0:00:04 > 0:00:09Tonight, we are in Scarborough, and welcome to Question Time.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18And with us tonight, a one-time Labour leadership hopeful,
0:00:18 > 0:00:23now leading the charge against Brexit, Chuka Umunna.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26The Conservative Minister for Prisons, Sam Gyimah.
0:00:26 > 0:00:31The newly elected leader of Ukip, Henry Bolton.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35The deputy editor of the Sunday Times, Sarah Baxter.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37And the former finance minister of Greece, who tried and failed
0:00:37 > 0:00:41to negotiate a way out of debt with the EU and accused them of
0:00:41 > 0:00:46naked blackmail, Yanis Varoufakis.
0:00:59 > 0:01:00Thank you.
0:01:00 > 0:01:01Thank you very much.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04As ever, of course, at home you can have your say.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07Our hashtag is BBCQT on Twitter and Facebook.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10You can text us on 83981, you can push the red button to see
0:01:10 > 0:01:12what others are saying.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14And just before we take our first question, we did say
0:01:14 > 0:01:17Priti Patel, the former International Development Secretary,
0:01:17 > 0:01:21would be here on the panel.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23But after her resignation, she resigned, I'm glad
0:01:23 > 0:01:27Sam Gyimah has managed to get here in her place.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29And one other thing, if you were watching last
0:01:29 > 0:01:33week's Question Time, you know it was rather curtailed.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35You might like to know that the audience member
0:01:35 > 0:01:40who collapsed is back home and feeling much better.
0:01:40 > 0:01:41Good.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43Let's take our first question, and it comes
0:01:43 > 0:01:49from Joanne Ribey, please.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52How far would Donald Trump have to go before our government formally
0:01:52 > 0:01:55rescinded his invitation for a state visit?
0:01:55 > 0:01:58Yanis Varoufakis.
0:01:58 > 0:02:03He has already crossed the line, some time ago.
0:02:03 > 0:02:09APPLAUSE
0:02:09 > 0:02:12He is the President of the United States of America,
0:02:12 > 0:02:15which is a great ally of the United Kingdom.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18But he's not a great ally of his own people.
0:02:18 > 0:02:23And this visit would be greatly divisive, in this country.
0:02:23 > 0:02:30It would create an incongruity in the House, the Houses of Parliament.
0:02:30 > 0:02:35And there is absolutely no reason why he should be
0:02:35 > 0:02:36invited at this stage.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39Would you formally rescind an invitation that was formally
0:02:39 > 0:02:40given on behalf of the Queen?
0:02:40 > 0:02:41Yes, absolutely.
0:02:41 > 0:02:42You'd withdraw it.
0:02:42 > 0:02:43All right.
0:02:43 > 0:02:48Sam Gyimah.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51I think Yanis makes a very good point.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54What Donald Trump did recently, I think has
0:02:54 > 0:02:57definitely crossed a line.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02And it takes great bravery to stand up to your enemies.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05It takes even more bravery to stand up to your friends.
0:03:05 > 0:03:10And I think Theresa May was right to rebuke him
0:03:10 > 0:03:14on Twitter for his comments, in his retweets of Britain First.
0:03:14 > 0:03:15We are a tolerant and decent country.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18We are open.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20And I think it's right that she did that.
0:03:20 > 0:03:25In terms of whether or not Donald Trump comes to this country,
0:03:25 > 0:03:27I am personally deeply uncomfortable about it.
0:03:27 > 0:03:32I am deeply uncomfortable because he is deliberately divisive,
0:03:32 > 0:03:37and this would be divisive at a time that we are trying
0:03:37 > 0:03:38to unite our country.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42The invitation has been sent, it has been accepted.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45It's above my pay grade in terms of what happens next,
0:03:45 > 0:03:49but I think I am deeply uncomfortable about it.
0:03:49 > 0:03:55APPLAUSE
0:03:55 > 0:03:56Chuka.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59I think the first thing to say, I think we've got to acknowledge
0:03:59 > 0:04:02that the US is bigger than Donald Trump and there
0:04:02 > 0:04:05are a huge number of Americans - I have American family -
0:04:05 > 0:04:07who find him as abhorrent as we do.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10Let's just be frank about it.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12This guy is a racist, he is a misogynist,
0:04:12 > 0:04:13he's an Islamophobe.
0:04:13 > 0:04:19APPLAUSE
0:04:19 > 0:04:22I mean, he campaigned promoting hate, and what he's now doing
0:04:22 > 0:04:23in retweeting Britain First is basically doing so
0:04:23 > 0:04:26in our country as well.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29And I think what I find most concerning is this kind of sense,
0:04:29 > 0:04:32"Oh, well, it's Donald Trump".
0:04:32 > 0:04:35You know, "This is what he does, it's another shocking
0:04:35 > 0:04:36thing that he does".
0:04:36 > 0:04:38But the problem with that is you are normalising hatred
0:04:38 > 0:04:41if you approach it in that way, just because he is the
0:04:41 > 0:04:43President of the USA.
0:04:43 > 0:04:48And I think if you normalise hatred, and the kinds of things that he has
0:04:48 > 0:04:51said, the kind of things that he stands for and promotes,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54you are going down a very dangerous road indeed,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57which is why I think the Prime Minister should
0:04:57 > 0:04:59be big enough to say, "Look, I got this wrong.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02"In fact, I probably shouldn't have invited him in the first place".
0:05:02 > 0:05:04Rescind the invitation.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06Carrying on with it makes us look needy,
0:05:06 > 0:05:08and I fear normalises hatred, which is not
0:05:08 > 0:05:11what we should be doing.
0:05:11 > 0:05:16APPLAUSE
0:05:16 > 0:05:17It doesn't normalise it.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19The Prime Minister rebuked him on Twitter and today
0:05:19 > 0:05:20she went even further.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23She's made it very clear that, yes, the United States as a country
0:05:23 > 0:05:26is our ally but Donald Trump retweeting those tweets
0:05:26 > 0:05:29from Britain First is unacceptable.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33And I think that is what we want our Prime Minister to be doing.
0:05:33 > 0:05:34Why not disinvite him?
0:05:34 > 0:05:35That is the ultimate rebuke.
0:05:35 > 0:05:41That would make a statement to the world.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44Is there a slight problem that we are dependent
0:05:44 > 0:05:47on the United States for a trade deal when we leave the EU?
0:05:47 > 0:05:49Well, I wish we weren't in that situation.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53We are in that situation.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Let me get to the point.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Would you take the risk of offending him so much that he said,
0:05:59 > 0:06:02and started tweeting, "Forget Britain and the deal"?
0:06:02 > 0:06:05He stood on the basis, David, of America first.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08The idea that he's suddenly going to ride to the rescue
0:06:08 > 0:06:13if suddenly all our trade goes, is for the stars.
0:06:13 > 0:06:14Henry Bolton.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18First of all, he's crossed a line, perhaps, in some people's minds,
0:06:18 > 0:06:21but this is a state visit.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25This is not a personal invitation from Her Majesty to Donald Trump.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28This is a state visit.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31The United States and Great Britain have a long and shared history.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35We have supported each other through thick and thin.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38And like any family, we are going to have points in time
0:06:38 > 0:06:41when we have disagreements and where we don't have disagreements,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45when we get on very well and when we don't get on very well.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47And it is about taking care of that relationship,
0:06:47 > 0:06:49and that is an important thing.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51This is not just the United States President.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54He is also commander-in-chief and he is a significant
0:06:54 > 0:06:57leader in the world, of the world's largest superpower.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02Now, what I find interesting about this is that Britain First,
0:07:02 > 0:07:07by the way, is proscribed by my own party.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10You cannot join Ukip if you have been a member of Britain First,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13along with a number of right-wing parties.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18However, there is an underlying issue here which is,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21what is actually going on and why has this become such a big issue?
0:07:21 > 0:07:25And that's another debate, an important debate.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27Sorry, why is what going on?
0:07:27 > 0:07:29Why are people so concerned about this?
0:07:29 > 0:07:31About what, about Trump's retweeting?
0:07:31 > 0:07:35Why is Trump able to be divisive about this?
0:07:35 > 0:07:39There are two things about this.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42There is the fact that Britain First are an outrageous right-wing party,
0:07:42 > 0:07:45but there is also, which I suspect he didn't know, and I hope
0:07:45 > 0:07:48that we don't see this again.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50But the other aspect of it is that
0:07:50 > 0:07:54people are concerned about a rising tide of Islam in their communities.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58Now, we cannot ignore that.
0:07:58 > 0:07:59And I am not anti-Islamic.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01I have got a lot of Muslim friends.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03I think that's just playing up to Trump's bait.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06It's absolutely true.
0:08:06 > 0:08:07That is appalling.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12You do not deal with hate by inciting hate.
0:08:12 > 0:08:13I'm not inciting hate.
0:08:13 > 0:08:14No, I'm not.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18APPLAUSE
0:08:18 > 0:08:22What I'm actually saying is that we have to bear in mind
0:08:22 > 0:08:27that there are communities in this country and across the
0:08:27 > 0:08:29European Union that have concerns about the rate
0:08:29 > 0:08:32at which their communities are changing.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34And some international organisations that deal with security
0:08:34 > 0:08:37and fully recognise...
0:08:37 > 0:08:40I just don't get...
0:08:40 > 0:08:42How do you go from peddling racism, misogyny, hate, and carrying
0:08:42 > 0:08:46on with the pattern of behaviour we see from the President
0:08:46 > 0:08:49of the United States, to where you're coming from,
0:08:49 > 0:08:50is beyond me.
0:08:50 > 0:08:51Hold on.
0:08:51 > 0:08:52Sarah Baxter.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54Well, I think Henry's talking nonsense.
0:08:54 > 0:08:55He's just responding...
0:08:55 > 0:09:00APPLAUSE
0:09:00 > 0:09:04In a really, really wrong way to a very crass action
0:09:04 > 0:09:05by the American President.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08That said, I think that Donald Trump should come here.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10He is the American President, and we should all tell him
0:09:10 > 0:09:13what we think about retweeting such vile, racist stuff.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16I don't think that Britain should be turned into a giant safe space
0:09:16 > 0:09:19where we can't allow the President come.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22Let him come, you tell him what we think of his tweet,
0:09:22 > 0:09:25and he can go home with our words of condemnation about it
0:09:25 > 0:09:27ringing in his ears.
0:09:27 > 0:09:33The man in the red pullover.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37Isn't Trump just right wing politics without the filter?
0:09:37 > 0:09:40Trump has never had a filter, and he does betray himself somewhat.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43I must say, I think it's very unfortunate that he hasn't found it
0:09:43 > 0:09:46in his heart to congratulate Meghan Markle and Prince Harry
0:09:46 > 0:09:51on their engagement but can retweet horrible racist stuff.
0:09:51 > 0:09:57The woman up there on the left.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01I've just got a question for the leader of the Ukip and I'm
0:10:01 > 0:10:03just wondering why he doesn't show the same loyalty to the EU
0:10:03 > 0:10:06as he does to America, and why we shouldn't stick
0:10:06 > 0:10:08by them as family?
0:10:08 > 0:10:11And also, don't we always get told that we are to ignore
0:10:11 > 0:10:16bullies to stop them from continuing to bully?
0:10:16 > 0:10:19The person in the back row.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23The very back row.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27As a teacher, all the time I have to be a role model for my students,
0:10:27 > 0:10:29as do my colleagues, and I think it's appalling
0:10:29 > 0:10:32that we are in the situation today where we have the leader of the most
0:10:32 > 0:10:35powerful nation in the world being able to offend so many people
0:10:35 > 0:10:38and to actually create tension, to create aggression and to create
0:10:38 > 0:10:42the very things that we, our society, are trying to prevent.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46How on earth can we justify anything like that in the 21st century?
0:10:46 > 0:10:48I don't understand why we can even try and explain it or,
0:10:48 > 0:10:50as Mr Bolton's tried to do, excuse it.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54You can't excuse that sort of behaviour.
0:10:54 > 0:11:01Henry Bolton, do you want to reply?
0:11:01 > 0:11:02I'm not excusing it.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05What I said was that I think there is an underlying issue as well
0:11:05 > 0:11:06that needs to be addressed.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08But not like that.
0:11:08 > 0:11:13And in that respect, I did say I do hope that we don't
0:11:13 > 0:11:15see that from Donald Trump again.
0:11:15 > 0:11:16I said that.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19But there is also a deeper issue here that we do
0:11:19 > 0:11:20need to have a frank, honest and decent
0:11:20 > 0:11:23conversation about.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26The President of the United States is supposed to be the leader
0:11:26 > 0:11:27of the free world.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31And there is a reason for that, because the United States has been
0:11:31 > 0:11:32a beacon for freedom, tolerance, democracy,
0:11:32 > 0:11:34the values that this country cherishes so much.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37He diminishes and undermines that role and that responsibility
0:11:37 > 0:11:41when he does the sorts of things we see him doing.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44And that is why we've got to call this out.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46Henry, you've got this sort of allusion you're
0:11:46 > 0:11:48making to other things.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50We do deal with extremism in this country.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53We have got our troops fighting people like Daesh and putting
0:11:53 > 0:11:55young lives on the line, but do not confuse that
0:11:55 > 0:11:58with inciting hatred, division in our society.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02That is not the same.
0:12:02 > 0:12:08APPLAUSE
0:12:08 > 0:12:10I know that, Sam, because I've done it.
0:12:10 > 0:12:11I've done it, Sam, I know.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14What I'm saying is that there is a decent conversation we can have
0:12:14 > 0:12:17about the concern people have at the rate at which their
0:12:17 > 0:12:18communities are changing.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22There is no reason why we can't have that discussion.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25But there is a profound difference, if I may say, between addressing
0:12:25 > 0:12:28concerns that people have, and speaking to their worst fears,
0:12:28 > 0:12:36trying to incite hatred out of fears, in order to put them
0:12:36 > 0:12:42into the use, to invest them into a wave of discord
0:12:42 > 0:12:47which on the one hand gives people like Donald Trump political power,
0:12:47 > 0:12:54while at the very same time worsening the causes of the discord
0:12:54 > 0:12:56and the causes of concern within those communities.
0:12:56 > 0:13:01One last point.
0:13:01 > 0:13:06Of course Britain is going to have to deal with Mr Trump.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10But to issue this invitation and to fete him in London
0:13:10 > 0:13:14at Buckingham Palace and the House of Commons, that is an honour
0:13:14 > 0:13:19which goes beyond the demands of proper relationship
0:13:19 > 0:13:23between the Prime Minister of this country and the President
0:13:23 > 0:13:24of the United States.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28APPLAUSE
0:13:28 > 0:13:29Can I go back to the questioner?
0:13:29 > 0:13:31What do you think of what you heard?
0:13:31 > 0:13:32I agree with Sarah.
0:13:32 > 0:13:33I think he should come.
0:13:33 > 0:13:39I think he's poison, but he is the democratically elected
0:13:39 > 0:13:43President of the United States, and I think he ought to come
0:13:43 > 0:13:45here and face people and be asked tough questions.
0:13:45 > 0:13:51I think non-platforming, I'm not comfortable with that.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54I think he should come.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57Of course, he might not want to come if he thinks he's
0:13:57 > 0:13:58going to be protested against.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01He doesn't seem to like people protesting against him very much.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05One last point, you, sir.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08I was just going to say that I totally agree.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10For me, we're not just inviting Donald Trump,
0:14:10 > 0:14:12we are inviting the democratically elected President of one
0:14:12 > 0:14:15of our largest allies.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18And just to come back on Chuka's point, if the figures I've seen
0:14:18 > 0:14:22recently are accurate, we have actually a trade surplus
0:14:22 > 0:14:26at the moment with America.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28Although it's a fairly modest sum of money involved.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32Whereas obviously we have something in the region of 65-70 billion trade
0:14:32 > 0:14:39deficit on an annual basis with the EU, I believe.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42Well, you may be running ahead of the programme,
0:14:42 > 0:14:46as we may be about to come to that.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49So let's pause there and go on to our next question.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52Just before we do, we are going to be in Swansea next Thursday
0:14:52 > 0:14:57and the week after that we're going to be in Barnsley.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00Swansea and then Barnsley.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03On screen is how to apply to come to Question Time,
0:15:03 > 0:15:05which I hope you may be able to do.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Let's go on to Leslie Fisher's question, please.
0:15:08 > 0:15:15Which way would the country have voted if they knew the divorce bill
0:15:15 > 0:15:21would be £50 billion?
0:15:21 > 0:15:24Which way would the country have voted if they knew the divorce bill
0:15:24 > 0:15:27would be £50 billion?
0:15:27 > 0:15:29Chuka Umunna.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31I think the country would have voted to remain.
0:15:31 > 0:15:32Let me explain why.
0:15:32 > 0:15:48APPLAUSE
0:15:48 > 0:15:50It's interesting actually, the audience here is very
0:15:50 > 0:15:52representative of the country because there are strong
0:15:52 > 0:15:54views on both sides.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57I'll tell you the reason I say I think we would have voted
0:15:57 > 0:16:00for remain is that the vote leave campaign and its head
0:16:00 > 0:16:02Dominic Cummings was absolutely clear that they wouldn't have won
0:16:02 > 0:16:05the referendum if they hadn't made or seemingly made this pledge to put
0:16:05 > 0:16:07£350 million extra per week into the NHS.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10Obviously, if you are going to be paying a large divorce bill,
0:16:10 > 0:16:13you are not going to have that money to put into the NHS.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16And that is why I think that the divorce bill is very
0:16:16 > 0:16:19significant because you've got these two new facts which are right,
0:16:19 > 0:16:20we didn't really know about in 2016.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23Big divorce bill, Boris Johnson didn't say anything about that,
0:16:23 > 0:16:24that wasn't emblazoned across that bus.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27And now you are not going to get that £350 million extra
0:16:27 > 0:16:29per week going to the NHS.
0:16:29 > 0:16:34And in a way, I think it's symbolic for what is happening on Brexit.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37I think a lot of people bought this thing, maybe if I make
0:16:37 > 0:16:40the analogy of a car, nice shiny Audi, leather seats,
0:16:40 > 0:16:43alloy wheels, all the added extras, now you've got the car,
0:16:43 > 0:16:46you are sitting in this thing, it's actually not an Audi,
0:16:46 > 0:16:50it's a clapped out old banger and looks like it might break down.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54There should be nothing inevitable about you having to buy that car
0:16:54 > 0:16:58if at the end of the process it's not going anywhere.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02So that is why I think this is important and I think we should
0:17:02 > 0:17:04have an open mind about what happens on all of this.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06What would you like to see?
0:17:06 > 0:17:07APPLAUSE.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10What would you like to see happen on all of this, as you put it?
0:17:10 > 0:17:12Nobody on this panel will say anything different,
0:17:12 > 0:17:16they want to see the best deal for the British people.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19Increasingly, I think that Brexit in the terms that it was sold
0:17:19 > 0:17:22to the British people is proving impossible to deliver.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26Now, what we have to do, as Parliamentarians,
0:17:26 > 0:17:29is try and deliver it in the terms that it was sold, try and give
0:17:29 > 0:17:31you that Audi, if you like.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33But you can't change a banger into an Audi.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35No, but you want to stop Brexit, don't you?
0:17:35 > 0:17:38That is your principal political ambition at the moment, to stop it?
0:17:38 > 0:17:40I certainly wish it wasn't happening...
0:17:40 > 0:17:43I didn't say that, I said you actually want to stop it happening?
0:17:43 > 0:17:45I would prefer it wasn't happening but...
0:17:45 > 0:17:47I know that, you want to stop it happening?
0:17:47 > 0:17:52I want to stop a hard Brexit but at the moment we haven't
0:17:52 > 0:17:53exhausted this process.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56I can't say for certain what is going to happen but I wish
0:17:56 > 0:18:00it wasn't happening.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03I think it will be bad for this country, bad
0:18:03 > 0:18:05for our economy and yes, look we've got problems in this
0:18:05 > 0:18:07country but I don't think leaving the European Union
0:18:07 > 0:18:09is going to solve them.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12Sam Gyimah, Let's just go back to Lesley's question,
0:18:12 > 0:18:14if people knew it was going to be £50 billion would they
0:18:14 > 0:18:15have voted that way.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17What do you say?
0:18:17 > 0:18:19I think looking at the polls, people would have voted exactly how
0:18:19 > 0:18:22they voted in the referendum.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25I voted remain because I thought it was going to be costly
0:18:25 > 0:18:27and complicated, but I think it's patronising to say to the British
0:18:27 > 0:18:34people what somehow they didn't go into the referendum with their eyes
0:18:34 > 0:18:38wide-open and somehow Chuka Umunna says it's better than all of that.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41knows better than all of them.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44I didn't say that, you are taking words out of my mouth.
0:18:44 > 0:18:45That is not what I said.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48So I think people went into it with their eyes wide-open,
0:18:48 > 0:18:49there is a price to pay.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51Now, what is disingenuous obviously and my position is,
0:18:51 > 0:18:56the referendum's happened, we can either keep refighting
0:18:56 > 0:19:00the referendum or we can move forward and do the best that we can
0:19:00 > 0:19:04and that's why I'm committed to delivering this referendum.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07It's disingenuous as Chuka is saying, that the £50 billion
0:19:07 > 0:19:10and no figure's actually been published by the government,
0:19:10 > 0:19:14this is the figure that's being speculated about,
0:19:14 > 0:19:21it's disingenuous to say, if we pay a sum of money between now
0:19:21 > 0:19:24and transition which we would have paid anyway for all the benefits
0:19:24 > 0:19:34that we already receive, without really knowing
0:19:34 > 0:19:37will be conditional, we'll probably hand it over
0:19:37 > 0:19:38only if we get what we want,
0:19:38 > 0:19:40that somehow is not right.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44So Chuka is trying to have it both ways, we would have paid the money
0:19:44 > 0:19:46anyway but we wouldn't get it for the NHS.
0:19:46 > 0:19:47No, no, no.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49David Davis said £50 billion was rubbish a few
0:19:49 > 0:19:50weeks ago and wasn't
0:19:50 > 0:19:53there a Government White Paper that says, as we'll no longer be members
0:19:53 > 0:19:56of the market we won't be required to make vast contributions?
0:19:56 > 0:19:59Is £50 billion not a vast contribution?
0:19:59 > 0:20:03The Government hasn't put forward a figure,
0:20:03 > 0:20:08this £50 billion is speculation in the press.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13What I am saying is, it's disingenuous to say that
0:20:13 > 0:20:17if we were to pay a divorce settlement, that we would have paid
0:20:17 > 0:20:22anyway if we were still in the EU and part of settling our accounts
0:20:22 > 0:20:25to make sure that we got the deal that we wanted given
0:20:25 > 0:20:27that the British people have voted to leave, that is wrong.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29I'll come to you, then you?
0:20:29 > 0:20:36Britain is a country that respects contract law and it was never
0:20:36 > 0:20:39going to be the case that it would not pay its dues
0:20:39 > 0:20:44to the European Union.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46I really do not believe that the good people who voted
0:20:46 > 0:20:49in favour of Brexit, I'm saying this as a Remainor,
0:20:49 > 0:20:53were ever fooled about that or ever expected not to pay the bill.
0:20:53 > 0:21:00Britain's not a strategic defaulter but this is irrelevant.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02The overall effects of Brexit will have nothing to do
0:21:02 > 0:21:06with the divorce bill.
0:21:06 > 0:21:12The amount of money sounds like a lot but it's puny compared
0:21:12 > 0:21:15to the present value of the effects of Brexit on this country over
0:21:15 > 0:21:19the next five, ten, 20 years.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22So what we should be concentrating upon is,
0:21:22 > 0:21:28firstly, as democrats, to respect the referendum outcome,
0:21:28 > 0:21:31even though I'm on the losing side and I'm very, very saddened
0:21:31 > 0:21:36by the fact that Britain is leaving the EU, while at the very same time,
0:21:36 > 0:21:39minimising what is a process which I can only describe
0:21:39 > 0:21:40as a dog's Brexit.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42APPLAUSE.
0:21:42 > 0:21:43Right.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45Sarah?
0:21:45 > 0:21:48I'll come to you in a moment, let me go to one or two members
0:21:48 > 0:21:51of the audience then we'll come to you and Henry.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55The man in the white shirt and I would like to two back
0:21:55 > 0:21:56to the questioner Lesley as well.
0:21:56 > 0:21:57You, there?
0:21:57 > 0:22:00Absolutely, even if we accept that it's £50 billion,
0:22:00 > 0:22:04it's a fact whether you voted remain or leave, it's a fact
0:22:04 > 0:22:08that we pay a net contribution per year of £9 billion
0:22:08 > 0:22:11and the European Commission has talked about a 40-year payment
0:22:11 > 0:22:14period, we don't know what that is, but let's assume it's 40,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17even 30 years, that's just over £1 billion a year.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19We pay £9 billion net, that is a fact.
0:22:19 > 0:22:20Whatever side you're on.
0:22:20 > 0:22:22The second thing is, if it's £50 billion,
0:22:22 > 0:22:27not only does that appear a bargain when you look at what we pay each
0:22:27 > 0:22:30year, but this isn't a gift for a trade deal,
0:22:30 > 0:22:34this isn't us saying, well we are going to give you this,
0:22:34 > 0:22:37then you are going to give us a trade deal.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39This is us complying with our contractual obligations
0:22:39 > 0:22:40which we were always going to do.
0:22:40 > 0:22:41The key point is...
0:22:41 > 0:22:44Didn't the Foreign Secretary say they could whistle for their money?
0:22:44 > 0:22:46No, that is absolutely incorrect.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49What Boris Johnson said, and I would ask Chuka
0:22:49 > 0:22:52to retract his comment that he made today on Twitter, what he said
0:22:52 > 0:22:55about that was that they can go and whistle about an extortionate
0:22:55 > 0:22:58amount, he didn't put the full figure out there on Twitter.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00He talked about an extortionate amount, when he talks about go
0:23:00 > 0:23:03whistle and that has to be taken into account.
0:23:03 > 0:23:04All right.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06Let me go to the questioner, Lesley, what do you think?
0:23:06 > 0:23:10I think a lot of us on both sides voted on the basis of insufficient
0:23:10 > 0:23:12detailed information and I do think that...
0:23:12 > 0:23:14APPLAUSE.
0:23:14 > 0:23:20I do think that maybe it was our own responsibility
0:23:20 > 0:23:23to look into it in a lot more detail than we did.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26But I do think now people are thinking a lot more deeply.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29We have had a lot more information come out since we took the vote.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32I voted for remain and I agree with Chuka completely.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34I wish we'd never had the flaming referendum.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38All right.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40APPLAUSE.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44If both sides voted on incomplete information, the result
0:23:44 > 0:23:46might have been the same when they get full information.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48Sarah Baxter?
0:23:48 > 0:23:50I also voted remain.
0:23:50 > 0:23:51A lot of remainers here tonight.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53I think Chuka's completely wrong.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56Nobody voted for the referendum on the basis of £350 million
0:23:56 > 0:24:00for the NHS, everyone knew that was rubbish
0:24:00 > 0:24:02right from the start.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05The next thing is, Chuka says he doesn't want a hard Brexit.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08Now, if we say oh we are not paying that money...
0:24:08 > 0:24:09No, no.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11That is the quickest way to get a hard Brexit.
0:24:11 > 0:24:18Britain's always been honourable about its about its obligations.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21Britain's always been honourable about its obligations.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24Yanis Varoufakis is right, we haven't always had a good deal back.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27So I would like to make that payment contingent on getting a decent deal
0:24:27 > 0:24:31from the EU and not handing over the money without some sort of quid
0:24:31 > 0:24:34pro quo so we'll see what we get down the line in a trade deal.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37Meanwhile, I think a lot of the money is going to pay
0:24:37 > 0:24:39eurocrats and MEPs for their pension obligations, including Nigel Farage
0:24:39 > 0:24:43who is going to be supported for life by the rest of us.
0:24:43 > 0:24:44So anyway...
0:24:44 > 0:24:46I thought I would throw that in.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49Henry Bolton?
0:24:49 > 0:24:54It's interesting isn't it from the point of the referendum
0:24:54 > 0:24:57to the day we leave the European Union, presuming
0:24:57 > 0:25:02we leave in March 2019, we will have paid £22 billion
0:25:02 > 0:25:08to the European Union and then there's the £50 billion
0:25:08 > 0:25:11or thereabouts, which is £77 billion and how much further is it
0:25:11 > 0:25:17going to go up because also we see that in the budget,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20that Philip Hammond's allowed for, I think it's £3 billion every year
0:25:20 > 0:25:22with no end date to it.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25So what does this actually total up to?
0:25:25 > 0:25:28To follow on, on Chuka's analogy, would you consider buying a second
0:25:28 > 0:25:31hand car when you don't even know what make, colour or type of engine
0:25:31 > 0:25:34it has, what condition it's in, and yet you are still putting
0:25:34 > 0:25:35the amount of money on the table.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37Do you object to the way the Government's
0:25:37 > 0:25:38negotiating at the moment?
0:25:38 > 0:25:41I do, yes and in fact I would like to come
0:25:41 > 0:25:43back to Yanni's point, the dog's Brexit.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47We gave the Government a mandate to negotiate.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49The unfortunate fact of the matter is that
0:25:49 > 0:25:51our Government seems incapable of negotiating.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54APPLAUSE.
0:25:54 > 0:26:00At the moment, probably not very many people in this room have read
0:26:00 > 0:26:04the position papers that have been sent by London to Brussels
0:26:04 > 0:26:07but there is nothing, nothing concrete in them whatsoever.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10That's problem number one.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Problem number two is that they have no negotiating objectives, it's not
0:26:13 > 0:26:16clear what the British Government is trying to achieve.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20On the 24th June, 2016, they should have started work on that.
0:26:20 > 0:26:21They didn't.
0:26:21 > 0:26:22We've lost a lot of time.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25That is a problem for the Government and now what the Government
0:26:25 > 0:26:35is doings is trying to move takes on by offering £50 billion.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38is doings is trying to move talks on by offering £50 billion.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40They're trying to use your tax.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42That's the equivalent of about £1,650 on everybody's
0:26:42 > 0:26:43income tax bill.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46And then, to say that this was foreseen, of course it wasn't
0:26:46 > 0:26:48foreseen, we didn't foresee that our Government would be
0:26:48 > 0:26:51so incompetent as to not be able to negotiate any other way.
0:26:51 > 0:26:52It was foreseen.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55In fact the Sunday Times said it was going, there was a secret
0:26:55 > 0:26:58deal to have this bill of 40 billion to 50 billion euros
0:26:58 > 0:27:02back in September and a lot of what we have heard ever since has
0:27:02 > 0:27:03been pure noise.
0:27:03 > 0:27:10The EU asked for £90 billion, we said £20 billion,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13we are splitting the difference, a lot of this is happening
0:27:13 > 0:27:15in negotiations behind-the-scenes by officials, not by politicians
0:27:15 > 0:27:16and I think a lot of...
0:27:16 > 0:27:19I have say, I worked in Brussels for three years.
0:27:19 > 0:27:20So you know how that works?
0:27:20 > 0:27:23I do and I've negotiated for the European Union as well.
0:27:23 > 0:27:24Not for Britain.
0:27:24 > 0:27:25Who against?
0:27:25 > 0:27:27I'm not going to say, but for two countries.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30The other day, I met with a very high level European Commission
0:27:30 > 0:27:33official who is involved in these negotiations and his comment
0:27:33 > 0:27:38was that they after years of dealing with a country -
0:27:38 > 0:27:44Britain - that has always provided good, sound logical
0:27:44 > 0:27:46common-sense in all its dealings with the European Union has now
0:27:46 > 0:27:49totally disappointed them.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51OK.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54We are dealing with a Government that doesn't know what it's doing.
0:27:54 > 0:27:56The man in the blue shirt?
0:27:56 > 0:28:03We are all on about this referendum.
0:28:03 > 0:28:09The actual vote was so near and the majority so narrow,
0:28:09 > 0:28:15the Parliamentary election was so narrow and such a small
0:28:15 > 0:28:18majority, she's damned if she does and she's damned if she doesn't
0:28:18 > 0:28:24because we've always got this nit-picking
0:28:24 > 0:28:28going on and I would imagine them politicians over in Brussels
0:28:28 > 0:28:30are laughing at how we are conducting ourselves.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34I voted to leave.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37We are going to leave, get on with it, OK.
0:28:37 > 0:28:38APPLAUSE.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41And you, Sir?
0:28:41 > 0:28:45I would like to ask Chuka, two of the things he's
0:28:45 > 0:28:52said to far tonight, one is that he disagrees
0:28:52 > 0:28:54said so far tonight, one is that he disagrees
0:28:54 > 0:28:55with the £50 billion.
0:28:55 > 0:28:57I never said that.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59And the second being that he disagrees with the lack
0:28:59 > 0:29:01of detail that came out at the beginning.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05If you disagree with the fact that we are going to pay this
0:29:05 > 0:29:07£50 billion, will you please tell us, in your opinion,
0:29:07 > 0:29:09what that £50 billion is going to get spent
0:29:09 > 0:29:13on because I don't know and I can't make an opinion on that until I know
0:29:13 > 0:29:16what that is going to be, but nobody is telling me that.
0:29:16 > 0:29:19I'm really glad you asked me the question, Sir, because I'm not
0:29:19 > 0:29:21saying we are opposed to meeting our legal liabilities
0:29:21 > 0:29:22to the European Union.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26If you are a member of a club, you rack up a bill at the bar,
0:29:26 > 0:29:28you can't just walk out of it without settling it.
0:29:28 > 0:29:35So I don't have a problem with that.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38But the second thing I'd say is this, the reason I bring up
0:29:38 > 0:29:41the £350 million extra per week for the NHS, which this
0:29:41 > 0:29:43has a direct effect on, is not to relitigate the referendum,
0:29:43 > 0:29:45it's actually to hold people to account for
0:29:45 > 0:29:46the promises that were made.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49This is the big difference actually, if you like,
0:29:49 > 0:29:52between where we are at now and where we were last year.
0:29:52 > 0:29:54When we were debating this in the referendum last year,
0:29:54 > 0:29:56it was based on the hypotheticals on both sides.
0:29:56 > 0:29:58None of us knew exactly what was going to happen.
0:29:58 > 0:30:00What we now see are facts.
0:30:00 > 0:30:02We know facts are arising out of this negotiation process and,
0:30:02 > 0:30:06as the lady said at the back, this is far much more complex
0:30:06 > 0:30:07than anybody thought it would be.
0:30:07 > 0:30:14You said something about the number reremainers here and I think
0:30:14 > 0:30:17You said something about the number of remainers here and I think
0:30:17 > 0:30:18there are two types of remainers.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20There are remainers like Chuka who're still stuck
0:30:20 > 0:30:21in the groove of fighting.
0:30:21 > 0:30:22I'm not.
0:30:22 > 0:30:23APPLAUSE.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26And there are remainers who think the best thing
0:30:26 > 0:30:28we can do for our country, as that gentleman over there said,
0:30:28 > 0:30:32is to recognise that now, it is us versus the EU27.
0:30:32 > 0:30:33It's not leave versus remain.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37And therefore we should be looking at our national interests and seeing
0:30:37 > 0:30:41how best we support it.
0:30:41 > 0:30:46Of course, both sides in the referendum campaign came up
0:30:46 > 0:30:48with some wild exaggerations that we all knew the £350 million
0:30:48 > 0:30:49was hugely illustrative.
0:30:49 > 0:30:56But it is a fact and I say this as a remainor,
0:30:56 > 0:30:58But it is a fact and I say this as a remainer,
0:30:58 > 0:31:01when we come out of the EU, eventually we'll be paying a lot
0:31:01 > 0:31:03less to the EU than we do now.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07That is true.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10And so, Chuka, what we should be doing is not fight the referendum
0:31:10 > 0:31:13but actually focus on how we can get the best deal for our country.
0:31:13 > 0:31:14OK, enough.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17Your government has taken the best deal off the table.
0:31:17 > 0:31:18That is the problem, Sam.
0:31:18 > 0:31:21If you're going to rip us out of the single market
0:31:21 > 0:31:23and the customs union, which you don't need to do
0:31:23 > 0:31:26if you leave the European Union, that's the best deal off the table.
0:31:26 > 0:31:27The woman there, please.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31I don't know how you can say that the British public went into it
0:31:31 > 0:31:33with their eyes open, given the lies and misinformation
0:31:33 > 0:31:34that were spread during the referendum.
0:31:34 > 0:31:36Also, I have to disagree with Sarah's point,
0:31:36 > 0:31:39because as somebody who works in the NHS with boots
0:31:39 > 0:31:41on the floor in our hospitals, I can tell you that staff
0:31:41 > 0:31:43and patients were influenced by the 350 million thing.
0:31:43 > 0:31:45Henry Bolton, one last word.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48Your spokesman on this accused the negotiators,
0:31:48 > 0:31:51I've got the quote here, of being quislings.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54Is that how you think of the people negotiating?
0:31:54 > 0:31:58I wouldn't put it quite as quislings, no.
0:31:58 > 0:31:59Ukip did.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02Ukip's man in charge of this did.
0:32:02 > 0:32:03You're the boss of Ukip.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05Should he withdraw this, then?
0:32:05 > 0:32:07We could tone quislings down slightly.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11But let me answer this.
0:32:11 > 0:32:12Quislings is the same as traitor.
0:32:12 > 0:32:14Yes.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16Let's tone that down somewhat.
0:32:16 > 0:32:21But the point is that, indeed, there is some tendency towards that.
0:32:21 > 0:32:28Because, to answer this gentleman's question, OK,
0:32:28 > 0:32:32two of the things that some of this 50 billion is going to be spent
0:32:32 > 0:32:34on are projects relating to free wifi in Greek hotels.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38Sorry, Yanis.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41And the other thing is, can you believe it, £450,000,
0:32:41 > 0:32:45which is not much out of 50 billion, I grant you, on projects
0:32:45 > 0:32:47to challenge Euroscepticism.
0:32:47 > 0:32:49Now that's what we're going to be paying for,
0:32:49 > 0:32:50ladies and gentlemen.
0:32:50 > 0:32:54And what I'm saying here is if we're negotiating to agree to go forward
0:32:54 > 0:32:58with paying for things like that, then Gerard Batten has a point.
0:32:58 > 0:33:00You've already committed to paying for those things,
0:33:00 > 0:33:01however ludicrous they may seem to you.
0:33:01 > 0:33:09And you do not want to default on your commitments with legal...
0:33:09 > 0:33:16This country's government should do exactly what it's
0:33:16 > 0:33:18got a mandate to do, take us out.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21And the only way that we're going to come out of this
0:33:21 > 0:33:23on the trajectory that you suggest, Sam, which is in the interests
0:33:23 > 0:33:26of this country, is defending the interests of this country
0:33:26 > 0:33:29and making sure, to do that, we need to make sure we exercise
0:33:29 > 0:33:30a bit of British steel.
0:33:30 > 0:33:31And we're not doing that.
0:33:31 > 0:33:32All right.
0:33:32 > 0:33:33Enough, enough, enough.
0:33:33 > 0:33:34We must move on.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37We're over halfway through and every week we discuss this.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40And those of you who are here know that we discuss it every week
0:33:40 > 0:33:42because you will have heard it going on.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44Pearl Bent, let's hear from you.
0:33:44 > 0:33:46Should we prioritise getting aid to Yemen,
0:33:46 > 0:33:51rather than pandering to the Saudis and supplying them with arms?
0:33:51 > 0:33:54Should we prioritise getting aid to Yemen rather than pandering
0:33:54 > 0:33:55to the Saudis and supplying them with arms?
0:33:55 > 0:33:57Sarah Baxter.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01Well, the Yemen certainly needs our aid and what's going
0:34:01 > 0:34:05on there is an absolute scandal.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08And the country has been caught up in really a proxy war
0:34:08 > 0:34:11between the Saudis and the Iranians.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14And there is a big contest going on between the Sunni
0:34:14 > 0:34:19and Shia Muslims, and not one that we often hear talked about.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22That said, Theresa May, I think, is right to be in Saudi Arabia
0:34:22 > 0:34:25and visiting that country.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28I think that at the moment it has a new leader,
0:34:28 > 0:34:31a very young leader.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34He goes by the name of MBS, Mohammad Bin Salman.
0:34:34 > 0:34:40He is both interesting and quite a potentially dangerous figure.
0:34:40 > 0:34:42This is not a moment to be alienating MBS.
0:34:42 > 0:34:44It's a time to be watching rather warily in which
0:34:44 > 0:34:49direction he is going.
0:34:49 > 0:34:51He says he's for human rights, particularly for women,
0:34:51 > 0:34:53which is a good thing.
0:34:53 > 0:34:57But at the same time he's locking up members of his own House of Saud
0:34:57 > 0:35:00in the Ritz-Carlton hotel and extorting money off them,
0:35:00 > 0:35:04ostensibly as a way of curing corruption.
0:35:04 > 0:35:07Should we be providing three quarters of a billion of arms
0:35:07 > 0:35:12to the Saudi government?
0:35:12 > 0:35:15I think this is not the time to make an enemy of Saudi Arabia.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19I don't approve of that...
0:35:19 > 0:35:20So let's keep giving them the bombs.
0:35:20 > 0:35:21No, I do not approve...
0:35:21 > 0:35:25There's only one thing that we know.
0:35:25 > 0:35:26Have we learned nothing from Iraq?
0:35:26 > 0:35:27Have we learned nothing?
0:35:27 > 0:35:31Do we want to have more blood on our hands from the Middle East?
0:35:31 > 0:35:35There's one thing worse than what's going on in Saudi Arabia
0:35:35 > 0:35:39at the moment, and that would be Saudi going in the Isis-jihadist
0:35:39 > 0:35:43direction, and it is entirely possible that
0:35:43 > 0:35:47Saudi Arabia could go that way.
0:35:47 > 0:35:50And right now, I think it's better that they remain our ally.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52So we give them arms to kill more people in Yemen,
0:35:52 > 0:35:54to create more Islamic fundamentalism in Yemen,
0:35:54 > 0:35:58to destroy whatever is left of the image of Western democracy
0:35:58 > 0:36:01throughout the Middle East, to perpetuate a humanitarian crisis
0:36:01 > 0:36:06by becoming accomplices to the Saudis, who are blockading
0:36:06 > 0:36:10existing aid packages going to the people of Yemen that
0:36:10 > 0:36:12are starving, all that in order not to undermine our
0:36:12 > 0:36:17relationship with the Saudis.
0:36:17 > 0:36:23APPLAUSE
0:36:23 > 0:36:26I don't believe the UK should have any further foreign
0:36:26 > 0:36:28entanglements in the Middle East, aid, military or otherwise.
0:36:28 > 0:36:32I think we should finally withdraw for good from that region entirely.
0:36:32 > 0:36:34Sam Gyimah.
0:36:34 > 0:36:36Can you answer his point?
0:36:36 > 0:36:39The Prime Minister is travelling in the Middle East at the moment
0:36:39 > 0:36:43because we have a lot of important relationships there.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47We are a member of Nato, a leading member of the UN Security Council.
0:36:47 > 0:36:52We are one of the military powers in the world.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55We have an international role to play for good.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59In terms of the specific question about Yemen,
0:36:59 > 0:37:03which is a humanitarian catastrophe, I think it was right
0:37:03 > 0:37:06for the Prime Minister, while she was on her travels,
0:37:06 > 0:37:09to actually ask for the blockade to be lifted so commercial vehicles
0:37:09 > 0:37:13could get in there and you have vital supplies sent
0:37:13 > 0:37:16to the people of Yemen.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19The UK Government does not supply arms to Saudi Arabia.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21There are UK companies...
0:37:21 > 0:37:22You just lease them, you mean?
0:37:22 > 0:37:244.6 billion is the price tag of the lease.
0:37:24 > 0:37:31Very smart.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34There are UK companies that manufacture arms and sell them.
0:37:34 > 0:37:39Obviously they have export licences that are granted by the government.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42Those export licences are very carefully policed
0:37:42 > 0:37:45so that they are not allowed to sell our weapons where
0:37:45 > 0:37:49they are going to be used for repression,
0:37:49 > 0:37:53or where they are going to be used directly to harm people.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55Does the government approve of the use of the weapons
0:37:55 > 0:38:00that we have sold to Saudi Arabia being used in the Yemen?
0:38:00 > 0:38:03Do you have agents there making sure that these particular bombs cannot
0:38:03 > 0:38:04be used on these particular targets?
0:38:04 > 0:38:08Because that would be amazing.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11You should bring them back to negotiate Brexit.
0:38:11 > 0:38:13There are strict terms...
0:38:13 > 0:38:14APPLAUSE
0:38:14 > 0:38:20There he goes again.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23There are strict terms around the export licences,
0:38:23 > 0:38:25and we have relationships with a lot of these.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28I think what we've got to do is, UK jobs depend on this,
0:38:28 > 0:38:32is to make sure that at the highest level our foreign policy,
0:38:32 > 0:38:35our Foreign Secretary, our Defence Secretary,
0:38:35 > 0:38:38are diplomatically engaging with these countries
0:38:38 > 0:38:41so that our diplomatic and foreign objectives are realised.
0:38:41 > 0:38:43But the gentleman's point about moving out of these countries
0:38:43 > 0:38:47completely I don't think is right.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50Can I just put the question that I asked you?
0:38:50 > 0:38:52You say the government issues licences, and issues them with care,
0:38:52 > 0:38:54where it believes...
0:38:54 > 0:38:56Strict controls.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58Strict controls, right.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01Given that the arms have been sent to Saudi Arabia in huge quantities
0:39:01 > 0:39:03with strict controls, one assumes you can control
0:39:03 > 0:39:07their use, otherwise there's no point in having these controls.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10Do you think the British government, by allowing these weapons
0:39:10 > 0:39:14to be used in Yemen, is implicitly supporting
0:39:14 > 0:39:17Saudi policy in Yemen, and indeed allowing weapons made
0:39:17 > 0:39:21in this country to go there?
0:39:21 > 0:39:23Not at all.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26Not at all, I don't agree.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28There were weapons sold under certain strict
0:39:28 > 0:39:31conditions to Saudi Arabia.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34I do not know what weapons Saudi Arabia is using...
0:39:34 > 0:39:36All weapons we know are constantly having to be repaired.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38They have experts out there explaining how
0:39:38 > 0:39:39they should be used.
0:39:39 > 0:39:40It's an industry.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42And you can pull back from it or you can...
0:39:42 > 0:39:43I'm sorry.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46Can you commit to their non-use in Yemen?
0:39:46 > 0:39:49Can you say, as a government minister, that those bombs are not
0:39:49 > 0:39:50being thrown in Yemen?
0:39:50 > 0:39:51Can you say that?
0:39:51 > 0:39:52I can't comment on that.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55Well, that is the question.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58You only have to look at the television and see
0:39:58 > 0:40:00those children starving, dying of diphtheria and diseases
0:40:00 > 0:40:01that no child should die from.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05It's a disgrace.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08Chuka Umunna.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11I'll come back to you, but I'll go to Chuka Umunna.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14I think there is a big question mark over whether the arms
0:40:14 > 0:40:18which are being purchased, albeit from British companies,
0:40:18 > 0:40:23whether they are being used to repress people.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26And therefore I think at the very least that the government should
0:40:26 > 0:40:28pause and investigate what is happening here.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30I actually think there is a bigger question
0:40:30 > 0:40:32here about our relationship with the Saudi Arabian
0:40:32 > 0:40:36regime overall.
0:40:36 > 0:40:40Because the traditional argument that is used against perhaps,
0:40:40 > 0:40:47how could I say, deploying a more robust approach to that relationship
0:40:47 > 0:40:50is that we've got strategic military and defence interests in the region,
0:40:50 > 0:40:56and they are part of protecting those interests.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58But increasingly I've found over the years,
0:40:58 > 0:41:00you know, if you look at so many of the problems
0:41:00 > 0:41:03that we are faced with, Saudi Arabia has very often been
0:41:03 > 0:41:05an incubator for those problems.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07If you look at the extreme strain of Islamism...
0:41:07 > 0:41:10Well, I'm probably not describing it correctly,
0:41:10 > 0:41:15but the more conservative strain of Islamic thought, Wahhabism,
0:41:15 > 0:41:19that was incubated in Saudi Arabia, and that is one of the things that
0:41:19 > 0:41:22has led to many of the problems in the region.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24So I do question whether our approach, our foreign policy
0:41:24 > 0:41:28approach to Saudi Arabia, not just under this government,
0:41:28 > 0:41:30frankly, but under different governments, is actually
0:41:30 > 0:41:31the right one.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34And I certainly don't think we should be putting jobs
0:41:34 > 0:41:35before human rights.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39I have a real issue with that.
0:41:39 > 0:41:39APPLAUSE
0:41:39 > 0:41:43You, sir, up there.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45The problem with if we cease providing weapons and military
0:41:45 > 0:41:49training to Saudi Arabia is what happens to that void?
0:41:49 > 0:41:52Someone will fill it, and that someone will be Russia,
0:41:52 > 0:41:56China, a country of that nature who will come in to supply weapons,
0:41:56 > 0:42:01which aren't perhaps, they may be a chemical nature
0:42:01 > 0:42:04or some sort of weapon which will actually cause greater
0:42:04 > 0:42:06harm than weapons which we provide.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08We just can't comprehend what might happen.
0:42:08 > 0:42:10So just because somebody else will commit a crime
0:42:10 > 0:42:17if you don't, you should.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20Over here on the other side of the gangway, and then
0:42:20 > 0:42:21Henry Bolton I will come to you.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24In terms of not sending aid at all into Yemen,
0:42:24 > 0:42:26what happens if everybody took that responsibility and that standpoint?
0:42:26 > 0:42:29There would be no aid going into there, when there is already
0:42:29 > 0:42:30a major humanitarian crisis.
0:42:30 > 0:42:34Well, I don't think anyone's arguing against aid going into Yemen.
0:42:34 > 0:42:35Henry Bolton.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38The question was, the point was, I think, almost, that we should not
0:42:38 > 0:42:41intervene in these places.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43Based on past track record.
0:42:43 > 0:42:48And I would entirely agree.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51And it links across to the weaponry that we provide with Saudi Arabia.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54And as far as I'm concerned, the weaponry that we are providing
0:42:54 > 0:42:57Saudi Arabia, to equate that to, as Sam did, to jobs, it's lives.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00There are people dying because of those weapons and you're
0:43:00 > 0:43:03saying people's jobs depend on them.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07But we are not good as a country and we have not been for many years
0:43:07 > 0:43:09in dealing with our interventionist policies and approaches.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13Iraq, Afghanistan.
0:43:13 > 0:43:16Two cases in point.
0:43:16 > 0:43:17In Afghanistan, the military mission was accomplished
0:43:17 > 0:43:20in probably about six months, a year at most.
0:43:20 > 0:43:23But we stayed there for years, getting involved in state building,
0:43:23 > 0:43:29in a society and in a political background that we had no
0:43:29 > 0:43:32understanding of what we were dealing with.
0:43:32 > 0:43:34And that's the problem.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36And we have got policies of selling arms to Saudi Arabia,
0:43:36 > 0:43:39and people dying as a result, without any real
0:43:39 > 0:43:44in-depth understanding of what's going on there.
0:43:44 > 0:43:46And we are complicit, therefore, in what is going
0:43:46 > 0:43:47on and the humanitarian disaster.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50We need to really re-evaluate how we conduct our foreign
0:43:50 > 0:43:52policy in such scenarios.
0:43:52 > 0:43:53I'm going to move on.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57Very briefly, if you would.
0:43:57 > 0:43:59No one is equating jobs with lives.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02What is going on in Yemen is the responsibility
0:44:02 > 0:44:06of the Saudi Arabian government, not the British government.
0:44:06 > 0:44:07If you're supplying arms to somebody...
0:44:07 > 0:44:10If I give you a weapon and you go and shoot somebody,
0:44:10 > 0:44:12who supplied you with the weapon?
0:44:12 > 0:44:15Who has part of the culpability?
0:44:15 > 0:44:18Would you be able to shoot them without the weapon?
0:44:18 > 0:44:19Of course not.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23We are not responsible for Saudi Arabian foreign policy.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26We have to leave it there to move onto another subject,
0:44:26 > 0:44:27which we had many questions on.
0:44:27 > 0:44:31Fiona Beardsley, please, your question.
0:44:31 > 0:44:33How would the panel tackle the social deprivation,
0:44:33 > 0:44:35the high unemployment, low wages that are being faced by
0:44:35 > 0:44:41many of our coastal towns in the UK?
0:44:41 > 0:44:43That was revealed by the commission report on social
0:44:43 > 0:44:44mobility this very week.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47Sarah Baxter.
0:44:47 > 0:44:52Well, I'd start with looking at education, because very often
0:44:52 > 0:44:56the coastal towns are falling behind in schools.
0:44:56 > 0:45:02Now, there are ways to reform that, and London's been pretty good at it,
0:45:02 > 0:45:05actually, by introducing a variety of types of schools,
0:45:05 > 0:45:07free schools, academies, etc.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10A lot of choice.
0:45:10 > 0:45:14I think standards need to be raised right from the start.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17We heard the Ofsted chief this week saying that early education is not
0:45:17 > 0:45:21good in this country, people aren't even learning
0:45:21 > 0:45:23the basics of reading and writing.
0:45:23 > 0:45:25Now that's just at the very basic level.
0:45:25 > 0:45:27It takes some time to work through.
0:45:27 > 0:45:29I'd like to see more investment.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32Maybe we'll come on to talk about the railways, but I'd love
0:45:32 > 0:45:36to see more infrastructure.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38You can talk about it now.
0:45:38 > 0:45:40You are free.
0:45:40 > 0:45:45Answer the question any way you choose.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49You talk about the railways.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53We are no longer living in that age of the car foreseen by Beeching
0:45:53 > 0:45:59and I think we should start developing, not just more branch
0:45:59 > 0:46:02lines but also the HS III connecting Liverpool to Hull and regenerate
0:46:02 > 0:46:04the whole of the North.
0:46:04 > 0:46:07I would like to see a Yorkshire Mayor, I don't know how
0:46:07 > 0:46:09you guys feel about that, but I think that Mayors can be...
0:46:09 > 0:46:16Well in my experience in London and in Manchester,
0:46:16 > 0:46:19they can be a good way of providing inward investment into a region
0:46:19 > 0:46:22and also generating a kind of cohesion and can-do spirit
0:46:22 > 0:46:24so I'm for it.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27Fiona Beardsley, what are you actually driving at here,
0:46:27 > 0:46:34what is it like, what is it that this social mobility
0:46:34 > 0:46:37report produced that you feel strongly about.
0:46:37 > 0:46:43I mean, I think, you know, it's obvious to us in Scarborough
0:46:43 > 0:46:46that we know this is happening locally and we face
0:46:46 > 0:46:50these problems daily.
0:46:50 > 0:46:52Our young people can't find employment, our
0:46:52 > 0:46:54employment is very seasonal.
0:46:54 > 0:47:01We are very isolated by our transport links as well
0:47:01 > 0:47:03which deters businesses from moving here and investing in the town.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05You, Sir, over there, to you agree with that?
0:47:05 > 0:47:10Yes, I agree, because the major road that comes into Scarborough
0:47:10 > 0:47:13is the A64 and if you go down that road, there are single
0:47:13 > 0:47:15carriageway section of it.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18If you go somewhere similar like Blackpool, it is a major
0:47:18 > 0:47:20motorway going into Blackpool so it puts blocks of businesses off
0:47:20 > 0:47:23because it's difficult to get the transport in and out
0:47:23 > 0:47:25of Scarborough and it's ridiculous that a town like Scarborough has
0:47:25 > 0:47:27such a ridiculous road going into it.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29You, Sir, what do you think?
0:47:29 > 0:47:30It's about education.
0:47:30 > 0:47:34We as a country are short of skilled people.
0:47:34 > 0:47:39Now, at school, if you, when we were at school at 13, 14,
0:47:39 > 0:47:42our teachers knew how far we could go.
0:47:42 > 0:47:45Now, I think at 14, most of the teachers should be able to be
0:47:45 > 0:47:48able to tell pupils and say, you can go on or you
0:47:48 > 0:47:53will go to university.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57Some of the people who're not clever enough to two to university,
0:47:57 > 0:47:59who've got the hands to go into trades.
0:47:59 > 0:48:07We are short of electricians, plasterers, joiners, chefs,
0:48:07 > 0:48:09At 14, 15, you should start to learn a trade.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12Are you talking about the country as a whole or Scarborough?
0:48:12 > 0:48:14The country as a whole but Scarborough would
0:48:14 > 0:48:15obviously benefit as well.
0:48:15 > 0:48:16The woman here?
0:48:16 > 0:48:18My question was relating to the £53 billion and rising
0:48:18 > 0:48:25all the time, of HS II.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28What benefit does the panel see that for the north-east?
0:48:28 > 0:48:31Chuka Umunna?
0:48:31 > 0:48:33And HS III yes but for Hull.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35When is that going to be?
0:48:35 > 0:48:37I'm nervous in replying to this question.
0:48:37 > 0:48:38Why?
0:48:38 > 0:48:39I'll explain why.
0:48:39 > 0:48:47Part of the problem here is we try to do everything in London
0:48:47 > 0:48:50in Whitehall and to come and tell a community like yours
0:48:50 > 0:48:52here how to do things...
0:48:52 > 0:48:56APPLAUSE.
0:48:56 > 0:49:00And, you know, it seems to me, I mean if you take an overview,
0:49:00 > 0:49:03it's shocking, we are the sixth most wealthy country in the world and yet
0:49:03 > 0:49:05one in five people lives in absolute poverty,
0:49:05 > 0:49:07over 14 million people are living in absolute poverty
0:49:07 > 0:49:09in our country which I think is a disgrace.
0:49:09 > 0:49:10APPLAUSE.
0:49:10 > 0:49:12But, how do you deal with that?
0:49:12 > 0:49:13You need proper local industrial strategies and,
0:49:13 > 0:49:17when I say you need to decide that here, is that you know
0:49:17 > 0:49:19what it is about your unique geography history and people that
0:49:19 > 0:49:23givious a cutting edge and a niche in a big global economy.
0:49:23 > 0:49:26I visited another area like this, Clacton-on-Sea,
0:49:26 > 0:49:36a couple of years ago.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39They are going through change there as well.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43It was massively based on tourism before, there was a big Butlins
0:49:43 > 0:49:46there that shut down in 1983 and then they were left with not
0:49:46 > 0:49:48new industries and now because of the geography
0:49:48 > 0:49:51and the place, they've turned it into this renewable energy
0:49:51 > 0:49:52hub, big windfarms just outside of Clacton-on-Sea.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55But they know how to do that.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59I think what we have to do, people in the centre in government,
0:49:59 > 0:50:01have to give you the tools to do that.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04I totally agree with the point that the gentleman made about skills
0:50:04 > 0:50:07and we have got to end the snobbery in this country that says,
0:50:07 > 0:50:18if you go to university, that is better than becoming
0:50:18 > 0:50:20an apprentice than doing a vocational education
0:50:20 > 0:50:21qualification.
0:50:21 > 0:50:22APPLAUSE.
0:50:22 > 0:50:24I'll tell you, there's a really big problem,
0:50:24 > 0:50:26there's a real crisis on the apprenticeship front
0:50:26 > 0:50:28because over the past quarter, the number of apprenticeship starts
0:50:28 > 0:50:29has fallen by 70%.
0:50:29 > 0:50:32We are not going to solve these problems with that
0:50:32 > 0:50:33type of thing happening.
0:50:33 > 0:50:34All right.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37The woman here in the second row, then we'll come to you, Yanis?
0:50:37 > 0:50:39I don't necessarily think that education is the answer.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42I have three degrees and today I nearly didn't get
0:50:42 > 0:50:44here because I had to travel home from Newcastle where I work
0:50:44 > 0:50:53and the train got delayed.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57I travel up and down to Newcastle and up and down to London an also
0:50:57 > 0:51:01around all of the coastal towns and cities in England as part
0:51:01 > 0:51:05of my job and it's the same, it can take me ten hours on a train
0:51:05 > 0:51:09to get from here to Cornwall.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12I can fly to the Middle East in less time than that takes.
0:51:12 > 0:51:13APPLAUSE.
0:51:13 > 0:51:14We do not have adequate transport links.
0:51:14 > 0:51:15The infrastructure, right.
0:51:15 > 0:51:21How can you expect investment to happen and businesses
0:51:21 > 0:51:23to want to develop in areas like this, regardless
0:51:23 > 0:51:26of what the business is, if they haven't got the ability
0:51:26 > 0:51:28to get there, and therefore, what's the point in being
0:51:28 > 0:51:30educated if you can't work where you live?
0:51:30 > 0:51:32APPLAUSE.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35Yanis Varoufakis ?
0:51:35 > 0:51:38I agree with much of what I heard about the importance of strong
0:51:38 > 0:51:40regional governance, whether this is a mayorship
0:51:40 > 0:51:41or I would actually like Regional Assemblies,
0:51:41 > 0:51:47a more federal kingdom to emerge, it's a complete devolution that
0:51:47 > 0:51:49Tony Blair left incomplete, infrastructure, education
0:51:49 > 0:51:53is an end in itself, and of course it has very
0:51:53 > 0:51:56good side effects.
0:51:56 > 0:52:01But I think what our conversation is missing out
0:52:01 > 0:52:03on is that the situation in towns like Scarborough or Clacton-on-Sea
0:52:03 > 0:52:08and so on is simply a symptom of the chronic under-performance
0:52:08 > 0:52:15of the UK business model.
0:52:15 > 0:52:25You have a country which is chronically under-investing
0:52:26 > 0:52:29in research and development compared to the main places around Europe
0:52:29 > 0:52:32and the world in fixed capital, in infrastructure.
0:52:32 > 0:52:37You have wage stagnation, you have the worst, the most
0:52:37 > 0:52:42lob-sided geographical imbalances of any major country in the world,
0:52:42 > 0:52:44worse than Italy actually.
0:52:44 > 0:52:45APPLAUSE.
0:52:45 > 0:52:46Where does the blame for this lie?
0:52:46 > 0:52:48Let's not play the blame game.
0:52:48 > 0:52:50You have to play the blame game if you are going
0:52:50 > 0:53:00to resolve anything.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05Mrs Thatcher on the basis of what was a very clear attempt
0:53:05 > 0:53:06to diminish the organisations of the working
0:53:06 > 0:53:07class in Britain...
0:53:07 > 0:53:08APPLAUSE.
0:53:08 > 0:53:13The fact that you had growth based on financisations of the city,
0:53:13 > 0:53:19The fact that you had growth based on financialisations of the city,
0:53:19 > 0:53:21financialisations of council house sales which of course depleted
0:53:21 > 0:53:23the stock of housing, the fact that then you created
0:53:23 > 0:53:25an educational system, higher educational system,
0:53:25 > 0:53:28university system where young people have to become endebted before
0:53:28 > 0:53:30they even begin to consider entering the labour market.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33But let's talk what about what needs to be done.
0:53:33 > 0:53:38We only have...
0:53:38 > 0:53:40Allow me to say something good about the government.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44Say anything you like but be quick about it, that's all.
0:53:44 > 0:53:48I read the interesting policy White Paper, it's actually quite
0:53:48 > 0:53:49good except it's missing an important point.
0:53:49 > 0:53:51An important part.
0:53:51 > 0:53:52Funding.
0:53:52 > 0:53:53APPLAUSE.
0:53:53 > 0:53:58What you have in this country is about £900 billion slushing
0:53:58 > 0:54:03around in the financial sector needing to be invested
0:54:03 > 0:54:05in all of the things that you are discussing.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08But in order to do that, you need a public investment bank
0:54:08 > 0:54:10and you need that public investment bank to work side by side
0:54:10 > 0:54:13with the Bank of England through a particular kind
0:54:13 > 0:54:16of quantitative easing.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19Sorry, I have to speed you up.
0:54:19 > 0:54:24I'm afraid only Jeremy Corbyn will do this because your government
0:54:24 > 0:54:26doesn't have what it takes to realise the importance of closing
0:54:26 > 0:54:27the loop that you started.
0:54:27 > 0:54:28Sam Gyimah?
0:54:28 > 0:54:30Thanks, Yanis.
0:54:30 > 0:54:35The lady's question was about social mobility and social mobility is your
0:54:35 > 0:54:39chances of improving your life whatever circumstances
0:54:39 > 0:54:42into which you were born.
0:54:42 > 0:54:52The report that came out this week showed a mixed picture.
0:54:52 > 0:54:54Ironically, despite what Chuka said, the report says it's not
0:54:54 > 0:54:57a North-south divide, what the report said is that
0:54:57 > 0:54:59you have got a mixed picture across the country.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01Scarborough was in there and I think the education was highlighted
0:55:01 > 0:55:04in that report and that is why there is £72 million
0:55:04 > 0:55:06going towards specific areas in the country of which Scarborough
0:55:06 > 0:55:09is one to help really improve the quality of education.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12But I'll say that the situation is not all that bad.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15I had a look at what's been happening here on my way up.
0:55:15 > 0:55:17£1 billion is going into the into the potash mine,
0:55:17 > 0:55:20that's going to create 1,000 jobs locally.
0:55:20 > 0:55:25I think that is great news.
0:55:25 > 0:55:27McCains is investing £100 million into Scarborough.
0:55:27 > 0:55:29I think that is also good news.
0:55:29 > 0:55:36But I'm not saying that is all.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38I think the lady's point about infrastructure, I really,
0:55:38 > 0:55:40really appreciate because I missed my connecting train and I was
0:55:40 > 0:55:43worried I was going to miss this show today so that is definitely
0:55:43 > 0:55:45something that we could do more about.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48Henry Bolton, you will have to be brief, if you would?
0:55:48 > 0:55:49I will be.
0:55:49 > 0:55:51The nature of coastal towns is that they are 180
0:55:51 > 0:55:53degrees surrounded by land, thereabouts and the rest
0:55:53 > 0:55:55and they don't have access, to compete with inland towns,
0:55:55 > 0:55:57they need double the investment for access.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59Traditional industries in those areas, coastal
0:55:59 > 0:56:00towns, have been reduced.
0:56:00 > 0:56:01What about the fishing industry?
0:56:01 > 0:56:02Lowestoft for example?
0:56:02 > 0:56:04(Inaudible).
0:56:04 > 0:56:05Correct.
0:56:05 > 0:56:06Correct.
0:56:07 > 0:56:14What Chuka says about having to listen to coastal communities,
0:56:14 > 0:56:18you know I totally agree, but the reason coastal
0:56:18 > 0:56:20communities are in the state that they are is because successive
0:56:20 > 0:56:22governments of different colours have been ignoring the concerns
0:56:22 > 0:56:26of local communities for too long on everything from infrastructure
0:56:26 > 0:56:28to jobs, to education, to the rule of law.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30So it's a succession of problems.
0:56:30 > 0:56:32They've been ignoring our voice about fracking
0:56:32 > 0:56:33for long enough as well.
0:56:33 > 0:56:37We don't want it.
0:56:37 > 0:56:41It will ruin our agriculture, it will ruin our tourism,
0:56:41 > 0:56:44but this government is determined to do it and we don't want it.
0:56:44 > 0:56:46APPLAUSE.
0:56:46 > 0:56:48No fracking but you are in favour of potash?
0:56:48 > 0:56:49No, absolutely not.
0:56:49 > 0:56:50Against potash as well.
0:56:50 > 0:56:57The woman here and we are pretty much coming to tend,
0:56:57 > 0:56:59The woman here and we are pretty much coming to the end,
0:56:59 > 0:57:02the woman here on the side, quickly?
0:57:02 > 0:57:05I just want to agree that I think a lot of the trouble on the coastal
0:57:05 > 0:57:08communities is that the government think they know what's best
0:57:08 > 0:57:10for us, without asking us what's best for us.
0:57:10 > 0:57:13Even to the point where they said, you can have electrification
0:57:13 > 0:57:16of the railway line from Liverpool to the East Coast except it wasn't,
0:57:16 > 0:57:18it was going to stop in York.
0:57:18 > 0:57:20At the moment we can get right through when we get
0:57:20 > 0:57:22electrification we'll have to change trains.
0:57:22 > 0:57:23OK.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26We have got to stop but I want you hear Vicky Blake's question
0:57:26 > 0:57:33and you can all answer it.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35Vicky Blake, just ask your question if you would?
0:57:35 > 0:57:38Is Theresa May being mean spirited by not giving the country an extra
0:57:38 > 0:57:40Bank Holiday for the Royal Wedding?
0:57:40 > 0:57:43Hands up those of you who would like an extra Bank Holiday
0:57:43 > 0:57:44for the Royal Wedding?
0:57:44 > 0:57:45Only half of you.
0:57:45 > 0:57:46The other half will stay at work.
0:57:46 > 0:57:48OK.
0:57:48 > 0:57:48Thank you very much.
0:57:48 > 0:57:50On our panel, hands up?
0:57:50 > 0:57:51Yes, why not.
0:57:51 > 0:57:52Why not.
0:57:52 > 0:57:53We'll give you four.
0:57:53 > 0:57:55They should get married on the Bank Holiday.
0:57:55 > 0:58:00That really is time up.
0:58:00 > 0:58:01That really is time up.
0:58:01 > 0:58:03You are not for Bank Holidays obviously, no.
0:58:03 > 0:58:05Chuka has banned all Bank Holidays.
0:58:05 > 0:58:08No holidays.
0:58:08 > 0:58:11Next Thursday we are going to be in Swansea, the First Minister
0:58:11 > 0:58:14of Wales Carwyn Jones is going to be there, Richard Bacon,
0:58:14 > 0:58:17the television and radio presenter is going to be on the panel,
0:58:17 > 0:58:20Barnsley the week after that, with Nicky Morgan and reckth Rebecca
0:58:20 > 0:58:21long-Bailey among those.
0:58:21 > 0:58:28If you want to come to either place, the number to ring: 03301239998.
0:58:28 > 0:58:31If you want to come to either place, the number to ring.
0:58:31 > 0:58:34You can also apply on the website which is probably an easier way
0:58:34 > 0:58:37of doing it if your Broadband works and indeed if you've got Broadband.
0:58:37 > 0:58:39Question Time extra time follows now on Five Live.
0:58:39 > 0:58:42Here my thanks to our panel and to all of you who came
0:58:42 > 0:58:45through the mild little inch or two of snow to Scarborough
0:58:45 > 0:58:46tonight to take part.
0:58:46 > 0:58:47Until next Thursday from Question Time, good night.