:00:00. > :00:07.Tonight in a Newsnight exclusive, we meet the woman accusing the Met
:00:08. > :00:14.police of abusive psychological torture.
:00:15. > :00:20.It was New Year, and we had a party with a few friends, and he asked me
:00:21. > :00:24.to marry him. I said yes, and we rang my mum and told my mum.
:00:25. > :00:27.of marriage without realising it was "a state-sponsored lie"
:00:28. > :00:34.Port Talbot lays off another 750 jobs.
:00:35. > :00:37.Is it time to admit we just can't compete on steel anymore and let
:00:38. > :00:40.Local boy Michael Sheen and Business Minister Anna Soubry
:00:41. > :00:43.And who's actually responsible for our schools?
:00:44. > :00:46.The chief inspector says the whole system is patchwork,
:00:47. > :01:07.Tonight we bring you the extraordinary tale of Andrea -
:01:08. > :01:10.who says she is the victim of a state sponsored crime.
:01:11. > :01:12.She became engaged to a man who, entirely unknown to her,
:01:13. > :01:15.was for many years working undercover for the Police.
:01:16. > :01:17.For more than two years he promised her a new life,
:01:18. > :01:24.She had no idea what had gone wrong until she started to understand
:01:25. > :01:26.that their whole relationship had been a sham.
:01:27. > :01:29.Living a double life, and sent to infiltrate her group
:01:30. > :01:32.of friends who were being watched, it seems, for their
:01:33. > :01:39.It is not the first time this has happened within the Metropolitan
:01:40. > :01:42.Police. At the end of last year Police
:01:43. > :01:44.chiefs made an unreserved apology to women who were deceived
:01:45. > :01:46.into similar relationships - and paid out substantial
:01:47. > :01:48.compensation. They thought they'd drawn
:01:49. > :01:50.a line under the abuse - but this investigation by Newsnight
:01:51. > :01:53.and the Guardian shows that the problems for
:01:54. > :01:55.the Met are far from over. And I felt very safe
:01:56. > :02:03.with him at that point. He felt like a very
:02:04. > :02:07.committed person. And he was single, as far
:02:08. > :02:14.as I knew, at that point. And it seemed like we just kind
:02:15. > :02:25.of met each other at the right time. The man who shared every aspect
:02:26. > :02:27.of Andrea's life for two years was in fact an undercover officer
:02:28. > :02:30.working for a secret unit Their entire relationship
:02:31. > :02:37.was a state sanctioned lie. That chunk of life, of my life,
:02:38. > :02:44.was completely fabricated. So I spent quite a large portion
:02:45. > :02:47.of my time with someone who didn't This is the man who infiltrated
:02:48. > :02:57.Andrea's life, Carlo Neri. He had a passport and a driver's
:02:58. > :03:00.license in that name. For several months before
:03:01. > :03:03.they started seeing each other in late 2002, he was
:03:04. > :03:06.mixing in her circle We agreed to protect her identity,
:03:07. > :03:16.such as the sensitivity of her story, but this
:03:17. > :03:18.is her real voice. He really made himself very
:03:19. > :03:23.useful within that group. Lots of people in London at that
:03:24. > :03:33.time of that age, we were all in our 20s, early 30s,
:03:34. > :03:35.we didn't have cars. But why target Andrea,
:03:36. > :03:39.not her real name? She wasn't that politically active,
:03:40. > :03:44.but some of her friends were. I've got no idea why I was chosen
:03:45. > :03:52.other than to think that I was probably just quite a safe bet
:03:53. > :03:57.to become respectable in those circles of trade
:03:58. > :04:00.unionists and socialists. They had quite strong views
:04:01. > :04:07.politically, and so did he. Andrea's story raises huge
:04:08. > :04:09.questions about the effects The scale of deception
:04:10. > :04:20.is shocking, and for what? Andrea has no criminal record,
:04:21. > :04:23.and she was simply on the margins of a group of left-wing
:04:24. > :04:30.political activists, mostly linked to
:04:31. > :04:32.the Socialist Party. Andrea met Carlo Neri in September
:04:33. > :04:35.2002 on this demonstration in London He was an official steward
:04:36. > :04:40.responsible for the route, He was with a group of people that
:04:41. > :04:47.I knew, one of whom was a friend He came across as being very
:04:48. > :04:53.straightforward, very down to earth, But not the life and
:04:54. > :05:04.soul of the party. He kind of stepped back
:05:05. > :05:08.a little bit from the crowd. At the time, Andrea
:05:09. > :05:10.was living in a rented flat She thought she had
:05:11. > :05:18.found her life partner. We were pretty much together
:05:19. > :05:21.from the day we met, and we were pretty much inseparable,
:05:22. > :05:24.so he moved in with me within a few Yeah, he did frequently,
:05:25. > :05:35.he was quite expressive. And I think he gave that impression,
:05:36. > :05:43.people were drawn to him because he was kind
:05:44. > :05:47.and gentle and caring. Because it was so serious,
:05:48. > :05:55.Andrea introduced him When she attended her sister's
:05:56. > :06:02.graduation, he was invited. When she went on a family holiday
:06:03. > :06:05.to Whitby in Yorkshire, For the family, he was
:06:06. > :06:12.the devoted future son-in-law. He seemed to gel with
:06:13. > :06:18.them quite well. And he seemed to become very fond
:06:19. > :06:21.of them very quickly. He kind of made an effort to be
:06:22. > :06:26.in contact with them a lot. Back in London, Carlo Neri
:06:27. > :06:30.was attending activist events with Andrea, including one
:06:31. > :06:32.above this anarchist book Because Andrea was known to
:06:33. > :06:37.the group, Carlo Neri was trusted. He became a regular
:06:38. > :06:42.at this kind of event. And Carlo Neri was at the forefront
:06:43. > :06:49.of political rallies, working with anti-fascists
:06:50. > :06:51.and the Socialist Party. Quite often, he would be one
:06:52. > :06:58.of the people who was stewarding. He'd often have to be there really
:06:59. > :07:01.early, and be their right to the end, because
:07:02. > :07:05.when you take that responsibility, you have got
:07:06. > :07:07.quite a different role, and he was very much involved
:07:08. > :07:10.in that aspect of it. Carlo was clearly
:07:11. > :07:12.accepted by the group. His job as a locksmith could have
:07:13. > :07:14.been extremely useful He quite often said people
:07:15. > :07:18.could improve the security of where they lived,
:07:19. > :07:20.and again, that seemed at the time With hindsight, it has a different
:07:21. > :07:30.perspective, really. Because there's a huge amount
:07:31. > :07:32.of people's locks that someone So, Carlo Neri had the keys
:07:33. > :07:45.to activists' flats. We've discovered that he was
:07:46. > :07:47.living a double life. Not only was he secretly reporting
:07:48. > :07:50.back to Scotland Yard, what, we don't know,
:07:51. > :07:53.but he had a wife and a son, Carlo used the actual names
:07:54. > :07:58.of his real family in his cover story, presumably to
:07:59. > :07:59.guard against slip-ups, He brought photos of the kind of key
:08:00. > :08:10.people in his family into our house, and they were in our flat,
:08:11. > :08:14.so I had pictures of his son, his sister, and they were actually
:08:15. > :08:16.his real family members Obviously at the time
:08:17. > :08:21.I didn't know any of this, but now I know they were real
:08:22. > :08:24.people in his real life. And there were always reasons
:08:25. > :08:28.why I didn't meet them. We know that his wife knew
:08:29. > :08:31.he was a police officer. His occupation is written
:08:32. > :08:36.on the birth certificate of his son. We don't know how much, if anything,
:08:37. > :08:38.she knew about his undercover Carlo had to invent stories
:08:39. > :08:48.to maintain both lives. How could he justify time away
:08:49. > :08:50.from the Maida Vale flat and his live-in relationship
:08:51. > :08:53.with Andrea to spend time First, he told Andrea that
:08:54. > :09:01.a new job meant he would have Because of his interest in food,
:09:02. > :09:06.his interest in Italian food, he then got a job working
:09:07. > :09:09.for a company which did import and export of fine quality foods
:09:10. > :09:12.and wines, so he then started to do Very convenient for Carlo,
:09:13. > :09:21.because his sister did in fact run an Italian deli, so he could bring
:09:22. > :09:26.home fine foods and wines. He also found an excuse to be away
:09:27. > :09:33.every other weekend. He was probably away from home
:09:34. > :09:35.for four or five nights And that would be due to work trips,
:09:36. > :09:45.and every other weekend he would go Because as far as I was concerned,
:09:46. > :09:50.I was going to spend my life with this man, and his life
:09:51. > :09:53.was my life, and having that strong relationship with a child
:09:54. > :09:55.is a really important thing. There were no access visits
:09:56. > :09:58.to Cornwall, of course. His son was just down the road
:09:59. > :10:00.in the family home. In terms of his relationship
:10:01. > :10:02.with Andrea, it was going Just three months after they met,
:10:03. > :10:09.he proposed to her, at home in the flat they shared
:10:10. > :10:12.in Maida Vale. It was New Year, we had
:10:13. > :10:15.a party with a few friends. It was a really nice gathering,
:10:16. > :10:17.not a huge party. I said yes, and I rang my mum,
:10:18. > :10:29.we told my mum. Carlo and Andrea spent the next year
:10:30. > :10:35.together, but by Christmas 2003, but by Christmas 2003,
:10:36. > :10:37.the Met and Carlo decided He then began the most
:10:38. > :10:41.cynical of exit strategies, father was on his deathbed in Italy,
:10:42. > :10:47.and he had to be there. He said he was really distressed,
:10:48. > :10:51.and he had been missing for a week. He had been out of contact
:10:52. > :10:54.for a week at that point. But a dying father was not dramatic
:10:55. > :10:58.enough, it seems, for his exit strategy, and while in Italy,
:10:59. > :11:01.Carlo said he had learned something truly terrible
:11:02. > :11:10.about a female relative. He told me that she had been
:11:11. > :11:17.sexually abused by their father. The stuff he was disclosing
:11:18. > :11:18.was horrendous. And I think if you love someone
:11:19. > :11:22.and you are with someone, you have massive amounts
:11:23. > :11:26.of compassion for them. You do for anyone who's
:11:27. > :11:28.experiencing that difficulty, but when you live with them,
:11:29. > :11:32.and you love them, and you see them being in much pain, or so you think,
:11:33. > :11:37.you want to support them. Andrea tried to save
:11:38. > :11:39.the relationship, but Carlo seemed He moved out four months later,
:11:40. > :11:45.taking everything, down to the last He went to live with other
:11:46. > :11:51.activists in the group. Their relationship survived
:11:52. > :11:56.for a while, but in November 2004, two years after they first met,
:11:57. > :12:00.he sent her an e-mail saying And after that, he simply
:12:01. > :12:09.disappeared. Newsnight now on BBC
:12:10. > :12:13.Two with Kirsty Wark. Tonight, the environmental
:12:14. > :12:15.protesters, the undercover cop That was that until activists
:12:16. > :12:25.and journalists, Newsnight included, started investigating how the Met
:12:26. > :12:37.infiltrated protest groups. Campaigners Peter Salmon
:12:38. > :12:39.and Eveline Lubbers devised a survey list of 15 questions following this
:12:40. > :12:42.early work to try to identify For example, did they
:12:43. > :12:45.have cars and vans? Someone must have planned it maybe,
:12:46. > :12:58.and that is what we want to know. It is also about the individual
:12:59. > :13:02.and the undercover officers and the damage they did,
:13:03. > :13:06.but someone thought this all out. The Met police are now under intense
:13:07. > :13:11.pressure over the deployment In November, eight women
:13:12. > :13:16.who unwittingly entered into intimate sexual relationships
:13:17. > :13:18.with undercover police called The worst part of this is to recall
:13:19. > :13:26.that actually when he was with me, The Met have settled seven
:13:27. > :13:36.of their legal claims for damages. Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt
:13:37. > :13:40.issued an abject apology. It has become apparent that some
:13:41. > :13:43.officers acting undercover whilst seeking to infiltrate protest groups
:13:44. > :13:47.entered into long-term intimate sexual relationships
:13:48. > :13:48.with women which were abusive, I acknowledge that these
:13:49. > :13:56.relationships were a violation of the women's human rights,
:13:57. > :13:59.and abuse of police power I unreservedly apologise on behalf
:14:00. > :14:10.of the Metropolitan Police Service. But if the Met thinks they have
:14:11. > :14:13.drawn a line under this affair, In this new case, Andrea says
:14:14. > :14:17.it is like being the victim This kind of level of emotional
:14:18. > :14:24.abuse, I would say, or psychological abuse, was used to keep
:14:25. > :14:26.the relationship on a trajectory It is psychological torture,
:14:27. > :14:39.and it's very damaging. Andrea is now working
:14:40. > :14:42.with the solicitor who has represented all the other eight
:14:43. > :14:44.women who have taken legal action This is clearly a pattern
:14:45. > :14:52.that they worked on. The other women who had
:14:53. > :14:54.relationships all describe similar exit strategies, and in each
:14:55. > :14:57.of those cases, they were harmful, and this is the one of the worst
:14:58. > :15:01.I have heard in related the whole story of sexual abuse and domestic
:15:02. > :15:03.violence that didn't exist, and I think that is
:15:04. > :15:09.a sick thing to do. The Met refused to confirm
:15:10. > :15:11.or deny whether Carlo Neri We know his true name,
:15:12. > :15:17.and quite a few details about his life, including the fact
:15:18. > :15:19.he infiltrated a number of demonstrations here
:15:20. > :15:20.in central London. He has a highly distinctive surname,
:15:21. > :15:24.and we decided not to broadcast this The Metropolitan Police issued
:15:25. > :15:37.a statement to Newsnight. Assisted Commissioner Martin Hewitt
:15:38. > :15:53.told us: Andrea has just been given core
:15:54. > :16:13.participant status in the public enquiry into undercover
:16:14. > :16:18.policing now under way. She has only just begun to process
:16:19. > :16:24.the fact that two years of her life were effectively stolen by the state
:16:25. > :16:26.after our investigation A decade on, and she's
:16:27. > :16:30.rebuilt her life. Rather like the fiery blast
:16:31. > :16:41.furness that powers it, the Tata steel plant in Port Talbot
:16:42. > :16:45.has shown an insatiable appetite It's been losing a million pounds
:16:46. > :16:48.a day - and has swallowed three hundred million pounds of investment
:16:49. > :16:51.in the last four years. The latest brutal round of job cuts
:16:52. > :16:57.there means some 750 will have to go - of more than 1000 jobs in steel
:16:58. > :17:04.axed today across Britain. And that - for the Indian
:17:05. > :17:08.company behind it, Tata - The reason for the difficulties
:17:09. > :17:11.are not particularly new ones - but they're getting
:17:12. > :17:12.harder to overcome. Slowing demand and a seemingless
:17:13. > :17:14.endless supply of cheaper Chinese commodities - plus higher
:17:15. > :17:16.energy costs here - have rendered Britain's
:17:17. > :17:18.own steel making more costly So is there much that the government
:17:19. > :18:03.can realistically do? Jobs in steel are vanishing fast.
:18:04. > :18:07.The clouds of economic uncertainty claimed 750 livelihoods. The steel
:18:08. > :18:18.plant will also see around 100 jobs go. The measures we take, we are
:18:19. > :18:24.very confident we can turn this industry around. The job losses in
:18:25. > :18:28.UK steelworks had their roots in the Chinese construction and
:18:29. > :18:32.manufacturing boom that followed the economic crisis. Steel manufacturers
:18:33. > :18:37.invested in expensive new plants in the hope of supplying this seemingly
:18:38. > :18:41.limitless market but the extra demand never came. If we look at
:18:42. > :18:48.this graph for how the capacity is being used, in the decade following
:18:49. > :18:53.the year 2000 it was around 90%. Since 2009 it has been under 80% for
:18:54. > :18:58.much of the time. For the last year, demand has been contracting. The
:18:59. > :19:05.price has dropped from around ?600 per tonne to around ?200 per tonne.
:19:06. > :19:17.Cheap money has meant loss-making steelworks are kept afloat in debt.
:19:18. > :19:22.The MP whose constituency includes the Port Talbot plant says the UK
:19:23. > :19:27.Government must take much of the blame. What we are asking for is a
:19:28. > :19:32.level playing field. 80% of the Chinese steel sector is state-owned.
:19:33. > :19:35.They are subsidised to the hilt by the Chinese government, in clear
:19:36. > :19:40.violation of international trading rules. Why isn't the government
:19:41. > :19:44.doing more to push the European Commission on that? There is
:19:45. > :19:52.anti-dumping legislation in place. Why don't we use it? We have a
:19:53. > :19:56.government with a lazy ideology that believes the market is right and
:19:57. > :20:00.sets the price and the other is that they are cosying up to Beijing. It
:20:01. > :20:07.is not that long ago since the Chancellor was touring Port Talbot.
:20:08. > :20:11.He was there to publicise help for energy intensive industries like
:20:12. > :20:20.steel-making. The government says it's done much more sense by
:20:21. > :20:22.changing the rules. There is obviously this overproduction of
:20:23. > :20:29.steel that is affecting countries around the world but the steel
:20:30. > :20:32.industry have asked us for action on procuring and energy prices, we have
:20:33. > :20:36.taken action. They want us to take action within the European Union and
:20:37. > :20:42.we've done that as well but we will continue to work with them. I want
:20:43. > :20:48.to have a strong British steel industry at the heart of our
:20:49. > :20:51.manufacturing base. But the steel industry says other European
:20:52. > :20:55.governments are doing far more. The Germans have spent 6.4 billion euros
:20:56. > :21:00.to support energy intensive industries in terms of mitigating
:21:01. > :21:04.the impact of carbon tax. We spent just ?100 million per year. That
:21:05. > :21:10.will rise but it is just simply not enough. The worldwide steel glut is
:21:11. > :21:16.now hitting China, where plants are closing and one boss says his
:21:17. > :21:21.industry is bleeding cash. Some believe we in the UK are better
:21:22. > :21:25.advised to look for new industries. In the long-term, it is not economic
:21:26. > :21:31.to compete with places like China, where the Labour costs are lower.
:21:32. > :21:36.The stability means it is better to invest. It is not a short-term
:21:37. > :21:40.bridging gap or something that if we do it now we will be able to fix, in
:21:41. > :21:48.a couple of years. They will never be economic again. Talk of new
:21:49. > :21:53.industries and economic forces will be of little comfort to the workers
:21:54. > :22:02.of Port Talbot and others who have lost their jobs. In a moment we will
:22:03. > :22:06.hear from and a supreme but first we are joined by Michael Sheen, who
:22:07. > :22:12.grew up in Port Tolbert and has made a film set there. This area is close
:22:13. > :22:17.to your heart. What impact do you imagine this will have? It is
:22:18. > :22:33.incredibly frightening in terms of the repercussions. It is not just
:22:34. > :22:40.the jobs being cut at Tata steel, there is a domino effect for the
:22:41. > :22:46.whole region. Other jobs that are dependent on what is going on at the
:22:47. > :22:51.steelworks. Port Talbot is a town with a lot of challenges already. It
:22:52. > :22:56.is not the most affluent town. The community is facing a lot of
:22:57. > :23:00.difficulties. There was a report, there is already a lot of poverty
:23:01. > :23:05.there and half the people experiencing the effects of poverty
:23:06. > :23:09.are working households. If people in work are experiencing poverty then
:23:10. > :23:13.who knows what will happen when the job cuts happen? It is a frightening
:23:14. > :23:20.time for the town. It sounds terrible, but on an economic level,
:23:21. > :23:26.this is losing ?1 million per day. Should the government continued to
:23:27. > :23:34.hand out cash? This is part of a much bigger picture. The steel
:23:35. > :23:39.industry, through the cuts we've seen in Redcar, and in Scotland,
:23:40. > :23:45.this is not an industry on the up. It is going in one direction. The
:23:46. > :23:49.government says that it is doing everything to help it but the
:23:50. > :23:53.actions and the words don't fit together. I'm not an expert, I don't
:23:54. > :23:58.know what is going on behind the scenes, I know there are a lot of
:23:59. > :24:02.people who feel the government have a lot of positive words but the
:24:03. > :24:07.actions are not backing that up or if they are it is happening too
:24:08. > :24:11.slowly and into small way. Do you know what actions you would like to
:24:12. > :24:16.see? Without asking the government to waste money on something that is
:24:17. > :24:21.not working. I would like to see the government be honest, first of all,
:24:22. > :24:25.about whether they want to support the steel industry or whether they
:24:26. > :24:30.are letting it died by stealth. If they are allowing that to happen, if
:24:31. > :24:33.they don't think there is a way to support the steel industry, if they
:24:34. > :24:38.are dragging their heels over getting involved in the rules that
:24:39. > :24:42.are there, then they need to put into place very quickly support for
:24:43. > :24:46.the communities that have been affected in this way. If there is
:24:47. > :24:51.nothing more for those communities then that is the biggest danger.
:24:52. > :24:58.Let's put some of those point across. Do you accept that he is
:24:59. > :25:04.asking for honesty? He has had that. He makes a very valid point that
:25:05. > :25:13.this is a dreadful day, and so for example when we know, there is no
:25:14. > :25:19.more steel in Redcar, absolutely, need to support that communities so
:25:20. > :25:23.those workers can get into new jobs, no doubt the Welsh government will
:25:24. > :25:33.come up with the same. We are being very honest about it. This has
:25:34. > :25:37.happened in Redcar, in Port Tolbert. You have had the industries saying
:25:38. > :25:43.the government was not alert to crisis warnings, they were asleep at
:25:44. > :25:47.the wheel. We are on top of it. What happened up in Redcar was different.
:25:48. > :25:52.That was a steelworks that had been losing ?600 million over 2.5, three
:25:53. > :25:56.years. That was never going to happen again. It was gone. There
:25:57. > :26:02.were huge problems with the owners. The difference with Tata steel is
:26:03. > :26:07.quite profound. They have been trying to sell beer division based
:26:08. > :26:13.in Scunthorpe for two years. We can to make sure we play a full part in
:26:14. > :26:19.securing that deal. I pack Tata steel want to sell it. Is that
:26:20. > :26:23.right? It was on the market two years ago in Scunthorpe. Turning to
:26:24. > :26:27.Port Talbot, that is very different. They have already brought the
:26:28. > :26:33.consultants in to say, what do we need to do to keep this place and
:26:34. > :26:39.make sure it is sustainable? They brought the consultants in,
:26:40. > :26:47.unfortunately 1000 jobs have already gone. What are you going to do, put
:26:48. > :26:53.more money in? We cannot do that, the state aid rules do not allow it.
:26:54. > :26:59.But what we can do, we have implemented four of the five
:27:00. > :27:02.electricity prices, emissions directive, dumplings, I'm quite
:27:03. > :27:07.happy to discuss what we've done on dumping, and the other thing we've
:27:08. > :27:11.done, we've looked at the procurement rules. That is hugely
:27:12. > :27:17.important. No other government in the European Union has changed the
:27:18. > :27:21.procurement rules. There is a sense among British steel companies that
:27:22. > :27:26.in many cases they are not even allowed to tender for jobs. At
:27:27. > :27:35.Hinckley Point C at a nuclear plant. That is completely different. 60%
:27:36. > :27:44.will be available. Unfortunately... I do not understand that. Some are
:27:45. > :27:48.out to tender. Can I explain why there is a problem? 60% of the steel
:27:49. > :27:55.should be available for British Steel however, 40% is no longer made
:27:56. > :28:03.in this country. But, in terms of the billions of pounds, this is
:28:04. > :28:13.really important, I want to tell you something that a Labour MP has said,
:28:14. > :28:17.he talks about there not being opportunity to bid on nuclear
:28:18. > :28:23.repairs and the justification they were told was EDF was providing for
:28:24. > :28:28.underutilised French manufacturing. Is he wrong? I don't know. You said
:28:29. > :28:37.that in October. You said you would look into it. Yellow mac people say
:28:38. > :28:42.things but when you look at it. EDF acquired electric and he says it is
:28:43. > :28:49.steel companies have not been able to tender. That's what he said.
:28:50. > :28:57.They've not had the opportunity to bid. Can we talk about what the
:28:58. > :29:00.government has been able to do? That is quite important, if the
:29:01. > :29:04.government is promoting British steel or not. We've changed the
:29:05. > :29:09.procurement rules, never been done before. There is now no excuse not
:29:10. > :29:14.to buy British Steel. That's never been done before. We quantified the
:29:15. > :29:18.amount of steel that we anticipate to be available in the billions of
:29:19. > :29:27.pounds we are putting into the industry in this. We've quantified
:29:28. > :29:33.it and shared those figures. You heard the Prime Minister, what he
:29:34. > :29:43.said, we are absolutely determined that we will keep steel production
:29:44. > :29:50.at both Scunthorpe and Port Talbot. The steel industry have asked you
:29:51. > :29:55.not to give China market status. Are you going to? It is the decision of
:29:56. > :29:59.the European Union. Should they have market economy status? In theory,
:30:00. > :30:05.yes, but they need to prove that they will play by the rules. It is
:30:06. > :30:11.really important, in the first time in July, for the first time we have
:30:12. > :30:16.voted in favour of protectionist measures. That's never happened.
:30:17. > :30:23.They were so shocked in the European Union... They said you were helping
:30:24. > :30:27.China by giving it market status. The overall sense is your government
:30:28. > :30:32.is more preoccupied with keeping China happy than keeping Wales
:30:33. > :30:37.employed. That the spend. That is how it comes across. That is how it
:30:38. > :30:45.comes across to you. That was Leanne Wood. I can assure you we have voted
:30:46. > :30:49.in a way that has never happened before to protect steel. Most
:30:50. > :30:56.importantly, the political will express by the Prime Minister to
:30:57. > :31:01.make sure we continue to produce steel at Port Talbot and Scunthorpe.
:31:02. > :31:07.That is the determination and we've delivered on four.
:31:08. > :31:13.I am going to go back to Michael Sheen. Does this give you
:31:14. > :31:16.confidence? There is the political will that they are committed to
:31:17. > :31:22.steal in this country and import Tolbert specifically. Well, I think
:31:23. > :31:30.the workforce in the steelworks and the larger community have been kind
:31:31. > :31:33.of in the dark for a long time. As soon as it started to become clear
:31:34. > :31:37.there were problems, people started to become desperate to find out what
:31:38. > :31:42.the plan was and whether the Government had a strategy to sort
:31:43. > :31:46.this out. I do think anyone in Port Talbot is feeling any clearer now.
:31:47. > :31:52.And in the country itself, the country has suffered so much in the
:31:53. > :31:58.Dinda era after the coal-mining, those communities in places like the
:31:59. > :32:01.Rhondda but I have visited are still feeling decimated by what happened,
:32:02. > :32:07.and I would hate to see that happen in Port Talbot as well. Is it worth
:32:08. > :32:12.the Government spending money on a way of life, community? Of course,
:32:13. > :32:16.that is why we put ?80 million into Teesside. But can I just say to
:32:17. > :32:20.Michael, I went to Port Talbot for a day, and I know that that is where
:32:21. > :32:24.you were born and bred, but what really strikes me is not just the
:32:25. > :32:27.union representatives who are outstanding and genuinely represent
:32:28. > :32:33.their members, but the level of honesty and realism amongst, mainly
:32:34. > :32:37.men, amongst them, and I think they do get it. I was struck when I went
:32:38. > :32:39.to Scunthorpe as well that the men really understood the real crisis
:32:40. > :32:46.the steel industry was in. Michael Sheen. You might understand that you
:32:47. > :32:50.are drowning, but that doesn't mean you don't want a helping hand. I
:32:51. > :32:54.think it was the realism, and even in Redcar, which was a terrible
:32:55. > :32:58.situation, it was this understanding that you can't argue that the price
:32:59. > :33:06.of steel has almost halved, and that is the reality of it. And in which
:33:07. > :33:09.case, I would love to hear what the Prime Minister and the Government
:33:10. > :33:15.have got in store to help the people of Port Talbot if indeed the steel
:33:16. > :33:19.industry is on decline. It is a Welsh government decision. The door
:33:20. > :33:26.is open, we will always help. Thank you both very much indeed.
:33:27. > :33:28.Who is responsible for the oversight of schools
:33:29. > :33:30.when some are academies under schools commissioners
:33:31. > :33:31.and others the responsibility of local authorities?
:33:32. > :33:34.The question lies at the heart of what Ofsted Chief Michael Wilshaw
:33:35. > :33:37.said is going wrong in the schools system, which he described
:33:38. > :33:42.as confusing and ill-defined in a speech today.
:33:43. > :33:45.He also believes the country cannot continue to "fail half its future"
:33:46. > :33:48.by refusing to sort out the quality of vocational training that many
:33:49. > :33:49.young people who chose less academic courses
:33:50. > :33:55.We will hear from so Michael in a minute.
:33:56. > :33:58.Sir Michael Wilshaw, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector,
:33:59. > :34:00.has issued a call to arms to improve English
:34:01. > :34:02.education, that it may be one the Government doesn't actually
:34:03. > :34:14.Sir Michael's responding to a new report by CentreForum,
:34:15. > :34:16.an education thinktank, which explains how the gap
:34:17. > :34:19.between poorer children and the rest grows whilst they are at school.
:34:20. > :34:22.As they start school, the gap averages
:34:23. > :34:24.By the time they're 11, it's nine months.
:34:25. > :34:27.And at 16, it reaches almost 20 months, more than a year
:34:28. > :34:34.I think the gap between young people from disadvantaged and advantaged
:34:35. > :34:38.backgrounds is one of the big scars on the face of English education.
:34:39. > :34:40.We've made some good progress in primary education in reducing
:34:41. > :34:42.the gap recently, but it's far too wide
:34:43. > :34:45.in secondary education, and it goes on widening,
:34:46. > :34:47.that gap, every year of a youngster's time in education,
:34:48. > :34:49.and that can't be something that we are
:34:50. > :34:56.Now, Sir Michael's proposals to address this cut
:34:57. > :34:59.For example, he says he wants powerful political figures to feel
:35:00. > :35:01.responsible to local people for the performance
:35:02. > :35:05.But the Government has a policy of encouraging local authority
:35:06. > :35:08.schools to become academies, and that in part is intended
:35:09. > :35:10.to erode the role of local politicians in schooling.
:35:11. > :35:17.The school system is built on an army of volunteer school
:35:18. > :35:21.He says they need a better skill set.
:35:22. > :35:23.In fact, in what would be a potentially expensive
:35:24. > :35:25.move, he said we should consider paying them
:35:26. > :35:32.We know that leadership is a crucial ingredient in high-quality
:35:33. > :35:34.schools, and we have got some fantastic schools here in places
:35:35. > :35:38.The problem is, how do we get that strong leadership
:35:39. > :35:41.right throughout the country when we know from Ofsted reports
:35:42. > :35:43.that it is not there in many parts of the
:35:44. > :35:47.country outside London and the south-east?
:35:48. > :35:49.Sir Michael also worries about children drifting into weak
:35:50. > :35:51.vocational training, so he has called for more university
:35:52. > :35:53.technical colleges, schools that start at 14
:35:54. > :35:59.and prepare pupils for a specific trade.
:36:00. > :36:02.And again, this won't be much loved in Whitehall where these
:36:03. > :36:05.expensive technical schools have few fans.
:36:06. > :36:07.So Sir Michael says we need better school leadership,
:36:08. > :36:10.better options for children who want a vocational path and better school
:36:11. > :36:23.You certainly can't say that he lacks ambition.
:36:24. > :36:25.Sir Michael Wilshaw, the Chief Inspector of Schools
:36:26. > :36:29.You paint a pretty grim picture in your report today -
:36:30. > :36:31.underperfoming schools, north south divide, school leavers
:36:32. > :36:32.unprepared for jobs, behaviour problems, this
:36:33. > :36:40.You're approaching the end of your term.
:36:41. > :36:50.I am passionate about raising standards in all of our schools. In
:36:51. > :36:53.our last annual report, we said primary schools across the country
:36:54. > :36:58.are doing very well indeed, and you just had a piece about the closure
:36:59. > :37:03.of steelworks in south Wales, in Redcar, where the steelworks closed
:37:04. > :37:06.recently, an area of deprivation and a high degree of poverty, the
:37:07. > :37:12.primary schools there are doing phenomenally well, above the
:37:13. > :37:14.national average, but the secondary schools are failing, and that has
:37:15. > :37:19.been replicated across the country, particularly in the Midlands and
:37:20. > :37:23.particularly in the north. London is doing very well, as are secondary
:37:24. > :37:26.schools in the south-east. And if we are going to improve our secondary
:37:27. > :37:32.school performance, accountability and leadership are key things that
:37:33. > :37:34.will do that. Something like the Northern Powerhouse, presumably
:37:35. > :37:38.Biggins oration by the government to put them north of the heart of what
:37:39. > :37:44.it is doing industrially, will that happen? Yes, and I support what the
:37:45. > :37:48.Prime Minister Chancellor want to do, but education has to be at the
:37:49. > :37:51.heart of that, and if you have too many failing secondary schools in
:37:52. > :37:55.the North and Midlands, we will not achieve that powerhouse. One in
:37:56. > :37:59.three secondary schools in the Midlands and North are not achieving
:38:00. > :38:12.well. In the 16 local authorities, less than 60% of secondary schools
:38:13. > :38:17.are good or excellent, one third of those in the North. We need good
:38:18. > :38:21.leadership and clarity of the accountability system. You have a
:38:22. > :38:26.teacher recruitment crisis. Where has that gone wrong? There has never
:38:27. > :38:29.been a time when I have been teaching, and I have been a
:38:30. > :38:33.headteacher long time in London, there has never been a time when it
:38:34. > :38:36.has been good. It is particularly problematic now because the economy
:38:37. > :38:42.is improving and graduates have more choice of the sort of jobs that they
:38:43. > :38:45.can go into. But there is a problem, and what we need to do as a nation
:38:46. > :38:50.is to sell teaching much more proactively and positively than we
:38:51. > :38:55.have done up to now. Teaching is a great job. Leading teachers is a
:38:56. > :38:58.great job. We hear so much negativity about teaching. And I get
:38:59. > :39:02.really frustrated when I hear that, because ice really enjoyed my life
:39:03. > :39:05.as a teacher, I thoroughly enjoyed my life is ahead, and you talk to
:39:06. > :39:11.lots of teachers and head teachers, they enjoy it. We don't sell
:39:12. > :39:15.teaching as well as we should. I'm thinking of Nicky Morgan calling
:39:16. > :39:23.Michael Gove the former Education Secretary despised and divisive. Do
:39:24. > :39:27.you agree with that? I had a lot of time for Michael Gove. He may have
:39:28. > :39:31.made mistakes here there, but he was passionate about raising standards
:39:32. > :39:36.and raising standards for poor children, and I think he has been
:39:37. > :39:39.unfairly treated. The message he sent was if you want standards to
:39:40. > :39:45.improve, you have got to give power and authority and freedom to the
:39:46. > :39:51.people who really matter, the people on the front line, the people in the
:39:52. > :39:54.classrooms. Take the system away from bureaucrats and give it to
:39:55. > :39:57.people who can really raise standards, people in the classrooms
:39:58. > :40:01.and corridors and playgrounds. I wanted to ask you about the front
:40:02. > :40:05.story of the Daily Telegraph, David Cameron will back the Muslim Veil
:40:06. > :40:09.plan. He says the Prime Minister will give backing to public
:40:10. > :40:13.authorities in terms of schools, the banning of the veil in schools.
:40:14. > :40:20.Would you back that? Si yes, I would. The Prime Minister's view
:40:21. > :40:26.that we have got to make sure that our liberal values, our liberal
:40:27. > :40:29.Western values are protected, people need to listen to that, and the
:40:30. > :40:35.Muslim community need to listen to it as well. We have come a long way
:40:36. > :40:38.in our society to ensure that we have equality for women and that
:40:39. > :40:42.they are treated fairly. We mustn't go backwards.
:40:43. > :40:44.So if it is down to individual organisations to choose to stop
:40:45. > :40:49.Muslim women from wearing the veil, you would recommend it? We would
:40:50. > :40:53.support that, particularly if it is stopping good communication in the
:40:54. > :40:58.classroom and lecture hall. And you think it is? Possibly. My inspectors
:40:59. > :41:02.occasionally see issues with communication. Sir Michael Wilshaw,
:41:03. > :41:05.thank you for coming in.