people | :05:43. | :05:48. | |
can be classified and institutionalised. She respects the | :05:48. | :05:54. | |
right of other disabled people to play sport, but believes, what she | :05:54. | :06:01. | |
calls the super-crip, is just one more disability stereotype. Hate | :06:01. | :06:07. | |
crime against disabled people is at an all-time high, and disabled | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
people are seen as scroungers and a drain on the state. We have | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
paralympians who are amazing and then the rest of us, I wonder that | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
things like the Paralympics will set up a divide between two groups | :06:19. | :06:25. | |
of disabled people. Inspirational porn is the latest phrase being | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
bandied around, to describe the extraordinary achievements of | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
disabled athletes. We are seen as inspiring beings, not whole people, | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
much as porn, you know, in its trueest sense, object fies women or | :06:38. | :06:44. | |
men that take part in it, arguably. We will see more disability on TV | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
in this 12 days, than we have seen in the 12 years previous. So the | :06:48. | :06:53. | |
public, disabled and non-disabled people, will be getting their | :06:53. | :06:58. | |
messages about disability from this. It will be about exceptional, | :06:58. | :07:01. | |
inspiring individuals. And I think it is going to set up this divide | :07:01. | :07:11. | |
:07:11. | :07:12. | ||
between the good and the bad cripple. Surprisingly, perhaps, | :07:12. | :07:15. | |
Britain's most celebrated paralympian, has quit a lot of | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
sympathy with that argument. I was there the night Tanni Grey-Thompson | :07:19. | :07:25. | |
achieved one of the most dramatic of her 11 gold medals. But in her | :07:25. | :07:30. | |
life after sport, the now, "Baroness" Grey-Thompson, has been | :07:30. | :07:35. | |
in involved in the fight to protect the benefits of disabled people | :07:35. | :07:40. | |
from welfare cuts. The reality is the Paralympics is the fairy dust | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
of life as a disabled people. It shows a snapshot in time of | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
extraordinary people who train very hard and who are good at sport. | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
Whether or not that will ultimately change the lives of disabled people | :07:51. | :07:55. | |
in the long-term is up to much greater debate. If there is one | :07:55. | :08:00. | |
thing the Paralympics could do is opening people's minds, saying they | :08:00. | :08:06. | |
used to have a dreadful opinion of disabled people and it is not now | :08:06. | :08:11. | |
it won't change the world but it could have a positive impact. | :08:11. | :08:16. | |
peerence of covering the last four Paralympics, tells me that for the | :08:16. | :08:21. | |
next few days, disability will be on everyone's lips, it also tells | :08:21. | :08:25. | |
me, that memories can fade very fast. What I don't want to happen | :08:25. | :08:32. | |
is that we go, wow, amazing, it must be incredibly to be able -- | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
incredible to be disabled, they can run and smile and are just like us, | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
we are, but we are all facing difficult times ahead. Let's not | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
forget that. I'm joined by paralympian | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
basketball player, Ann Wild, now a pistol shooter, actress and trainee | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
lawyer, Shannon Murray, and comedienne and writer, Francesca | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
Martinez. What did you make of the Opening Ceremony, Stephen Hawking, | :08:57. | :09:01. | |
the presiding figure. I thought it was brilliant to see such a | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
fabulous spectacle celebrating all aspects of disability. Something we | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
never see on TV. I think it was great that Stephen Hawking was | :09:09. | :09:15. | |
there, I think it would be crazy if he wasn't. He is, I guess, the most | :09:15. | :09:19. | |
famous disabled person, definitely in the UK, and the world. While it | :09:19. | :09:23. | |
would be crazy not to have him, it plays into the problem we have, | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
that the only well known disabled people are either Stephen Hawking | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
or Tanni Grey-Thompson. Your options are either a physicist, or | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
Paralympic athlete, and there are a lot of disabled people inbetween. | :09:34. | :09:39. | |
What did you think of it? I loved it, I thought it was fantastic to | :09:39. | :09:45. | |
see so much diversity on TV. The media is really bad usually at | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
representing difference, and I think the media really has a lot of | :09:50. | :09:55. | |
power. It could normalise difference. So that aspect is | :09:55. | :10:02. | |
fantastic. I would like to hope that one day the Paralympics would | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
be more integrated with the main games, because I think that there | :10:06. | :10:13. | |
is a danger that it is viewed as a separate entity, and it confirms | :10:13. | :10:21. | |
the stereotype that disabled people are a separate group from society, | :10:21. | :10:26. | |
it confirms the "them and us" thinking. I don't like that, I | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
think there are no normal people, everyone is different. Disability | :10:30. | :10:35. | |
is normal. It has always existed, it always will exist. You as a | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
former paralympian, you have changed your sport, you are no | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
longer basketball, and going for pistol shooting, we will see | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
probably in Rio. What do you think about that. That the Paralympics | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
can only emphasise separateness, rather than bringing it together | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
with the Olympics? I think things have changed dramatically this time | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
round. This will be the best games ever as paralympians, it will | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
change people's perceptions of disability. We are also narrowing | :11:02. | :11:09. | |
the gap between the Olympics and Paralympics. You look at Oscar | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
Pistorias, a double amputee, and competing in the Olympics. We are | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
lessening the gap between Olympics and Paralympics. What do you say to | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
Liz Carr's criticism that it leads to inspiration porn. That you have | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
people with disability who load their lives, and then there is the | :11:25. | :11:28. | |
elite athletes, and again that emphasising another separation? | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
think it is an interesting idea, but it is not one that applies to | :11:31. | :11:37. | |
me, as a person, because obviously I kind of cover quite a few | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
different areas. I was a professional occupational therapist, | :11:40. | :11:44. | |
I was also a paralympian, but I have also needed the help and | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
support of the Government when I haven't been able to be part of | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
society as I would have wanted to be. Do you think there is a problem | :11:52. | :11:57. | |
with the superhuman tag? I think there can be. I think amongst | :11:57. | :12:02. | |
disabled people, I don't really have many friends who are disabled | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
who are athletes, but many who are creative and work in media. When | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
anything about disability is out on television or in newspapers, | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
particularly, obviously, in 2012, there is a huge emphasis on the | :12:13. | :12:18. | |
Paralympics, on being superhuman, on being a super, amazing athlete, | :12:18. | :12:26. | |
who has overcome huge feats, which are stories in themselves and need | :12:26. | :12:35. | |
to be told. But what worries me, as Liz said, there is a huge gulf in - | :12:35. | :12:41. | |
- inbetween, a successful disabled person in their own life. You have | :12:41. | :12:46. | |
a poll where 72% of people polled believe that people with | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
disabilities are not visible in the media outside the Paralympics. Do | :12:50. | :12:55. | |
you think the Olympics being in -- Paralympics in London will change | :12:55. | :13:01. | |
that. There will be lots more comediennes with cerebral palsy | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
will be on television and actresses in wheelchairs? I think celebrating | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
the achievements of disabled people, and allowing us to be portrayed in | :13:11. | :13:16. | |
a positive strong way, instead of as victims is great. But there is a | :13:16. | :13:21. | |
real polarisation in the press between parts of the press seem to | :13:21. | :13:28. | |
want to demonise us as benefits cheats and drains on society. And | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
part of it saying we are inspirational and amazing. There is | :13:32. | :13:42. | |
:13:42. | :13:43. | ||
no real middle ground there. I think it is highly ironic that ATOS | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
is the sponsor, and they are the private company carrying out the | :13:47. | :13:53. | |
Government cuts. I find that highly hypocritical, and I know a lot of | :13:53. | :13:56. | |
disabled people all around the country are very sickened about | :13:56. | :13:59. | |
that. We will talk about that later. What about visibility, from your | :13:59. | :14:04. | |
point of view, what about the general attitudes, obviously an | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
elite Olympic athlete, but generally, in your day-to-day life, | :14:08. | :14:11. | |
what are attitudes like? I think they are changing. People are | :14:11. | :14:14. | |
starting to ask more questions. They are not as scared of | :14:14. | :14:17. | |
disability as they once were. People were very anxious about | :14:17. | :14:22. | |
asking me things about my life and who I was as a person. Now it is | :14:22. | :14:27. | |
all about exposure of people, rather than being labelled as a | :14:27. | :14:31. | |
certain athlete, or as a professional, or as somebody who | :14:31. | :14:35. | |
doesn't work. I'm now being exposed as a person, to society. Rather | :14:35. | :14:38. | |
than just something that has been labelled. That was another thing | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
that Liz Carr said, of course, that the danger was you saw somebody as | :14:43. | :14:46. | |
an inspirational figure, rather than a person? I think that happens | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
a lot, when you are disabled. Particularly if you are disabled | :14:49. | :14:54. | |
and doing something not expected of you. Is that a problem, not enough | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
is expected? Possibly. Maybe sometimes when you are disabled, it | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
is easy to surpass people's expectations, I know when I was | :15:01. | :15:07. | |
injured, the reason I almost ran away, as it were, from Paralympic | :15:07. | :15:09. | |
athletics, was because it was what was put in front of me, this is | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
what you can achieve. I felt that wasn't what I wanted today achieve | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
before my accident, why after my accident. I haven't changed as a | :15:16. | :15:20. | |
person hugely. I felt a little bit like people were putting a ceiling | :15:20. | :15:23. | |
on what I could do. And say here is the Paralympics this is what you | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
can do. I didn't want to do it. You're an actress, a writer, you | :15:28. | :15:32. | |
are training to be a lawyer now. In people's day-to-day dealings with | :15:32. | :15:38. | |
you, have you seen a shift in the last few years, or have you had to | :15:38. | :15:41. | |
make sure that happened yourself, have you had to be out there? | :15:41. | :15:47. | |
have never, on a one-to-one with people in my daily life, I don't | :15:47. | :15:50. | |
experience huge degrees of negativeity. Where I get it would | :15:50. | :15:55. | |
be in transport situations. So taxi drivers can be less than helpful, | :15:56. | :15:59. | |
airlines and special assistance at airports can be really less than | :15:59. | :16:02. | |
helpful. They are the situations you are left helpless, if you are | :16:02. | :16:05. | |
sitting on a train, and you have communicated by e-mail and phone | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
that you need a ramp at the station, and when you get to the station | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
there is no ramp and the train is about to get to the next station, | :16:12. | :16:16. | |
it is that feeling of humiliation, and degrading that you have to | :16:16. | :16:21. | |
approach strangers for help. What is your experience of that? | :16:21. | :16:25. | |
really think that the Paralympics will help improve attitudes. | :16:25. | :16:31. | |
when you are out in your daily life, do you find people? I think it is | :16:31. | :16:36. | |
complex. I think we have, I think attitudes are improving in one | :16:36. | :16:43. | |
sense, but also we have the fact that disability hate crime is at a | :16:43. | :16:48. | |
record high, so that is very worrying. We also have the | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
Government systematically attacking basic human rights of disabled | :16:52. | :17:02. | |
:17:02. | :17:03. | ||
people. You are, your new show, what is the title? It is called | :17:04. | :17:12. | |
"What the Four- star is Normal", it is looking at the labels, everyone | :17:12. | :17:19. | |
has a disability, are you normal? In a way it seems disproportion in | :17:19. | :17:25. | |
the terms of the advertising, you have Pistorias, do we have high- | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
visibility of people with mental disability? Not really, I wasn't | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
aware those rules had changed in the week, that was just because I | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
saw it on my Twitter feed. That is a huge step forward. I think Oscar | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
has received a lot of press, he was in the Olympics, he's naturally | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
going to go under all that attention. I think there are an | :17:46. | :17:52. | |
awful lot of athletes out there that deserve equal credits. The | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
advertising campaign Channel 4 has done has been incredible. It has | :17:56. | :18:01. | |
made Paralympics and disability cool and edgey, it has made people | :18:01. | :18:07. | |
want to watch, without it being an inspiring story, it is just looking | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
like great TV. Many disabled people are concerned about the Government | :18:12. | :18:16. | |
reforms to disability benefits. The Government says financial | :18:16. | :18:19. | |
assistance will be channelled to those most in need, after major | :18:20. | :18:28. | |
reform was passed earlier this year. The Government says �6600 million | :18:28. | :18:33. | |
is need -- �600 million is needlessly wasted. There have been | :18:33. | :18:37. | |
allegations that ATOS, those charged with seeing who is fit to | :18:37. | :18:46. | |
work, and a major Paralympic sponsor too, is not putting in the | :18:46. | :18:49. | |
reform fairly. Crowds cheer the torch, while many disabled people | :18:49. | :18:54. | |
in Britain are worried about their own future, as benefits change. | :18:54. | :19:00. | |
Ella Findlay has multiple sclerosis, she works as a recruitment adviser | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
for disabled people. Disability Living Allowance helps pay for her | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
car and scooter. She's concerned her benefit will be cut. If it | :19:09. | :19:12. | |
weren't more the motorability element of my DNA, I wouldn't be | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
able to get to my job, I wouldn't have a reliable car, all of these | :19:16. | :19:22. | |
things. It enables me to remain independent, and provide, pay my | :19:22. | :19:31. | |
taxes, all of these things. So I remain financially semi-independent. | :19:31. | :19:36. | |
The broad aim of the two main disability benefits remains the | :19:37. | :19:39. | |
same. Incapacity Benefit, now called Employment Support Allowance, | :19:39. | :19:46. | |
is for people who cannot work. Disability Living Allowance, soon | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
to be Personal Independence Payment, is to help people with their daily | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
livesment for the employed, unemployed, even children. Since | :19:54. | :19:59. | |
2003, claims for Incapacity Benefit have fallen, while claims for DLA, | :19:59. | :20:04. | |
have risen. It costs the Government over �12 billion a year, more than | :20:04. | :20:08. | |
double the cost of jobseeker's allowance. The key thing is to make | :20:08. | :20:13. | |
sure that resources are used efficiently, one would hope that | :20:13. | :20:17. | |
could involve substantial savings, but also those resources actually | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
enable people to overcome disabilities, to overcome problems, | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
and actually be economically productive, and largely self- | :20:25. | :20:28. | |
sufficient, that has to be the aim of the policy. Just because it is a | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
controversial area of policy, just because it is an area that rouses | :20:32. | :20:35. | |
very high emotions in the debate. I don't think that is a reason for | :20:35. | :20:38. | |
the coalition not to tackle it. This is the headquarters of the | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
French firm, ATOS, they run medical assessments of disabled people, on | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
behalf of the Government, to check whether they are fit for work. They | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
have made many mistakes, campaigners say, and to mark that, | :20:50. | :20:57. | |
on the eve of the London Paralympic Games, they have staged their own, | :20:57. | :21:04. | |
rather macabre, stunt. Presenting ATOS, a Paralympic sponsor, with a | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
coffin, that stands, they say, for hundreds of people, who have died | :21:08. | :21:13. | |
after they were assessed by ATOS, as able to work, and their | :21:13. | :21:17. | |
Incapacity Benefit was withdrawn. Nearly 40% of appeals against ATOS | :21:17. | :21:23. | |
assessments are upheld. And from next year, ATOS will be assessing | :21:23. | :21:26. | |
claimants for Disability Living Allowance too. ATOS said that it | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
did not make decisions on people's benefit entitlement, or on welfare | :21:31. | :21:34. | |
policy, but provided a service as highly professional and | :21:34. | :21:38. | |
compassionate as it can be. reason that Disability Living | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
Allowance came about in the first place, was under the Conservative | :21:42. | :21:48. | |
Government of Thatcher, they understood that people with | :21:48. | :21:58. | |
:21:58. | :22:00. | ||
disabltsd faced extra costs in managing their lives in a -- the | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
world. It was to make sure those people got what they needed. We are | :22:03. | :22:08. | |
not taking money for no reason. It is not something that we are just | :22:08. | :22:14. | |
tkwrasening and pocketing. One -- Grasping and pocketing. | :22:14. | :22:20. | |
significant change, the most disabled suesed to get disability | :22:20. | :22:24. | |
allowance -- disability -- used to get Disability Living Allowance | :22:24. | :22:28. | |
automatically, that is not the case in future. It is right to say there | :22:28. | :22:33. | |
isn't blanket entitlements, and people have to be assessed. There | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
hasn't been proper assessment. The more you go down a long list saying | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
this particular problem or disability will automatically | :22:41. | :22:47. | |
render you eligible for receipt of DLA, you actually start to remove a | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
lot of the discretion we need to show in each particular | :22:51. | :22:57. | |
circumstance. The Paralympics will be the face of disability for the | :22:57. | :23:00. | |
next 11 days, once the games are over, the difficult issue of | :23:00. | :23:05. | |
disability benefits will come to the fore again. More from our panel | :23:05. | :23:09. | |
in a moment. Earlier I spoke to the Minister for Disabled People, Maria | :23:09. | :23:16. | |
Miller. The reforms coming in next year, | :23:16. | :23:17. | |
when Disability Living Allowance becomes Personal Independence | :23:17. | :23:23. | |
Payments which, the DWP's figures, you hope to save 20% of the budget | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
by 2015. One would say n these recessionary times, a laudible aim, | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
will you do it? What we will do with the reform of Disability | :23:32. | :23:36. | |
Living Allowance, is continue to spend the same amount as we were | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
last year by 2015, 16, what we are -- 2016, what we are trying to do | :23:41. | :23:46. | |
is keep the amount of spending on disability allowance under control. | :23:46. | :23:51. | |
I think that is control. At the moment we know that more than �600 | :23:51. | :23:54. | |
million is going out in overpayments to people who no | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
longer qualify for the level of benefit support that they are | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
receiving. It is important we have those sorts of checks in place. At | :24:01. | :24:05. | |
the moment there is no way of reassessing individuals, and these | :24:05. | :24:09. | |
are all important things to do. Particularly now, at a time when we | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
have the Paralympics in London, that we have a benefits system that | :24:13. | :24:17. | |
is there to support people, and not potentially leave them trapped in | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
benefit dependency. Let's talk about the in coming assessments, | :24:21. | :24:25. | |
done by ATOS, many of those for whom Disability Living Allowance is | :24:25. | :24:29. | |
automatic, will not necessarily qualify for Personal Independence | :24:29. | :24:35. | |
Payments. Led me just read you the list. Severe mental impairment, | :24:35. | :24:41. | |
deaf blindness, severe visual impairment, double amputee, chemmo, | :24:41. | :24:48. | |
dialysis, that means you will not amically qualify if you are a | :24:48. | :24:54. | |
double amputee? Nobody is advocating a benefit focusing on an | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
individual impairment. What most disability organisations and most | :24:57. | :25:01. | |
disabled people want, is a disability support system that | :25:01. | :25:04. | |
focuses on their every day needs, not whether or not they have this | :25:04. | :25:10. | |
condition or that condition. We are working with 60 disability | :25:10. | :25:13. | |
organisations to put together the new payment, that is the approach | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
they have asked us to take, that is ate proch we have taken. Let's look | :25:17. | :25:24. | |
at the -- The approach we have taken. Let's look at the Incapacity | :25:24. | :25:31. | |
Benefit changed to ESA, there is 40% appealing, and 40% have had the | :25:31. | :25:35. | |
decision reversed, why is that? employment sport allowance is | :25:35. | :25:38. | |
different to the Personal Independence Payment, the | :25:38. | :25:40. | |
Employment Support Allowance is whether or not you are able to get | :25:40. | :25:43. | |
into work. Yes, there are appeals there, we are working with the | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
court system to make sure that we can do everything we can to | :25:47. | :25:51. | |
understand why suppose things are happening. We are working now with | :25:52. | :25:57. | |
the judges to understand that much better. We have spoken to Citizens | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
Advice Bureau, they are talking about the length of time of the | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
wait for an appeal being a year. Can you guarantee under the new | :26:04. | :26:06. | |
system of Personal Independence Payments that nobody will have to | :26:06. | :26:11. | |
wait for a year for their appeal. The system with Disability Living | :26:11. | :26:14. | |
Allowance, at the moment, and with Personal Independence Payment, is | :26:15. | :26:18. | |
quite different. If people are reassessed under the Disability | :26:18. | :26:23. | |
Living Allowance, yes you can appeal, you don't continue to | :26:23. | :26:27. | |
receive payments after you have been found ineligible for benefit. | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
Exactly my point? That is the system at the moment. If there is a | :26:31. | :26:36. | |
year's wait for appeal, as there is in certain cases, that could be | :26:36. | :26:40. | |
extremely debilitating for people? We are working with 60 disability | :26:40. | :26:46. | |
organisations to make sure we get the assessment right and it is | :26:46. | :26:48. | |
implemented properly. We are undertaking assessments in a | :26:48. | :26:52. | |
different way to the way they are done with the Work Capability | :26:52. | :26:56. | |
Assessment. We will be using regional contracts, NHS, and two | :26:56. | :26:59. | |
different companies to administer it. We are very much working on | :26:59. | :27:03. | |
making sure we get it right. you explain why so many disability | :27:03. | :27:09. | |
groups are very critical of these changes, Scope, for example? | :27:09. | :27:14. | |
Clearly it is a change to baen fit that has been in place for almost - | :27:14. | :27:20. | |
- A to a benefit that has been in place for almost 20 years. What is | :27:20. | :27:24. | |
acknowledged by many organisations is working hard to make sure we get | :27:24. | :27:27. | |
the changes in the assessment right, and most importantly of all, making | :27:27. | :27:32. | |
sure this benefit is all about helping individuals live an | :27:32. | :27:35. | |
independent life. Not simply categorising them on their | :27:35. | :27:40. | |
impairment. Is Scope entirely wrong in their criticism? I have been | :27:40. | :27:43. | |
working closely with them and many other organisations, but as | :27:43. | :27:46. | |
importantly, with disabled people themselves. What they tell me they | :27:46. | :27:50. | |
want the benefit to do, is help them live a more independent life. | :27:50. | :27:55. | |
At the moment we have more than �600 million of Disability Living | :27:55. | :27:59. | |
Allowance, going out to people, who are no longer eligible for that | :27:59. | :28:04. | |
benefit. I think it is enbum bent on the Government to make sure we - | :28:04. | :28:07. | |
- incumbent on the Government to make sure we fix that and the money | :28:07. | :28:11. | |
is going where it is needed and we continue to spend as much money in | :28:11. | :28:15. | |
2016 as we were last year on this benefit. That is more than the | :28:15. | :28:20. | |
entire budget for the department for trons port. | :28:20. | :28:22. | |
Transport. Joining us is Mark Littlewood with my other guests | :28:23. | :28:28. | |
still with us. Shannon, the minister is right, | :28:28. | :28:34. | |
isn't she, that the money has to go to those most in need. Money is | :28:34. | :28:37. | |
being wasted, two million more people claim it now than in 1992, | :28:37. | :28:45. | |
when it came in. Something has to be done? I realise things have to | :28:45. | :28:48. | |
be done, and everyone is in a difficult financial position, there | :28:48. | :28:52. | |
are various benefit that is need to be cut. With the focus on DLA, what | :28:52. | :28:58. | |
they are doing just isn't going to help anybody. I know she's talking | :28:59. | :29:01. | |
about working with disability organisations, all the disability | :29:02. | :29:05. | |
organisations I know completely disagree with the proposed changes | :29:05. | :29:13. | |
to the DLA, the same with disabled people I know. People are scared, | :29:13. | :29:19. | |
the im fibgts of the changes are incredibly debilitating, and not | :29:19. | :29:22. | |
providing independent. People want to be helped into leading an | :29:22. | :29:26. | |
independent life, that is what DLA does. The Disability Living | :29:26. | :29:29. | |
Allowance was given at the time when it was started in 1992, as an | :29:30. | :29:34. | |
allowance for life, that is changed now. How do you feel about being | :29:34. | :29:37. | |
reassessed? I feel terribly disappointed. It doesn't change the | :29:37. | :29:42. | |
fact that I still have a disability. I have had it since I was born. And | :29:42. | :29:46. | |
to be reassessed now is just something that means I may not get | :29:46. | :29:51. | |
the help that I need in my progress through life. If I didn't have the | :29:51. | :29:56. | |
support from DLA in the first place, I'm not sure I would have become an | :29:56. | :30:01. | |
occupational therapist and be part of society the way I am. For me now, | :30:01. | :30:06. | |
certainly it would change my life, in a very negative way. On the | :30:06. | :30:12. | |
evidence of the Incapacity Benefit changes, and the assessments for | :30:12. | :30:14. | |
that. Are you confident it will be the right kind of assessment for | :30:14. | :30:19. | |
people with disability? I'm not sure about that. I'm not here to be | :30:19. | :30:23. | |
a spokesperson for ATOS. We would need to keep that under review. I | :30:23. | :30:27. | |
am sure that the Government is right to look at this. It is a very | :30:27. | :30:30. | |
complicated area. Some of the numbers you have mentioned. In the | :30:30. | :30:38. | |
last nine years, the number of claimants go up from 2.3 million to | :30:38. | :30:41. | |
three million, that is giving us pause for thought, seeing the | :30:41. | :30:46. | |
numbers come up. We have not had a robust system of making sure those | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
people claiming are entitled. It has to be looked into. Is that a | :30:50. | :30:55. | |
measure of success that IB has fallen, Incapacity Benefit has | :30:55. | :30:58. | |
fallen as a result of the new test? There is a measure of success. The | :30:58. | :31:08. | |
:31:08. | :31:09. | ||
question is, what is the opt Numan of appeals, your -- opt minimum of | :31:09. | :31:15. | |
appeals. It is not your responsibility, but it seems | :31:15. | :31:18. | |
extraordinary? Unsurprisingly the processes of Government are moving | :31:18. | :31:23. | |
far too slowly. What is your feeling about assessment? Your life | :31:23. | :31:27. | |
has changed since you were assessed. You are a successful comedienne, | :31:27. | :31:32. | |
what do you think about that? could save people time and | :31:32. | :31:37. | |
resources saying I will not going to wake up tomorrow and say I'm not | :31:37. | :31:43. | |
wobbly any more. This isn't welfare reform, it is welfare cuts. The | :31:43. | :31:49. | |
minister, Chris Greyling talked about tough love and getting people | :31:49. | :31:59. | |
:31:59. | :32:03. | ||
back to work. This benefit has a 0.3% of a fall it is tiny. Chris | :32:03. | :32:09. | |
Greyling imhimself was implicated for the expenses scandal for over | :32:09. | :32:12. | |
�10thou, where is the tough love for the banks and the corporations | :32:12. | :32:17. | |
who still pay little or no tax, where is the tough love for our own | :32:17. | :32:22. | |
Government, half of the MPs were implicated in the expenses scandals. | :32:22. | :32:29. | |
I think we need to ask ourselves who the real scroungers in society | :32:29. | :32:33. | |
really are? What do you say to the Government, that �600 million is | :32:33. | :32:38. | |
being spent in the wrong way, and wasted. Presumably that money, if | :32:38. | :32:42. | |
reassessed, will go to people in real need? You can't look at a | :32:42. | :32:46. | |
benefit, working for 20 years, effectively, and say it should be | :32:46. | :32:49. | |
somewhere else. Why change something that has been working | :32:49. | :32:52. | |
really, really quite well for everybody, in this case. Tell me, | :32:52. | :32:56. | |
Shannon, here you are, you are going to be training as a lawyer, | :32:56. | :33:02. | |
with a bit of luck you will end up as a partner in a high-flying media | :33:02. | :33:07. | |
law firm. You will be earning shed loads of money if you do that. Why | :33:07. | :33:12. | |
should you have a disability allowance, when the taxpayer is | :33:12. | :33:16. | |
struggling any way, and why would you have that as a matter of right? | :33:16. | :33:20. | |
Firstly, no amount of money, no amount of promotions or jobs are | :33:20. | :33:24. | |
going to make me walk again. I could be partner and I still | :33:24. | :33:29. | |
wouldn't be able to walk or use the tubes or buses independently. It's | :33:29. | :33:33. | |
almost a redundant question. If my DLA is taken away from me in the | :33:33. | :33:37. | |
next few years, I won't get to that position any way. DLA is what got | :33:37. | :33:41. | |
me through my A-levels and got me to university, through all my jobs. | :33:41. | :33:45. | |
The jobs that enable me to be a taxpayer and contribute to society. | :33:45. | :33:50. | |
If DLA is taken away from me, and I won't have motorability, or a car, | :33:50. | :33:55. | |
how can I get to work, I can't use the transport system. The point is | :33:55. | :33:59. | |
that the DLA will be replaced by the independent assessment, my | :34:00. | :34:04. | |
point is, that when you are earning a lot of money, do you really need | :34:04. | :34:08. | |
that allowance? I think that depends on what somebody's large | :34:08. | :34:12. | |
amount of money is. That depends, would I be a high earner with a | :34:12. | :34:14. | |
husband out of work and four children. I don't think you can | :34:14. | :34:18. | |
just say you earn this much money, therefore you don't get it. Like in | :34:18. | :34:22. | |
any form of assessment, you have to look at all the circumstances. That | :34:22. | :34:26. | |
is the thing with the DLA assessments, the reason is there is | :34:26. | :34:30. | |
so much fear is the track record with the IB assessments, they are | :34:30. | :34:34. | |
not looking at the big question, there is an eight-page questionaire, | :34:34. | :34:42. | |
it used to be 60-pages, now it is eight-pages, "can you lift a | :34:42. | :34:47. | |
cardboard box", how does that show I'm eligible. Do you think the | :34:47. | :34:52. | |
questionaire is inning? It is, it is there to take the money, not for | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
-- Do you think the cut is insulting? It is, it is there to | :34:57. | :35:03. | |
take the money not to assess. don't think the benefit is being | :35:03. | :35:07. | |
optimally spent. Looking at the statistic, I'm wordied a large | :35:07. | :35:11. | |
number of claims are made with casual reference to a GP. The | :35:11. | :35:15. | |
important thing is to have a robust process that is still trustworthy. | :35:15. | :35:21. | |
It may be that all 3.2 people claiming are legitimately claiming, | :35:21. | :35:25. | |
maybe it will? It is not just the letter from your GP, it is a full | :35:25. | :35:29. | |
assessment. There has been an extraordinary rise in the number, | :35:29. | :35:32. | |
which doesn't seem to be met by any other way of measuring disability. | :35:32. | :35:40. | |
What do you as describe the rise, there has been an exponeings rise | :35:40. | :35:46. | |
since 1992 -- exupon neings rise since 1992? It is what we were | :35:46. | :35:49. | |
saying earlier, there is less people on incapacity, but claiming | :35:49. | :35:53. | |
the right kind of benefit, to enable them to become part of | :35:53. | :35:56. | |
society. And part of the society that they deem is achievable for | :35:56. | :36:06. | |
:36:06. | :36:07. | ||
them. People are choosing the right things and using them in the right | :36:07. | :36:14. | |
way. You could attribute it to science, people able to live a | :36:14. | :36:19. | |
healthy life as a disabled people. There used to be the perception | :36:19. | :36:23. | |
that disabled people were unhealthy. As you can see in the Paralympics, | :36:23. | :36:30. | |
you can be healthy but have mobility issues. The Government is | :36:30. | :36:33. | |
redesigning disability, so many people won't qualify for the | :36:33. | :36:35. | |
benefit, they may be hard to understand, but most disabled | :36:35. | :36:40. | |
people want to work, they want to contribute. I myself have found it | :36:40. | :36:47. | |
so hard all my life to ask for help, under this new system we are | :36:47. | :36:54. | |
forcing disabled people to have to beg, in a very humiliating way, for | :36:54. | :36:56. | |
basic rights. Do you accept that some people have been claiming that | :36:57. | :37:02. | |
shouldn't have been claiming? said before, the ESA fraud raid is | :37:02. | :37:09. | |
0.3%, DLA fraud rate is 0.5%, these are tiny, tiny amounts, and I just | :37:10. | :37:18. | |
want to point that the fraud rate of DLA costs �60 million, where as | :37:18. | :37:26. | |
DLA reforms are costing �710 million. Your numbers differ | :37:26. | :37:30. | |
markedly from the guess mate of the Government figures. These aren't | :37:31. | :37:34. | |
Government figures. Government's figures are they could | :37:34. | :37:37. | |
save a fortune going down this route. They may be proven to be | :37:37. | :37:41. | |
wrong. For something that is costing �12 billion a yeerbgts and | :37:41. | :37:47. | |
applied to 3.2 -- a year, and applied to 3.2 million people. It | :37:47. | :37:50. | |
opens the question, sensitively and carefully, that we are getting the | :37:50. | :37:55. | |
right money to the right place? point about that is surely if the | :37:55. | :37:58. | |
Government's attitude is, it is not case of an open look at this, we | :37:58. | :38:06. | |
definitely want to save money, surely that is incaucated in ATOS? | :38:06. | :38:11. | |
They have reached a view that there are likely claimant that is don't | :38:11. | :38:13. | |
need the money. That does not mean that looking through this | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
substantial welfare budget should be seen as an take on people who do | :38:17. | :38:20. | |
really need help in our society, in order to fully enter the work place. | :38:20. | :38:30. | |
I would like to ask Mark one question, to say if the Government | :38:30. | :38:36. | |
the Government want to save money, why not go after the billions they | :38:36. | :38:39. | |
are losing in tax to wealthy individuals. The Government should | :38:39. | :38:44. | |
save across the board in as many areas as he they can. | :38:44. | :38:49. | |
As they can. The Chancellor has batted off Nick Clegg's idea as an | :38:49. | :38:53. | |
emergency wealth tax, as one might swat off a fly. George Osborne | :38:53. | :38:56. | |
warned that the Deputy Prime Minister's proposal to help the | :38:56. | :38:59. | |
economic recovery, would risk driving the wealthiest people out | :38:59. | :39:02. | |
of the country. Nick Clegg appears to have been flying solo. What does | :39:02. | :39:07. | |
that say for the collation gi., -- coalition Government, or his | :39:07. | :39:13. | |
attitude to senior politicians in his own party. | :39:13. | :39:23. | |
:39:23. | :39:37. | ||
That's how William the Conqueror's early stab at assess the populace | :39:37. | :39:41. | |
started. It was called like God's terrible judgment, it could not be | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
avoided nor challenged. Which is why, after, no doubt, deep speech | :39:45. | :39:47. | |
with his own counsellors, the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, | :39:48. | :39:53. | |
has come to the conclusion we need another wealth tax. Interviewed in | :39:53. | :40:03. | |
:40:03. | :40:17. | ||
A mansion tax is a type of wealth tax, one example of a wealth tax. | :40:17. | :40:21. | |
And what Nick Clegg has said today, politics starting again after the | :40:21. | :40:25. | |
summer break, is we must not forget, as a country, that if we are to | :40:25. | :40:30. | |
have a fairer society, and help us grow out of our difficulties, one | :40:30. | :40:34. | |
of the best ways of doing that will be to return to the agenda about | :40:34. | :40:39. | |
whether we have a wealth tax, which we believe we should do, as well as | :40:39. | :40:44. | |
a fair income tax system. But Nick Clegg has a problem, that unlike | :40:44. | :40:48. | |
William 1st, he hasn't conquered the realm. Any wealth tax would | :40:48. | :40:52. | |
need Conservative support to become coalition policy. Today, the | :40:52. | :40:55. | |
Chancellor, seemed less than enthusiastic about the idea. I do | :40:55. | :41:01. | |
want the wealthy to make their fair contribution to reducing the public | :41:01. | :41:05. | |
deficit, that is why I have increased property taxes on very | :41:05. | :41:09. | |
expensive homes. We also don't want to drive away the wealth creators | :41:09. | :41:13. | |
and the business leaders and entrepeneurs, who will create the | :41:13. | :41:17. | |
job, and help move the economy forward. We need the balance, the | :41:17. | :41:25. | |
wealthy need to pay more, but let's not drive away the wealth creators. | :41:25. | :41:33. | |
Unlike the Lib Dem's mansion tax, a levy on property over �2 million, | :41:33. | :41:38. | |
this new tax has less detail, which has led many to suggest it is more | :41:38. | :41:42. | |
about raising support for the Lib Dem conference, rather than raising | :41:42. | :41:48. | |
money for the Exchequer. We have seen this in the past and now, in | :41:48. | :41:52. | |
2009 Gordon Brown was about to lose the last general election, he | :41:52. | :41:57. | |
brought forward the rate of tax. You have Nick Clegg suffering | :41:57. | :42:01. | |
problems with his party, less than impressed than they could be, | :42:01. | :42:05. | |
suddenly Nick Clegg wants to tax the rich to win favour whizz own | :42:05. | :42:12. | |
party. He's chasing headlines, trying to pla Kate some very angry | :42:12. | :42:19. | |
-- Placate some very angry Lib Dem supporters, who are very | :42:19. | :42:23. | |
exasperated, that he's doing the total opposite in Government than | :42:23. | :42:27. | |
what he has saying. What could the wealth tax look like, the world is | :42:27. | :42:31. | |
more complex than the conquerer's day, then poking around someone's | :42:31. | :42:36. | |
barn for oxen and grain was all that was required. Today, poking | :42:36. | :42:41. | |
around the assets of the superwealthy is a lot harder? | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
concern is how many people will take flight. That has happened | :42:45. | :42:52. | |
recently, the Government introduced an ex-pat tax, from 2008, non- | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
domicile people, that is for, quite a few people left the country. We | :42:56. | :43:00. | |
can see in France, where Monsieur Hollande is proposing to increase | :43:00. | :43:04. | |
taxes to 75%, a lot of wealthy people are looking to buy property | :43:04. | :43:09. | |
in the UK, and invest here generally. If we start introducing | :43:09. | :43:14. | |
wealth taxes, again, we may lose the benefit of those wealthy people, | :43:14. | :43:19. | |
who eat in our restaurants, and stay in our hotels, and generally | :43:19. | :43:25. | |
contribute to our spending. evidence is not that if you had a | :43:25. | :43:29. | |
fairer wealth taxation system you would be driving people away. Parts | :43:29. | :43:38. | |
of the states have half a per cent of people's assets taken as tax. | :43:38. | :43:40. | |
France has introduced a system, people haven't been leaving the | :43:40. | :43:45. | |
states and France because of that. People understand that not just | :43:45. | :43:52. | |
income, but also wealth, is a way of assessing how well you are doing. | :43:52. | :43:56. | |
Does Mr Clegg expect to conquer the options of his coalition colleagues, | :43:56. | :43:59. | |
or is this more about keeping his own party happy, trying to | :43:59. | :44:04. | |
reconnect with the voters who the polls suggest have deserted the | :44:04. | :44:11. | |
party. In short, trying to avert his own political doomsday. | :44:11. | :44:15. | |
Funnily enough, no Lib Dems inside the Government were available to | :44:15. | :44:19. | |
speak about this. But David Grossman is here. Will it ever | :44:19. | :44:22. | |
become policy? It might at some point in the future. At the moment | :44:22. | :44:26. | |
it look like the main job of this interview Nick Clegg gave to the | :44:27. | :44:30. | |
Guardian, was to introduce the main theme of the Liberal Democrat | :44:30. | :44:32. | |
conference, which starts in three weeks time. Why do I say that. If | :44:32. | :44:37. | |
we look at the first page of of the adwend da of the Lib Dem conference, | :44:37. | :44:42. | |
there is the slogan "fairer tax in tough times", perhaps you might ask | :44:42. | :44:46. | |
that he will unveil a fully formed policy at that conference. It is | :44:46. | :44:49. | |
only a few days ago the Liberal Democrats introduced a consultation | :44:50. | :44:54. | |
paper, which they described as the first stage of a new tax policy. In | :44:54. | :45:01. | |
it there is a section on tax rises, and the consultation date is | :45:01. | :45:08. | |
October this year. They might be contributing to it? If they have a | :45:08. | :45:11. | |
fully formed policy, if they have T the reason you are talking to me | :45:11. | :45:14. | |
rather than Liberal Democrats, at the moment there is no questions | :45:14. | :45:17. | |
than answers on the policies. this about positioning Nick Clegg | :45:17. | :45:20. | |
and the coalition? There is a job they think they are doing. They | :45:20. | :45:23. | |
will be very plos today see large number of Conservatives coming out | :45:23. | :45:26. | |
to see -- pleased to see a large number of Conservatives coming out | :45:27. | :45:31. | |
on the right side. The most gleeful are Labour, they say it gives them | :45:31. | :45:34. | |
an opportunity to look at Liberal Democrats supporting the budget | :45:34. | :45:44. | |
:45:44. | :45:44. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 42 seconds | :45:44. | :46:27. | |
that cut the top rate of tax. That is all from Newsnight tonight, | :46:27. | :46:31. | |
we will leave you with more highlights from the Paralympics | :46:31. | :46:41. | |
:46:41. | :47:09. | ||
Opening Ceremony. From everyone We had to put up with more soaking | :47:09. | :47:14. | |
rain in places through today, tomorrow more of us will escape dry. | :47:14. | :47:17. | |
There are still some showers around, by the afternoon they are focused | :47:17. | :47:22. | |
on central and eastern parts of the UK, to the north and west. Northern | :47:22. | :47:26. | |
England having a fine afternoon, temperatures just into the mid- | :47:26. | :47:30. | |
teens, the odd sharp shower across the Midlands. For East Anglia and | :47:30. | :47:33. | |
the south-east, a few thunderstorms around for a while. Late into the | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
evening they will fade away as it becoming mainly dry. It is dry for | :47:37. | :47:40. | |
the afternoon. In south-west England and Wales. One or two | :47:40. | :47:43. | |
morning showers, into the afternoon we have broken cloud, some sunshine | :47:43. | :47:47. | |
coming through. But again, that noticable north or north-westerly | :47:47. | :47:51. | |
breeze, which for Northern Ireland, despite the sunshine, will told | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
temperatures down into the mid- teens, and a similar picture across | :47:55. | :48:01. | |
Scotland. You have the sunshine to compensate, and no fierce downpours | :48:01. | :48:11. | |
:48:11. | :48:26. |