Browse content similar to 22/09/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics. Ed Miliband and the | :00:36. | :00:44. | |
rest of the Labour clan are in Brighton for their party conference | :00:44. | :00:47. | |
this weekend. He's promised policies galore. But as a Sunday Politics | :00:47. | :00:52. | |
poll finds a third of his own councillors don't think he's doing a | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
good job, will that be enough to steady the Labour ship? | :00:55. | :00:59. | |
Back in Westminster, they're partying like it's 2006, as Damian | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
McBride's memoirs re-ignite the Blair-Brown wars. Alastair Campbell | :01:02. | :01:08. | |
will tell us why he is sickened by the former Brown spin doctor. | :01:08. | :01:12. | |
And speaking of political infighting, Conservative Party | :01:12. | :01:15. | |
Chairman Grant Shapps will give his response to the rampant Tory-bashing | :01:15. | :01:16. | |
In the East Midlands, praise for our at the Lib Dem Conference | :01:16. | :01:25. | |
In the East Midlands, praise for our politicians for their role in | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
helping a community cope with five shocking deaths in one city. | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
business. In London, Labour commands over the two thirds of the ethnic | :01:31. | :01:36. | |
minority vote but now stands accused of institutional racism. Are they | :01:36. | :01:44. | |
right? With me, the best and the brightest political panel in the | :01:44. | :01:48. | |
business. Isabel Hardman, Janan be tweeting like demented Damians | :01:49. | :01:53. | |
throughout the programme. First today, scrapping the bedroom tax. | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
Universal childcare for primary school kids. More apprenticeships. | :01:56. | :02:02. | |
Labour Conference only begins in earnest today, but the policy and | :02:02. | :02:04. | |
spending commitments are coming according to the Labour leader's | :02:04. | :02:11. | |
critics. He's been out and about this morning and told Andrew Marr | :02:11. | :02:12. | |
that he knew it was going to be this morning and told Andrew Marr | :02:12. | :02:23. | |
It is about a party that lost office three years ago. We are trying to be | :02:23. | :02:29. | |
a one term opposition. That is tough. I believe it is a fight that | :02:29. | :02:34. | |
we can win and I am up for that fight. The stakes are so high for | :02:34. | :02:41. | |
young people who want a job, for people whose living standards are | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
being squeezed. For people who think that this is not good enough for | :02:45. | :02:53. | |
Britain. So what do key Labour Party activists - its councillors - think | :02:53. | :02:54. | |
about the direction Mr Miliband activists - its councillors - think | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
taking their party? Adam Fleming is in Brighton at the Party Conference | :02:58. | :03:02. | |
with all the details of our latest exclusive Sunday Politics survey. | :03:02. | :03:12. | |
conference set. Let us unwrap them. With the help of an opinion poll we | :03:12. | :03:19. | |
surveyed 1350 Labour councillors across England and Wales. We wanted | :03:19. | :03:24. | |
to find out what they think as Labour gathers for its conference. | :03:24. | :03:26. | |
The Labour leader warmed up for Labour gathers for its conference. | :03:26. | :03:32. | |
week by taking to his soap box in Brighton city centre. It is great | :03:32. | :03:40. | |
week by taking to his soap box in councillors said they did not think | :03:40. | :03:42. | |
Ed Miliband was doing a good job as leader. 30% said they thought the | :03:42. | :03:48. | |
party would have a better chance if someone else was in charge at the | :03:48. | :03:55. | |
next election. You will see more of Ed Miliband as we run-up to general | :03:55. | :04:01. | |
election. He has been in the job for three years! Now it is crunch time. | :04:01. | :04:11. | |
The other Ed, Ed Balls, was disliked by roughly one third of the party as | :04:11. | :04:16. | |
well. Ed Balls is not a pop your man. He says things and he speaks | :04:16. | :04:23. | |
his mind. -- not a popular man. diplomatic. Sadly Ed Balls did not | :04:23. | :04:32. | |
seem to be that bothered about our survey. Over at a conference centre | :04:32. | :04:39. | |
When it comes to relations with trade unions, the majority of Labour | :04:39. | :04:45. | |
councillors thought things were absolutely fine. Just 9% thought | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
things with the unions were a little bit too close. Tricky because Ed | :04:50. | :04:56. | |
Miliband want to loosen the link. The shadow environment secretary | :04:57. | :05:00. | |
arrived in Brighton ride bicycle from London to raise money for | :05:00. | :05:08. | |
councillors what they would do if the next election results in a hung | :05:08. | :05:10. | |
parliament, just over half said the next election results in a hung | :05:10. | :05:16. | |
would tell the lid Dems to get on their bikes. We would never say | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
would tell the lid Dems to get on to going into coalition. It gives us | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
the chance to be in government and prepare some of the damage of the | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
last three years. So are you going to start being nice about the Lib | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
Dems? I always treat them with courtesy. And the parties admitted | :05:32. | :05:37. | |
that perhaps they had opened the door to too many immigrants. It | :05:37. | :05:44. | |
that perhaps they had opened the our survey Labour councillors of | :05:44. | :05:46. | |
warming the felt that immigration We're now joined by the Shadow Chief | :05:46. | :05:52. | |
Secretary to the Treasury, Rachel Reeves. Good morning. Let us start | :05:53. | :06:03. | |
with Ed Miliband. Is it true that the team insisted that he be called | :06:03. | :06:10. | |
the leader? I just call him Ed and I think the rest of the Shadow Cabinet | :06:10. | :06:17. | |
do. Do you welcome working for a leader that says he is winning back | :06:17. | :06:25. | |
socialism? We are a democratic important thing is that we have | :06:26. | :06:34. | |
socialism? We are a democratic policies that will improve people 's | :06:34. | :06:37. | |
lives and tackle the cost of living crisis facing so many families. | :06:37. | :06:42. | |
Policies like expanding childcare, offering more apprenticeships, all | :06:42. | :06:48. | |
policies that I think the country are calling out for after three | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
years of a flat-lining economy and seeing prices rise faster than wages | :06:54. | :07:01. | |
for 38 out of the 39 months but Minister. I think that is the most | :07:01. | :07:08. | |
important thing. So it is OK now to risk their to the Labour Party again | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
as the Socialist party? The clue is in the name, we stand up for working | :07:13. | :07:18. | |
people. You are socialist party according to the leader. We have | :07:18. | :07:23. | |
always been the Labour Party, that is our name and we stand up for | :07:23. | :07:27. | |
working people, not the privileged few like this government with their | :07:27. | :07:33. | |
tax cuts for millionaires. Those are privileged few. The Labour Party is | :07:33. | :07:39. | |
about helping everyone in Britain, all families. Interesting that your | :07:39. | :07:48. | |
run don't use the word socialist. In our survey one third of Labour | :07:49. | :07:52. | |
councillors said Ed Miliband was not doing a good job as leader. If he | :07:52. | :08:01. | |
councillors, who can he convince? Well you could say that two thirds | :08:01. | :08:02. | |
of councillors think that he is Well you could say that two thirds | :08:02. | :08:08. | |
right leader. But these are Labour councillors. The overall majority of | :08:08. | :08:13. | |
Labour councillors think that he is doing a good job. What matters is | :08:13. | :08:22. | |
the results on election day. Two thirds of councillors think that he | :08:22. | :08:28. | |
is doing a good job. That us see what they say at the end of this | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
week. Because I think the policies he is announcing will go down well | :08:32. | :08:37. | |
week. Because I think the policies with Labour Party people and will | :08:37. | :08:38. | |
also resonate with the British public. Policies like expanding | :08:38. | :08:40. | |
apprenticeships, giving a break public. Policies like expanding | :08:40. | :08:47. | |
struggling. I think people will public. Policies like expanding | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
what kind of a leader that he is. Well he has a mountain to climb | :08:51. | :08:58. | |
among all voters. Let me ask the question. Just 12% see him as a | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
Prime Minister in waiting, just question. Just 12% see him as a | :09:02. | :09:07. | |
see him as a natural leader. Why? If question. Just 12% see him as a | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
you look at the overall opinion polls, we are consistently ahead in | :09:10. | :09:15. | |
those polls. It is hard being leader Minister. By nature you are in | :09:16. | :09:26. | |
opposition. But he has taken on Rupert Murdoch and the press barons. | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
That is strong leadership, standing up to the vast majority. If you | :09:31. | :09:37. | |
That is strong leadership, standing at his reforms to our relationship | :09:37. | :09:41. | |
with the trade unions, strengthening ties with individual members. I | :09:41. | :09:48. | |
think that he is a strong leader making the right decisions. If that | :09:48. | :09:51. | |
is the case, why has the Labour making the right decisions. If that | :09:51. | :09:57. | |
gone from 14 points one year ago to at most four points now. What went | :09:57. | :10:04. | |
wrong? Well we are six or eight are six or eight points ahead in the | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
consistently ahead. It looks as are six or eight points ahead in the | :10:08. | :10:14. | |
we would get an overall majority if there was an election tomorrow. | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
we would get an overall majority if we have more work to do to convince | :10:17. | :10:18. | |
more people to vote for Labour. we have more work to do to convince | :10:18. | :10:25. | |
a one term Labour opposition. I this is a historic challenge, to be | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
a one term Labour opposition. I believe that Ed Miliband will be the | :10:29. | :10:31. | |
next Labour Prime Minister and will be an excellent Prime Minister. The | :10:31. | :10:38. | |
big policy announcement today is the guaranteed childcare for all primary | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
school children. How much will that government, they ring fenced money | :10:41. | :10:52. | |
after-school and breakfast clubs. We think that money should be ring | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
fenced again. How much will it cost? We are saying that schools | :10:55. | :11:01. | |
within their budgets should be able to provide that. At the moment they | :11:01. | :11:04. | |
can charge for children to come to provide that. At the moment they | :11:05. | :11:12. | |
their first clubs. But this is a additional money. As it was under | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
the last Labour government it will be about ring fencing money because | :11:17. | :11:22. | |
we think that this is a priority. This is something that the schools | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
should do. You cannot ring fenced money you do not have. You saying | :11:27. | :11:37. | |
schoolchild from eight o'clock in the morning until six o'clock at | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
night and it will not cost any more money? Well we did ring fence that | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
money in the last Labour government. That money is gone! It has not gone. | :11:46. | :11:52. | |
It is about priorities and we are saying that it should be a priority | :11:52. | :12:02. | |
where is the money being spent now that you would take it from? If | :12:02. | :12:07. | |
where is the money being spent now look at some of the things that | :12:07. | :12:09. | |
where is the money being spent now government is doing, building free | :12:09. | :12:11. | |
schools in areas where there are already enough. That is capital | :12:11. | :12:19. | |
spending. We are ring fencing that priorities. We had the ring fence | :12:19. | :12:26. | |
when we were in government. It would be reintroduced so that schools | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
when we were in government. It would to offer that wraparound care. Of | :12:29. | :12:31. | |
course schools can charge a small to offer that wraparound care. Of | :12:31. | :12:36. | |
fee for their breakfast clubs and after-school DVDs. But the important | :12:36. | :12:41. | |
thing is that provision is there for parents going out to work. Ed Balls | :12:41. | :12:48. | |
and Ed Miliband are at the heart of the Brown project. Damien Wright was | :12:48. | :12:55. | |
the hit man. Is it not inconceivable that they did not know what he was | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
the hit man. Is it not inconceivable up to. It is inconceivable that | :12:59. | :13:08. | |
the hit man. Is it not inconceivable did not -- Damian McBride. I am | :13:08. | :13:09. | |
asking about Damian McBride. What did not -- Damian McBride. I am | :13:09. | :13:14. | |
asking about Damian McBride. What I'm saying is that I was not there. | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
I was not there under the last Labour government. But I do know | :13:18. | :13:25. | |
that these things are not happening under the leadership of Ed Miliband. | :13:25. | :13:37. | |
that backstabbing going on. There is no plotting against Ed Balls going | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
on? I do not see that. And anyone who briefed against colleagues | :13:42. | :13:50. | |
should be sacked, I agree with that. Nick Clegg's conference speech made | :13:50. | :13:55. | |
it clear he was repaired to work with Ed Miliband in the event of a | :13:55. | :14:00. | |
hung parliament. Are you excited by that prospect or is it just boring? | :14:00. | :14:13. | |
to say that. With his poll ratings of 9%. I think it is up to the | :14:13. | :14:19. | |
general public to decide who they want to form a government. We are | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
campaigning for an overall Labour that just boring boring? I want | :14:23. | :14:38. | |
campaigning for an overall Labour serve in a Labour government is | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
campaigning for an overall Labour a coalition government. That is | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
campaigning for an overall Labour we are campaigning for. Thank you | :14:44. | :14:44. | |
for joining us. Steve Richards, we are campaigning for. Thank you | :14:44. | :14:49. | |
has Ed Miliband got to do this week? He has got to start to win the | :14:49. | :14:57. | |
argument about the economy. I think they will be quite clever on that in | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
terms of saying that the recovery has begun but it is not going to | :15:02. | :15:08. | |
benefit many of the voters. Unlike previous economic recoveries. That | :15:08. | :15:13. | |
is a strong line and they need to make that again and again. The | :15:13. | :15:23. | |
recovery has barely started. The make that again and again. The | :15:24. | :15:26. | |
interesting thing, Isabel, they make that again and again. The | :15:26. | :15:29. | |
to make a living standards the issue let's return to living standards | :15:29. | :15:34. | |
which have been squeezed. The polls show that twice as many people blame | :15:34. | :15:36. | |
Labour for the living standards show that twice as many people blame | :15:36. | :15:42. | |
the Conservatives. It is a great scene for them to mine, and it is | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
the only one before they announce big policies, but they have not | :15:47. | :15:50. | |
gained the trust of voters on the economy, so the Conservatives can | :15:50. | :15:53. | |
say they are finishing the job of fixing the recovery now and then | :15:53. | :16:01. | |
cannot quite trust us with the economy but we will talk about | :16:01. | :16:02. | |
living standards. Ed Miliband's economy but we will talk about | :16:02. | :16:09. | |
elucidating policies and not just incredibly vulnerable. The only | :16:09. | :16:14. | |
thing worse than not having a policy for an opposition leader is to have | :16:14. | :16:22. | |
a policy. It gives the opposition something to attack, the media | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
something to scrutinise and it makes you bold rubble and you can see | :16:26. | :16:31. | |
something to scrutinise and it makes coming through already before the | :16:31. | :16:32. | |
conference has started. You have childcare. Spigot can he provide | :16:32. | :16:41. | |
wraparound childcare for free? childcare. Spigot can he provide | :16:41. | :16:47. | |
can he provide wraparound childcare for free? I don't even know what it | :16:47. | :16:56. | |
is. Opposition is emphatically an art form, and the art form, and | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
artform for them at the moment is to artform for them at the moment is to | :16:59. | :17:00. | |
announce policies without spending any money and it is very difficult | :17:00. | :17:05. | |
to do. You gave an illustration any money and it is very difficult | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
how difficult it is. They are under huge pressure, for the last year, to | :17:09. | :17:14. | |
announce policies and they announce one on childcare and you immediately | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
say, how do you paper it? And she immediately says, we will not spend | :17:18. | :17:22. | |
a penny on it, because they are terrified of spending anything. | :17:22. | :17:28. | |
a penny on it, because they are is where it an artform. The tax | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
suspension before and election is crazy, because they will find money | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
one way or another, but in another way, they cannot say we will spend | :17:36. | :17:41. | |
money on this. It is a real problem. How do you measure the state of | :17:41. | :17:44. | |
money on this. It is a real problem. coalition after the Liberal Democrat | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
conference? The Liberal Democrats were in a very strong position after | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
their conference, Nick Clegg had faced and activists on some issues, | :17:51. | :17:55. | |
including fracking, which they supported, which seem to be the | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
including fracking, which they important part of the conference. In | :17:59. | :18:02. | |
terms of the coalition, the Tories have had to sit and watch as Vince | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
Cable, Nick Clegg and Coe have basically criticised them and said | :18:06. | :18:09. | |
they are evil and only the Lib Dems can make sure the Government is | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
they are evil and only the Lib Dems and works properly. So in terms | :18:13. | :18:14. | |
they are evil and only the Lib Dems how the coalition works, you can | :18:14. | :18:17. | |
expect to see some revenge at the Tory conference. The Lib Dems, Nick | :18:17. | :18:25. | |
Clegg's followers, they had their revenge. Mister Clegg may have | :18:25. | :18:32. | |
convinced his own activists to stay behind him, but he has a bigger | :18:32. | :18:38. | |
convincing the British people. There is some interesting polling they | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
have done privately that suggests there is a market of about 25% of | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
the electorate which is plausibly open to them, and all they have | :18:46. | :18:49. | |
the electorate which is plausibly do is target policies remorselessly | :18:49. | :18:51. | |
at that group, rather than the broader public, in order to do well | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
enough at the next election to hold the balance of power. That is why | :18:55. | :18:57. | |
policies that seem weird to us, the balance of power. That is why | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
free school meals regardless of income, may perversely make sense to | :19:01. | :19:15. | |
them. Because it appeals to their political world we are in, the | :19:15. | :19:17. | |
Labour strategists think they can political world we are in, the | :19:17. | :19:19. | |
Labour strategists think they can win with 35%, the Lib Dems are going | :19:19. | :19:20. | |
to concentrate on 25. The Tories win with 35%, the Lib Dems are going | :19:20. | :19:22. | |
to concentrate on 25. The Tories have seized to be a national party | :19:22. | :19:24. | |
any more. We haven't been used to it for a long time. In the 80s, one | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
party dominated, the Tories. In for a long time. In the 80s, one | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
90s into the 21st century, the policy matter delayed the Labour | :19:32. | :19:39. | |
Party dominated. -- the Labour party dominated. We are now here but we | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
have other parties hoping that dominated. We are now here but we | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
will give them a small overall majority and it is the best they can | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
get. It is a very odd situation where the main two parties feel | :19:49. | :19:55. | |
get. It is a very odd situation can lose and the Lib Dems are openly | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
targeting only 25%. They have gotten rid of 75% already and it is a long | :20:00. | :20:05. | |
way from the policies of last couple of decades Nick Clegg talked about | :20:05. | :20:12. | |
all of the policies he had locked. There is a real opportunity for | :20:12. | :20:15. | |
all of the policies he had locked. Conservatives to say that he is | :20:15. | :20:17. | |
blocking all of the things that voters outside of our bays are | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
interested in, top immigration policy, human rights reform, that | :20:21. | :20:26. | |
sort of thing. David Cameron can say that in Manchester next week. One | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
thing was quite clear, it came out of this awayday, and and this is | :20:30. | :20:46. | |
this, that when you look at Mister Miller band's polls, the Tories | :20:46. | :20:51. | |
this, that when you look at Mister going to make this a presidential | :20:51. | :20:57. | |
Which is why I am curious why they When the strength of your party | :20:57. | :21:03. | |
Which is why I am curious why they against his opponents, why not have | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
him or her juxtaposed against them in 90 minutes three times a week. | :21:07. | :21:09. | |
past week has given us inklings When the Lib Dems gathered for their | :21:09. | :21:17. | |
Government is planning on fighting When the Lib Dems gathered for their | :21:17. | :21:23. | |
annual shindig in Glasgow, some about their blue blood fellows. | :21:23. | :21:31. | |
annual shindig in Glasgow, some bedfellows. Vince Cable led the | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
annual shindig in Glasgow, some Tories had reverted to type as a | :21:35. | :21:38. | |
nasty party and describe their politics as ugly, cynical, callous | :21:38. | :21:44. | |
and prejudice. Nick Clegg did not restrict himself to policies that | :21:44. | :21:47. | |
and prejudice. Nick Clegg did not the Lib Dems had champion, such | :21:47. | :21:48. | |
and prejudice. Nick Clegg did not increasing the amount you can earn | :21:48. | :21:54. | |
before paying tax. The Deputy Prime Minister proudly listed all of the | :21:54. | :21:59. | |
things he had stopped the Tories from doing. Speak of scrapping | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
housing benefit the young people, no. No to ditching the human rights | :22:02. | :22:08. | |
act. No to weakening the protections in the equalities act. So how much | :22:08. | :22:15. | |
of a break have the yellow brigade being on Conservative ambitions | :22:15. | :22:18. | |
question mark in the two leaders shake hands again after the 20 | :22:18. | :22:22. | |
question mark in the two leaders election, what policies were David | :22:22. | :22:26. | |
Cameron insist on. -- 2015? No matter how many times Nick Clegg | :22:26. | :22:31. | |
Grant Shapps, good morning. Nick self-styled. He boasted to his | :22:32. | :22:48. | |
conference that he had stopped the Tories from going ahead with 16 | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
policies in government. Is this accurate? I don't know but what | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
policies in government. Is this can tell you, as your commentator | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
Isabel said, some of the policies that we wanted them if we were a | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
majority government sent out to that we wanted them if we were a | :23:02. | :23:05. | |
very popular things, like reforming the human rights act and some of the | :23:05. | :23:09. | |
problems that provides when it comes to sending people who have no right | :23:10. | :23:11. | |
to be in this country back. So there to be in this country back. So there | :23:11. | :23:14. | |
may be some things we could have inheritance tax cut? I don't know | :23:14. | :23:24. | |
the details, but I think it is negotiation and sometimes you can't | :23:24. | :23:30. | |
get everything you want, and we negotiation and sometimes you can't | :23:30. | :23:35. | |
done the best, given where the electoral maths left us. That is why | :23:35. | :23:37. | |
70 people in this country say they electoral maths left us. That is why | :23:37. | :23:39. | |
70 people in this country say they would rather see a single party | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
running the country -- why so many people. I have to say I agree. They | :23:42. | :23:49. | |
Give me a couple of major policies that you would introduce if you | :23:49. | :23:53. | |
Give me a couple of major policies had a majority in 2010 and were | :23:53. | :23:55. | |
Give me a couple of major policies held back by the Lib Dems. Speaking | :23:55. | :24:01. | |
the one I just mentioned would be Country, we have had 1,000 years of | :24:01. | :24:07. | |
than capable of putting in place developing the law and we are more | :24:07. | :24:10. | |
than capable of putting in place sensible laws. you would have left | :24:11. | :24:14. | |
the European Court of human rights. We have already started the process | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
of negotiation. There was some progress, but limited, and we would | :24:18. | :24:23. | |
like to move further. Let me give you one other. I think this country | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
has a great future but we can only ourselves the best place in the | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
world to come and set up a business. ourselves the best place in the | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
If we make ourselves the best place entrepreneurship and I think there | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
are a host of things we could do to go further on cutting back red tape. | :24:39. | :24:44. | |
And the Lib Dems have stopped you? I think that is the case. In what | :24:44. | :24:51. | |
ways, if any, have the Lib Dems improved the coalition process? It | :24:52. | :24:56. | |
has been a stable government. No one talks about when the next election | :24:56. | :24:58. | |
will come, we know it is in May talks about when the next election | :24:58. | :25:04. | |
but that is in part being in a coalition. The Tories wouldn't have | :25:04. | :25:10. | |
done that? It wasn't the plan of any party to go from... In the old days, | :25:10. | :25:16. | |
there would have been speculation. debate, you changed the British | :25:16. | :25:21. | |
constitution in a fundamental way and nobody got a say. It was debated | :25:21. | :25:27. | |
on the floor of the Has, as all constitutional changes are and there | :25:27. | :25:33. | |
was a lot of agreement -- of the House. Nobody has ever said to me | :25:33. | :25:36. | |
that it is a problem that we now have a fixed term parliament. Here | :25:36. | :25:44. | |
it is, every five years. This is what it has done, it has provided | :25:44. | :25:49. | |
stability in an incredibly uncertain economic time and that has been | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
stability in an incredibly uncertain for the economy. we will chalk that | :25:52. | :26:01. | |
up to delete -- Lib Dem. What about taking people out of tax, the Lib | :26:01. | :26:08. | |
Dems did that question mark it is a great policy. It is a conservative | :26:08. | :26:15. | |
led government, it is a Conservative This is a screen grab from your | :26:15. | :26:21. | |
party's website, income tax cut This is a screen grab from your | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
25 million people. You are taking the credit for it, it wouldn't have | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
happened without the Lib Dems. It certainly came about because of | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
happened without the Lib Dems. It coalition and we put it in the | :26:33. | :26:35. | |
coalition agreement. It could not have happened without a Conservative | :26:35. | :26:36. | |
Chancellor making it happen. It have happened without a Conservative | :26:36. | :26:41. | |
right, 25 million people taken out of tax. Another 17 by this April | :26:41. | :26:47. | |
will not be paying tax at all. you didn't want to do it. Look at what | :26:48. | :26:52. | |
David Cameron told Nick Clegg during What Nick Clegg is promising is | :26:52. | :27:06. | |
David Cameron told Nick Clegg during £17 billion tax cut. We are saying, | :27:06. | :27:10. | |
stop the waste of 6 billion to stop the national insurance rise. I would | :27:10. | :27:14. | |
love to take everyone out of their first £10,000 of income tax, it | :27:14. | :27:17. | |
love to take everyone out of their beautiful idea but we cannot afford | :27:17. | :27:24. | |
unaffordable and now you are taking the credit for it. I feel like it is | :27:24. | :27:30. | |
having a three year afterwards argument, and we got into coalition | :27:30. | :27:33. | |
because the British people put us there and we agreed to make the best | :27:33. | :27:37. | |
of it. And as it happens, if you want to hear a confession, I | :27:38. | :27:41. | |
absolutely think it is the right thing to take as many people out of | :27:41. | :27:45. | |
tax entirely as possible. Two points 7 million people pay no tax at all | :27:45. | :27:48. | |
because of this rise in the threshold. -- 2.7 million. I'm | :27:48. | :27:57. | |
pleased it worked out. What are the most important thing is a majority | :27:57. | :28:01. | |
Tory government would do after 2015, unencumbered by the Lib Dems? I | :28:01. | :28:07. | |
think produce even more jobs when unemployment goes down, because we | :28:07. | :28:10. | |
think produce even more jobs when are the most entrepreneurial place | :28:10. | :28:14. | |
to set up a business. Are more free-market economy? We make our | :28:14. | :28:19. | |
money because we are out global trading economy. That is why it is | :28:20. | :28:26. | |
so important that we have to make sure it is easy to trade around the | :28:26. | :28:30. | |
world. One simple example, it is crazy in my view that we have global | :28:30. | :28:34. | |
tariffs that prevent some of the hardest other countries in the | :28:34. | :28:36. | |
world, in developing parts of the world, from exporting to us and vice | :28:36. | :28:42. | |
versa. I'm giving you a platform of things that I think we would be more | :28:43. | :28:46. | |
versa. I'm giving you a platform of interested in progressing in. It | :28:47. | :28:50. | |
sounds like you are talking about even more Thatcherite, market led | :28:50. | :28:57. | |
agendas. I think that you did a huge amount to show this country that if | :28:57. | :29:01. | |
you want to help the least well off people in society, and the least | :29:01. | :29:05. | |
well off people in the world, around the globe, the way to do it is to | :29:05. | :29:09. | |
trade, and I think we should have an economy which is much more open to | :29:09. | :29:14. | |
free trade. If there is another hung parliament, and the poll suggest | :29:14. | :29:19. | |
there might be, at the moment it is all to play for on both sides, what | :29:19. | :29:24. | |
would your non-negotiable Red Line speak? We are still two years away | :29:24. | :29:31. | |
from that, it is a long way away, but there is a lot we want to lay | :29:31. | :29:35. | |
out. What we are going to be saying to this country is most people want | :29:35. | :29:40. | |
a single party running the country, they think it is clean and clear and | :29:40. | :29:44. | |
you don't end up with negotiation after an election. We will be | :29:44. | :29:47. | |
setting out a very clear platform which will be for hard-working | :29:47. | :29:51. | |
people in this country who want to work hard and get on in life. We | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
would, I think, want to see the welfare state that we have got into, | :29:55. | :29:59. | |
where it is no longer about helping those most in need but became a | :29:59. | :30:02. | |
situation where you are better off not working than in worker, I think | :30:02. | :30:08. | |
we plan to ensure that this is an incredibly fair place to go out and | :30:08. | :30:12. | |
do a day's work and get the money at the end of the day rather than | :30:12. | :30:15. | |
thinking there is an alternative. you have promised a referendum on UK | :30:15. | :30:19. | |
membership of the EU in 2017, that must be your first Red Line? We are | :30:19. | :30:27. | |
clear, we want to see a referendum, a reform European Union. So no | :30:27. | :30:35. | |
poll... ? I should remind viewers that there is an act of Parliament, | :30:35. | :30:38. | |
a bill going through Parliament right now, for a referendum on the | :30:38. | :30:46. | |
EU, which comes back to the House. It is past the report stage and | :30:46. | :30:49. | |
comes back in November and we will be discussing it. The Lib Dems, | :30:49. | :30:55. | |
Labour, will have an opportunity to support what the British people | :30:55. | :31:00. | |
want. Lots may have changed. But it would be a Red Line for any future | :31:00. | :31:04. | |
coalition government question mark we are clear that it is time to have | :31:04. | :31:10. | |
a say. You will know from our manifesto. What is wrong with yes or | :31:10. | :31:16. | |
no? I cannot write the manifesto for 2015. You are asking me to project | :31:16. | :31:21. | |
beyond that and see in advance the election result and carry out the | :31:21. | :31:26. | |
negotiations that are yet to come. I'm just trying to work out how | :31:26. | :31:31. | |
much... I know you are committed but she won't tell me. Let's move on. | :31:31. | :31:41. | |
Your party has been described as nasty and blinkered. What do you | :31:41. | :31:47. | |
feel when he says that? We are interested in helping the most | :31:47. | :31:54. | |
vulnerable people in society. I think we're doing all that and more. | :31:54. | :32:01. | |
And it is a shame that that language was used because we have made so | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
much progress together. Are you getting to the end of your tether | :32:05. | :32:18. | |
with Mr King? I do not think it is terribly helpful for any Cabinet | :32:18. | :32:24. | |
minister to make comments like that. What I would say is that Nick Clegg | :32:24. | :32:30. | |
minister to make comments like that. is the leader of the Lib Dems and | :32:30. | :32:37. | |
entitled to have a view on it himself. Look at these figures on | :32:37. | :32:44. | |
party membership. Why has your party lost half of its members since Mr | :32:44. | :32:50. | |
Cameron became leader? I would like it to be more. But I think the world | :32:50. | :32:56. | |
has changed. People do not rush out and join political parties as they | :32:56. | :33:02. | |
used to. Instead they support you in different ways. If I released the | :33:02. | :33:10. | |
number of people who give to the party in different ways, through | :33:10. | :33:15. | |
donations for example, through friend memberships. If you include | :33:15. | :33:23. | |
that that figure goes back up. But your membership has fallen by 50% at | :33:23. | :33:31. | |
a time when UKIP has doubled. I do not want to to misinterpret what I | :33:31. | :33:40. | |
want to say. It is important to gain members. I think we will have done | :33:40. | :33:45. | |
that by the time of the next election. But one statistic of | :33:45. | :33:52. | |
interest, in the last election I had a 17,000 majority in my own | :33:52. | :33:57. | |
constituency. The difference was I had 1000 people helping me to | :33:57. | :34:02. | |
deliver leaflets and knock on the doors. The Conservative party has | :34:02. | :34:08. | |
changed. We now have an army of people, volunteers who are not | :34:08. | :34:18. | |
necessarily traditional members. The days when you expect people to give | :34:18. | :34:24. | |
you £25, before you accept their support, those days have passed. You | :34:24. | :34:28. | |
spoke about your most vulnerable marginal seats. This is a poll from | :34:28. | :34:38. | |
Michael Ashcroft. The 40 most marginal seats that you will be | :34:38. | :34:45. | |
defending. Labour is way up, you are way down and UKIP is also up. What | :34:45. | :34:54. | |
is happening, the Lib Dem Mo -- both are moving to Labour. And | :34:54. | :34:59. | |
disillusioned Conservatives are moving to UKIP. If these figures | :34:59. | :35:06. | |
came at an election he would lose 32 of these 40 seats. The point about | :35:06. | :35:11. | |
any opinion poll is that it is perhaps accurate at the moment it is | :35:11. | :35:17. | |
taken. We are now in a position where the economy has turned the | :35:17. | :35:26. | |
corner. The right thing to do was to deal with the deficit. The people | :35:26. | :35:34. | |
being asked about these things, they will be interested in their own | :35:34. | :35:36. | |
standard of living. Their mortgage payments. Why are you doing worse in | :35:36. | :35:44. | |
the marginal seats? National League you are kind of nip and tuck with | :35:44. | :35:53. | |
Labour. Well if that is the pick to come 2015, people will see that this | :35:53. | :35:58. | |
government has stuck to its guns. It did not go for more borrowing and | :35:58. | :36:03. | |
spending. And the record demonstrates that the last thing you | :36:03. | :36:08. | |
want to do is give the car keys back to the people who crashed it in the | :36:08. | :36:14. | |
first place. Lynton Crosby at this away day of Conservative MPs, his | :36:14. | :36:21. | |
one message was to go all out and attack Ed Miliband. It is going to | :36:21. | :36:26. | |
be a nasty election. That is actually not true. We are going to | :36:26. | :36:34. | |
focus on his policies, if he finally announces some. Everything we have | :36:34. | :36:39. | |
seen so far suggests it would mean more borrowing and spending. The | :36:39. | :36:47. | |
shadow chancellor said we would be ruthless, just a few months later, | :36:47. | :36:55. | |
27.9 pounds of extra spending committed by Labour. These are your | :36:55. | :37:04. | |
figures. I will speak to you about that during the Tory conference. | :37:04. | :37:09. | |
It's just after 11:30. You're watching the Sunday Politics. Coming | :37:09. | :37:14. | |
up in just over 20 minutes. Alastair Campbell gives us his | :37:14. | :37:16. | |
not-too-positive review of Damian McBride's memoirs. Until then, | :37:16. | :37:28. | |
Good afternoon from the East Midlands. When a community is hit by | :37:28. | :37:40. | |
tragedy, what can politicians do? People normally do not know which | :37:40. | :37:44. | |
way to head so politics try to gel and cement the community. | :37:44. | :37:51. | |
And seconds out for the battle of the East Midlands marginals, but | :37:51. | :37:55. | |
does anybody have the knockout blow? Hoping to stop at Miliband in at | :37:55. | :38:03. | |
least one seat is the Conservative MP /Ed Miliband. He is defending a | :38:03. | :38:08. | |
tiny majority. And alongside him is the Labour MP whose majority is a | :38:08. | :38:17. | |
potentially vulnerable 2,000. First, the reaction to the news that | :38:17. | :38:20. | |
successful hospital managers from the NHS to be sent in to help | :38:20. | :38:25. | |
failing hospitals including the Sherwood hospital Forest trust and | :38:25. | :38:33. | |
United Lincolnshire hospital trust. Kingsmill hospital backs onto your | :38:33. | :38:35. | |
constituency, how long will this move take to turn things around? It | :38:35. | :38:42. | |
will take a while and we need to give them time to go through this | :38:42. | :38:46. | |
process. It is an enormous organisation and you cannot do a | :38:46. | :38:51. | |
handbrake turn in an oil tanker, you need to get the management | :38:51. | :38:56. | |
structures in place. We need to give my constituents the confidence to | :38:56. | :39:00. | |
keep using that facility and get it going in the right direction. Can | :39:00. | :39:06. | |
you give us a timescale? We will have to see how they get down and | :39:06. | :39:14. | |
the changes they can make —— get on. I would have thought about 18 | :39:14. | :39:18. | |
months, we will see things changing and hopefully we can make a quick | :39:18. | :39:22. | |
improvement. We have to give them time to settle in and look at these | :39:22. | :39:26. | |
things. What do you think of this move, a | :39:26. | :39:31. | |
good move? Anything that tries to improve | :39:31. | :39:34. | |
management in hospitals, Kingsmill, and the trust, the Sherwood Forest | :39:34. | :39:41. | |
trust, are in transition. So if you bring good managers into assist and | :39:41. | :39:47. | |
support change is a good thing. But you have the pressures of resources, | :39:47. | :39:52. | |
staffing ratios. They are huge pressures and Kingsmill will be | :39:52. | :39:56. | |
suffering the consequences of that. It has been used in schools so it is | :39:56. | :40:03. | |
a precedent, can it work? I think it can work, it works where it is | :40:03. | :40:08. | |
supported. A hospital from Barnsley are coming in to support the trust. | :40:08. | :40:13. | |
If you have that trust coming in and supporting, it can work. So for the | :40:13. | :40:20. | |
benefit of patients, that is what you want. But alongside that of the | :40:20. | :40:25. | |
problems we know happening in the NHS with staffing cuts. | :40:25. | :40:29. | |
Mark, you have been in contact with the new management board. They keep | :40:30. | :40:34. | |
telling us they are getting through the key recommendations, are you | :40:34. | :40:40. | |
convinced? I am a bit cautious. They have a gardening needs to put into | :40:40. | :40:44. | |
action and it is down to people like me to hold that accounts to make | :40:44. | :40:49. | |
sure they deliver on that. The one thing that is crucify the system at | :40:49. | :40:53. | |
Kingsmill is the PFI which was signed which is crippling their | :40:53. | :40:58. | |
finances. If we can help them get out of that, that will be the best | :40:58. | :41:01. | |
thing. But it is an enormous challenge financially. | :41:01. | :41:06. | |
Thank you very much. From political rows to an issue which has tested | :41:06. | :41:11. | |
both the politicians and the people they serve. The killings in | :41:11. | :41:15. | |
Leicester last week have shaken the different communities in the city | :41:15. | :41:19. | |
that has been praise for the way people have dealt with the events | :41:19. | :41:22. | |
and now there is praise from the cities 's politicians. We spoke to | :41:22. | :41:29. | |
the city reader who said they have played it prominent part in helping | :41:29. | :41:32. | |
to heal the wins —— from the city 's politicians. | :41:32. | :41:37. | |
Politicians play an important role in issues like this, they like —— | :41:37. | :41:41. | |
people look for leadership and we are fortunate in Leicester to have | :41:41. | :41:46. | |
keep files whose constituency we are in now. —— three. I have all been | :41:46. | :41:59. | |
meeting with us since this tragedy. —— three. They have shown solidarity | :41:59. | :42:04. | |
and have gone the extra mile to ask if there is anything we can do to | :42:04. | :42:09. | |
facilitate an early burial, which is a requirement. We have had meetings | :42:09. | :42:17. | |
with various agencies and it has been marvellous. You can set an | :42:17. | :42:22. | |
example and show leadership because at times like this, people are | :42:22. | :42:26. | |
confused and do not know which way to head, so politicians play a role | :42:26. | :42:31. | |
in leadership to try to cement the community and relations. This can | :42:31. | :42:35. | |
very easily go wrong and there can be a wedge put between communities. | :42:35. | :42:42. | |
Can they help community speak to each other and to the mainstream | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
society? You mention the problem with burial, it is a different | :42:46. | :42:49. | |
practice in a Muslim community, how can a politician help with that? We | :42:49. | :42:57. | |
have signed an historic document allowing Muslims 24 hours, seven | :42:57. | :43:03. | |
days a week access to burial services. The structures were in | :43:03. | :43:08. | |
place where Leicester was the first city in Europe to allow this and it | :43:08. | :43:13. | |
is continued nationally now, that is another example of how politicians | :43:13. | :43:16. | |
helped us in the dawn of this work that we do, helped as facilitate | :43:16. | :43:21. | |
this. Today, we see the benefits because the structures are in place | :43:21. | :43:27. | |
were we can... Unfortunately, we usually see politicians at a time of | :43:27. | :43:33. | |
elections asking for votes. But in a situation like this, they know | :43:33. | :43:38. | |
community work is of significance and they have supported us, and it | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
is something we can export from Leicester to other parts of the | :43:42. | :43:45. | |
country. Rare praise from politicians looking | :43:45. | :43:50. | |
to read their community. I was reporting from an event in | :43:50. | :43:57. | |
Leicester, or one councillor spoke of the importance of staying calm | :43:57. | :44:01. | |
together, the city Mayor said it showed the city at its best. | :44:01. | :44:04. | |
Carefully chosen words, extremely important. It is important, you have | :44:04. | :44:11. | |
to tiptoe around these issues because you do not want to be | :44:11. | :44:14. | |
overbearing and interfering. Would you want to be supportive and try to | :44:14. | :44:19. | |
help that community through that tragedy and find a way to make sure | :44:19. | :44:22. | |
you stop that from happening in future. Or you can make it better. | :44:22. | :44:28. | |
It is very difficult. How do you pitch it? It is one of the hardest | :44:28. | :44:34. | |
things to do and undoubtedly, you get it wrong probably every time. | :44:34. | :44:39. | |
You are either not supportive enough or you are to interfering. I was | :44:39. | :44:44. | |
struck on Tuesday about how right they got it. Praise to them, it it | :44:44. | :44:50. | |
is very difficult. And you do not want to find yourself in that | :44:50. | :44:53. | |
circumstance but if you do, you go with your gut feeling. Vernon, your | :44:53. | :44:57. | |
shadow brief is Northern Ireland where it has had its troubles and | :44:57. | :45:03. | |
problems and politicians have been closely involved in getting the | :45:03. | :45:07. | |
community together. In your experience, what role can | :45:07. | :45:11. | |
politicians play in this? An enormous role because when something | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
terrible happens in a community, a mixture of emotions happen. Anger, | :45:15. | :45:20. | |
disbelief, sorrow, grief. And a sense of the world it. Sometimes, | :45:20. | :45:26. | |
people coming out and sharing that, it if you are a community leader, | :45:26. | :45:30. | |
makes a huge difference. If you look at Northern Ireland, where there has | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
been a sense of injustice about something, somebody saying the right | :45:35. | :45:39. | |
things and even Parliament, makes a difference. I give one good example, | :45:39. | :45:45. | |
and I say this about —— as a Labour politician. The Prime Minister as | :45:45. | :45:49. | |
his response to the Bloody Sunday enquiry, he got the tone just right | :45:49. | :45:54. | |
a year ago. That meant a lot to the people of Northern Ireland, | :45:54. | :45:59. | |
particularly the people in Derry, Londonderry were those killings had | :45:59. | :46:01. | |
taken place. That made a huge difference. What came out on Tuesday | :46:01. | :46:07. | |
was the issue of community solidarity and achieving that. It | :46:07. | :46:14. | |
means such a lot to people. People can be cynical and say it does not, | :46:14. | :46:17. | |
but it does matter, and the words do matter. You have to be careful to | :46:17. | :46:22. | |
get those right, but when they do get those right, it makes a huge | :46:22. | :46:29. | |
difference. The doctor who lost four members of his family said he got | :46:29. | :46:33. | |
his strength from their love, how do communities provide that kind of | :46:33. | :46:39. | |
support? It is very difficult, but you try to engage with those people | :46:39. | :46:42. | |
and you try to pull them together and point them in a direction and | :46:42. | :46:49. | |
read them through it. As a politician, you never want to find | :46:49. | :46:52. | |
yourself in that circumstance but if you do, you have to go with it. | :46:52. | :46:58. | |
People want you to be there. We leave it there for a moment. We | :46:58. | :47:03. | |
saw dignity there in the face of tragedy in Leicester, but elsewhere, | :47:03. | :47:06. | |
the knock—about stuff of politics continues and it does not get any | :47:06. | :47:11. | |
more knock—about and in the marginal constituencies which could play a | :47:11. | :47:15. | |
major role in determining the outcome of the next election. Ed | :47:15. | :47:19. | |
Miliband might be in Brighton for the Labour Party conference, but in | :47:19. | :47:22. | |
an interview this week, he told as our marginals were on his mind. | :47:22. | :47:28. | |
The East Midlands is very important to us. And we will be talking about | :47:28. | :47:34. | |
that as something very important, the cost of living crisis facing so | :47:34. | :47:38. | |
many people. The government is saying the economy is healing and is | :47:38. | :47:43. | |
fixed, but ordinary people think life is getting worse. At the | :47:43. | :47:47. | |
conference, we will show how life can get better, starting with ending | :47:47. | :47:52. | |
the bedroom tax. What is the key to winning back the marginals? | :47:53. | :47:55. | |
According to Lord Asquith, the key is UKIP, you have increased your | :47:55. | :48:00. | |
read because so many Tories are defecting to UKIP. The key is | :48:00. | :48:05. | |
talking about the issues that matter, and there is nothing more | :48:05. | :48:10. | |
than the cost of living. So many people think life is getting harder | :48:10. | :48:14. | |
every year, the squeeze on living standards, and there is no end of | :48:14. | :48:18. | |
sight, I fear, under this government. We will do something | :48:18. | :48:23. | |
about it and the key is, which party can make a difference on those | :48:23. | :48:27. | |
issues? That is what we will be doing at our conference. | :48:27. | :48:34. | |
Ed Miliband talking this week. His big policy idea is to scrap what he | :48:34. | :48:39. | |
calls the bedroom tax, what she would call the under occupancy | :48:39. | :48:43. | |
charge. —— you would. Will this be a big vote in a tight marginal like | :48:43. | :48:50. | |
show what? I do not, you need a credible financial plan. Says he | :48:50. | :48:54. | |
will scrap that, we need to know about the funding. We have heard it | :48:54. | :49:00. | |
all before. The only way to help families through the financial | :49:00. | :49:04. | |
crisis and the squeeze is with a credible financial plan to generate | :49:04. | :49:08. | |
wealth and jobs, and that is what the government are doing. We are | :49:08. | :49:11. | |
working to make sure the economy goes in the right direction, and the | :49:11. | :49:15. | |
rest is waffle unless you have a credible plan. | :49:15. | :49:20. | |
40,000 claimants in the East Midlands will benefit from scrapping | :49:20. | :49:24. | |
this, Labour claim, to around £600 each year. They will get more. That | :49:24. | :49:30. | |
would be a vote winner, will it not? I am up for that fight and we | :49:30. | :49:36. | |
have a great story to tell as a government. We have done the right | :49:36. | :49:40. | |
things to turn the economy around and in terms of immigration and | :49:41. | :49:44. | |
making life better for people who work hard and wants to get hard —— | :49:44. | :49:49. | |
get on. I am up for the fight and excited. It is a scandalous tax and | :49:49. | :49:53. | |
it has caused uproar, the bedroom tax. There hundred of people in | :49:53. | :50:02. | |
Sherwood and over 400 families losing between £14 and £25 each week | :50:02. | :50:10. | |
in one area. Some of the poorest families, with disabilities, denied | :50:10. | :50:14. | |
that support. Most people will be cheering from the rafters. But there | :50:14. | :50:19. | |
is a lot of support for cutting the benefits bill. For cutting where | :50:19. | :50:24. | |
people see it as unfair but people see the bedroom tax as a non—fat | :50:24. | :50:27. | |
burden on some of the poorest people. Why should somebody with a | :50:27. | :50:34. | |
house to pick for them be paid more than somebody else? Because these | :50:34. | :50:37. | |
are people with carers, caring for people with disabilities, that extra | :50:37. | :50:42. | |
bedroom where the carer will stay sometimes, they are losing benefits. | :50:42. | :50:49. | |
Not in every case. Two thirds of the people affected people with | :50:49. | :50:52. | |
disabilities or the poorest families, and that is what ending | :50:52. | :50:56. | |
this tax on some of the people in our country, I think many people | :50:56. | :50:59. | |
will say that is the right thing to do. A lot of people in Sherwood | :50:59. | :51:06. | |
squashed into houses that are too small, families who have got too | :51:06. | :51:09. | |
many kids in bedrooms who cannot move because of the houses are under | :51:09. | :51:15. | |
occupied. You have to use the asset you have got, and you have council | :51:15. | :51:19. | |
houses which are an asset for the community, we need to use those to | :51:19. | :51:24. | |
support that community and to spread that goodness around. The only way | :51:24. | :51:27. | |
to do that is to move people and accommodate them. I would rather pay | :51:27. | :51:33. | |
for that by closing tax loopholes on businesses and some of the richest | :51:33. | :51:37. | |
people in the country, but you are making the poorest people pay for | :51:37. | :51:41. | |
it. A lot of people in Sherwood are working hard to add a lot less than | :51:41. | :51:46. | |
the benefits cap and it is shocking you opposed that. We do not oppose | :51:46. | :51:52. | |
the benefits cap. I am quite prepared to go to public meetings, | :51:52. | :51:57. | |
Mark can support the bedroom tax, I will support scrapping it, and we | :51:57. | :52:01. | |
will see. I am sure the arguments will | :52:01. | :52:05. | |
continue until 2015. So what is happening in the marginals? We have | :52:05. | :52:10. | |
been to Derbyshire, where the sitting MP Nigel Mills has a | :52:10. | :52:15. | |
majority of just over 500, to speak to party workers from both sides and | :52:15. | :52:18. | |
to find out what you think. Ripley is in the heart of the Amber | :52:18. | :52:24. | |
Valley and the scene is set for a heavyweight battle between Labour | :52:24. | :52:27. | |
and Conservatives, but who is going to win? And servitors think it is | :52:27. | :52:32. | |
the way they run the Borough Council here that gives them the knockout | :52:32. | :52:35. | |
blow. If you look at the Borough Council | :52:35. | :52:39. | |
record, you will find we have done a very good job. We are providing | :52:39. | :52:45. | |
excellent services and very good value for money. And we have always | :52:45. | :52:49. | |
got our eyes and ease —— and ears open. Wherever things can be | :52:49. | :52:55. | |
improved, we do what we can. Are you going to go knocking on | :52:55. | :53:00. | |
doors yourself? We always do, all Conservative | :53:00. | :53:04. | |
members knock on doors, that is what it is about, getting close to people | :53:04. | :53:08. | |
and knowing their problems and making sure they know what we do for | :53:08. | :53:12. | |
them and what we intend to do in the future. | :53:12. | :53:15. | |
Labour are hoping hard work and knocking on doors will have them big | :53:15. | :53:21. | |
killer punch. —— the killer punch. How can you do | :53:21. | :53:27. | |
this? Three days a week, Wednesday, | :53:27. | :53:30. | |
Saturday and Sunday, we have to put in the work to get the results in a | :53:30. | :53:34. | |
tight marginal seats like the Amber Valley. There is only a majority of | :53:34. | :53:40. | |
500 and we feel getting the right message out and listening to people, | :53:40. | :53:44. | |
people are disenchanted and we have two engage with them again and with | :53:44. | :53:47. | |
the effort and commitment we are putting in, we can turn the seat | :53:47. | :53:53. | |
around. Do you get help from Central? We put in as much effort as | :53:53. | :54:00. | |
local members allow us to do. As a local party, we put in the effort we | :54:00. | :54:04. | |
can to help the party nationally, it is local routes up words and not | :54:04. | :54:09. | |
national party downwards. In the end, it is your votes that | :54:09. | :54:13. | |
count, but on the streets, there is a breaking through. | :54:13. | :54:19. | |
Governments are weak, nobody seems able to do the job. Essentially, we | :54:19. | :54:24. | |
need to be able to think about getting out of Europe, slowing | :54:24. | :54:27. | |
immigration down and controlling it, and nobody wants to do that. So I | :54:27. | :54:33. | |
suspect I will vote UKIP. He would you vote for this time? —— who | :54:33. | :54:40. | |
would. Publicly I think I might take a risk and ring Labour in —— | :54:40. | :54:47. | |
probably. My vote is midway between Conservative and UKIP. So between | :54:48. | :54:53. | |
now and the general election, the canvases and the politicians have | :54:53. | :54:59. | |
got to sway my vote one way or another. It is more than a year and | :54:59. | :55:04. | |
a half until the next general election and in the marginal | :55:04. | :55:08. | |
constituencies of the East Midlands, Labour and Conservative are slugging | :55:08. | :55:12. | |
it out. It looks as though they will have to fight hard for every vote. | :55:12. | :55:18. | |
Hardly overwhelming the is —— overwhelming support for you, | :55:18. | :55:22. | |
Vernon, a lot of people thinking of voting UKIP. But the polls from Lord | :55:22. | :55:27. | |
Ashcroft, eight prominent Tory politician, showed a big swing to | :55:27. | :55:34. | |
Labour in the marginal seat —— a prominent. He said some people were | :55:34. | :55:38. | |
thinking of voting UKIP. But there was a clear swing to labour in those | :55:38. | :55:41. | |
marginal seats across the country, including in the East Midlands. | :55:41. | :55:47. | |
But because of the defection from the Tories to UKIP, that is why you | :55:47. | :55:53. | |
are benefiting. But we are in front and we are doing well in those | :55:53. | :55:57. | |
seats. What we need to do is work hard and you saw the campaigning | :55:57. | :56:01. | |
effort going in from the candidates, everybody working hard. | :56:01. | :56:04. | |
And when people start to think about the cost of living, the fact that | :56:04. | :56:08. | |
prices are going up faster than wages, the impact on the | :56:08. | :56:12. | |
consequences of what the government are doing, it is all to play for. We | :56:12. | :56:16. | |
are working hard and campaigning hard in all the seats. | :56:16. | :56:23. | |
Somebody in that report said that term —— on between Conservative and | :56:23. | :56:29. | |
UKIP, is that your worst nightmare? I think only Mr Cameron Ed Miliband | :56:29. | :56:37. | |
will get the keys to number ten. —— or Ed Miliband. That is your | :56:37. | :56:41. | |
choice, we have to get that message across, and if you vote UKIP, E will | :56:41. | :56:47. | |
get Ed Miliband. We have got to sell our message. —— you will get. How we | :56:47. | :56:52. | |
have worked on immigration and welfare reform, we have a good | :56:52. | :56:58. | |
message to get across. But there are 18 months to go. A year ago, Labour | :56:58. | :57:02. | |
were 14 points in front and now we are neck and neck, who knows about | :57:02. | :57:06. | |
12 months? Is the problem for both of you not | :57:06. | :57:10. | |
that UKIP is moving public opinion towards their policies of | :57:10. | :57:16. | |
immigration and Europe? We will make a very positive pitch and will not | :57:16. | :57:20. | |
have a negative note of Mark. We think people have had their living | :57:20. | :57:26. | |
standards breezed by this government and we will present an alternative | :57:26. | :57:30. | |
and we will say, it does not have to be like this, we can create a fairer | :57:30. | :57:34. | |
and more equal society, and that will be the positive pitch we make. | :57:34. | :57:38. | |
It will be policies like the bedroom tax, that is why you should vote | :57:38. | :57:43. | |
Labour. Will he be more hard line on things | :57:43. | :57:47. | |
like immigration and Europe? —— will you be. | :57:47. | :57:51. | |
We have to get our message across, what we have achieved. Not looking | :57:51. | :57:56. | |
at other parties and campaigning negatively but selling our message | :57:56. | :57:59. | |
and telling people what the government has done and the progress | :57:59. | :58:04. | |
we have made. We will not go back but to keep going with that agenda. | :58:04. | :58:09. | |
That is a classic sign of when you are in trouble, saying, we are not | :58:09. | :58:12. | |
getting our message across. Well, you certainly cannot ignore it | :58:12. | :58:18. | |
UKIP at the next election. A quick round—up now of other political | :58:18. | :58:20. | |
stories in the East Midlands. Drivers will have to slow down | :58:20. | :58:33. | |
outside Nottinghamshire schools after the county council voted to | :58:33. | :58:41. | |
bring in a 20 mph speed limit. Most would—be advisory but some will be | :58:41. | :58:42. | |
compulsory. A new factory making parts for | :58:42. | :58:47. | |
Formula 1 and high—performance cars is to be built in Derby and will be | :58:47. | :58:51. | |
financed by the regional growth fund. A loan of almost £5 million | :58:51. | :58:56. | |
will help build a new factory. And Twitter rows are becoming a | :58:56. | :59:01. | |
theme, this time it is the Derby North MP Chris Williamson, accused | :59:01. | :59:06. | |
of comparing the Liberal Democrats to Nazi collaborators. The Labour MP | :59:06. | :59:11. | |
has said the accusations are utterly ludicrous. | :59:11. | :59:15. | |
It is not just our politicians power —— who are power hungry, the East | :59:15. | :59:18. | |
Midlands has the highest energy consumption figures in the country. | :59:18. | :59:23. | |
The top ten districts for energy use in our patch. Rutland has the higher | :59:23. | :59:33. | |
consumption figures in the country. The top ten in the East Midlands, | :59:33. | :59:38. | |
what is that down to? Maybe we are drinking more teeth than beer! | :59:38. | :59:47. | |
—— Morty. It is probably something to do with demographics but it shows | :59:47. | :59:50. | |
the importance of doing something to tackle energy problems, which | :59:50. | :59:54. | |
everybody is suffering from, about time the government did something | :59:54. | :59:58. | |
about that. Do something rather than just say something! | :59:58. | :00:03. | |
Thank you very much indeed. We are told energy bills and charges will | :00:03. | :00:08. | |
be one of the main themes of the Labour conference getting underway | :00:08. | :00:13. | |
in Brighton. That has been the East Midlands politics, thanks to our | :00:13. | :00:14. | |
guest. Now it is time to hand only if the ball comes to me. Bob | :00:14. | :00:20. | |
Blackman and Sadiq Khan, thanks very much. Leafing through the papers the | :00:20. | :00:33. | |
Blackman and Sadiq Khan, thanks very last few days has taken me back | :00:33. | :00:38. | |
Blackman and Sadiq Khan, thanks very my youth. The halcyon days of the | :00:38. | :00:39. | |
2000s, when the warring Blairite and Brownite tribes fought over who | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
Brown's chief spin doctor Damian should run the Labour Party. Gordon | :00:44. | :00:46. | |
Brown's chief spin doctor Damian McBride - McPoison, or worse, to his | :00:46. | :00:48. | |
enemies - has published his memoirs, timed for maximum impact in the | :00:48. | :00:57. | |
enemies - has published his memoirs, of Labour's Conference. They detail | :00:57. | :00:58. | |
how Mr McBride briefed against colleagues, brought down Cabinet | :00:58. | :01:02. | |
Ministers, that is - and fought tooth and nail to promote the man he | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
called "the greatest man he ever met" - Gordon Brown. Joining us | :01:06. | :01:13. | |
called "the greatest man he ever is Tony Blair's former Director | :01:13. | :01:13. | |
called "the greatest man he ever Communications, Alastair Campbell. | :01:13. | :01:20. | |
You are angry about what he has Communications, Alastair Campbell. | :01:20. | :01:28. | |
in this book. Why is that. It is partly the fact that he has done it | :01:28. | :01:35. | |
in a way that will be -- will be damaging to the Labour Party at | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
in a way that will be -- will be time. But also because of the lies | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
that he told at the time that he now communications and trying to hold | :01:41. | :01:50. | |
the thing together, build the team. There was also Charlie Whelan and | :01:50. | :01:58. | |
others. And that job was made more difficult than it should have been. | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
I used to challenge Gordon Brown about it. And there came a stage | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
where I said if Whelan does not about it. And there came a stage | :02:07. | :02:14. | |
I will go. And when Damian McBride was on the scene I was clear that I | :02:14. | :02:20. | |
was not going to have anything to do with him. Because of what he is | :02:20. | :02:26. | |
was not going to have anything to do admitting to, I think they played | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
quite a significant part in pushing Labour out of power. Because the | :02:29. | :02:34. | |
public were being fed by them, this public were being fed by them, this | :02:34. | :02:40. | |
narrative, the whole time. That Blair was useless, Charles Clarke | :02:40. | :02:47. | |
was useless. And I think that we where the government and had very | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
good ministers trying to do big things for the country. I said this | :02:51. | :02:58. | |
morning it was like being a foot tall team were on the pitch you | :02:58. | :03:04. | |
morning it was like being a foot your own players kicking the star | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
players. That is why I am angry about it because I think they helped | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
usher in a conservative government. If we had all stuck together I think | :03:10. | :03:17. | |
did not win the last election, that is a reasonable point. But surely | :03:17. | :03:25. | |
undermine Tony Blair and to promote their man, Gordon Brown. It is | :03:25. | :03:30. | |
inconceivable then that Gordon Brown did not know about it. Well in spite | :03:30. | :03:38. | |
reasonably good relationship with Gordon Brown. I used to challenge | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
him a lot about what Whelan was doing. He would always say, I will | :03:42. | :03:50. | |
sort it out. Another thing that annoys me is this sense put forward | :03:50. | :03:57. | |
by the right wing media that there was this sense of equivalence. | :03:57. | :04:03. | |
People like Steve who I have known for years, there is not a single | :04:03. | :04:10. | |
journalist with the very occasional exception where I lost my temper, | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
who would honestly be able to tell you that I ever breathed against | :04:14. | :04:20. | |
ministers. That was my golden rule. People say you were the forerunner. | :04:20. | :04:28. | |
I know it was not the case. One People say you were the forerunner. | :04:28. | :04:41. | |
the reasons why I do despise what they did, the whole spin thing which | :04:41. | :04:52. | |
associated with, once I wrote a actually within the government, | :04:52. | :05:02. | |
associated with, once I wrote a had a principle of maximum openness | :05:02. | :05:03. | |
and trust. Anyone could come to had a principle of maximum openness | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
morning meetings on condition that what was discussed their state as | :05:08. | :05:14. | |
part of the team. I had to say to Gordon Brown, your people are not | :05:14. | :05:16. | |
coming. Because I knew where it Gordon Brown, your people are not | :05:16. | :05:22. | |
coming from. Did you know that the time but Charles Clarke and others | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
were effectively being destroyed from within the Labour government? I | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
certainly knew that they thought that. I did know journalists telling | :05:31. | :05:39. | |
me that that was what was happening. Ultimately, this is why I never | :05:39. | :05:50. | |
me that that was what was happening. leaders, it is ultimately up to | :05:50. | :05:57. | |
me that that was what was happening. litre. Possibly in a different age | :05:57. | :06:00. | |
Gordon Brown would have been an amazing Prime Minister. He was a | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
great chancellor. But he had a flaw, this need for truly horrible | :06:04. | :06:11. | |
people to be around him doing truly horrible things in politics and | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
giving him and the Labour Party horrible things in politics and | :06:14. | :06:18. | |
politics a bad name. That is why I'm still angry about Damian McBride. | :06:18. | :06:28. | |
What do you make of it? The current administration is a contrast. We | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
have rival factions occupying the same offices but they still get | :06:32. | :06:38. | |
have rival factions occupying the The only time they have a row is | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
when something really big happens. But with that one party in Downing | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
Street there was fighting the whole time. Did Ed Balls know about this. | :06:44. | :06:50. | |
I would assume so. I spoke with time. Did Ed Balls know about this. | :06:50. | :07:03. | |
about it at the time. He told me at the time that he had spoken about it | :07:03. | :07:13. | |
with Gordon Brown. So I think there was a concern from within that camp | :07:13. | :07:18. | |
about some of these activities at equivalence, in life you expect | :07:18. | :07:28. | |
about some of these activities at see that there is full on both | :07:28. | :07:28. | |
sides. But I do not buy it in this see that there is full on both | :07:28. | :07:34. | |
case. If you look at the testimonies see that there is full on both | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
over the years, what you can surmise about the character of Gordon Brown | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
and of Tony Blair, it was ultimately driven by Gordon Brown and the | :07:42. | :07:48. | |
people around him. The Blairites did things but they did then by way | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
people around him. The Blairites did retaliation rather than initiation. | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
The one-time when I did lose it retaliation rather than initiation. | :07:56. | :08:01. | |
the whole psychological force thing. That came at the end of a period | :08:01. | :08:03. | |
when we were relentlessly being That came at the end of a period | :08:03. | :08:09. | |
in by Charlie Whelan and his gang of journalists. I would go along to | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
colleagues would be there and I journalists. I would go along to | :08:12. | :08:20. | |
had to sit there and not hit back. Saying I cannot believe Gordon Brown | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
would have anything to do with this. You get to the stage where your | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
would have anything to do with this. credibility is on the line. Coming | :08:28. | :08:29. | |
promotion of alcohol awareness. credibility is on the line. Coming | :08:29. | :08:40. | |
before that the Labour Party, you never had to deal with this in | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
opposition because you were pretty far ahead in the polls by midterm. | :08:43. | :08:48. | |
This time that is not the case. far ahead in the polls by midterm. | :08:48. | :08:56. | |
is surprisingly narrow. What advice would you give to Ed Miliband? To | :08:56. | :09:04. | |
keep his head out side of this bubble but it's all about him. And | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
to use this week to really speak to the British people about himself, | :09:09. | :09:16. | |
particularly the kind of policy agenda he is shaping for the future. | :09:16. | :09:23. | |
And start to heart -- start to hit the Tories hard. They're not pop, | :09:23. | :09:28. | |
they're not competent. They're screwing up the health service. | :09:28. | :09:34. | |
they're not competent. They're yet they are neck and neck. I would | :09:34. | :09:36. | |
say that the whole Shadow Cabinet understand that you win elections by | :09:36. | :09:42. | |
wanting to win elections every minute of every day. There is too | :09:42. | :09:50. | |
much complacency. A small lead now you have to grow that. You do that | :09:50. | :09:55. | |
with energy and conviction and policy. Tony Blair had a huge pole | :09:55. | :10:04. | |
bead in the run-up to 1997. We were winning seat where we had not even | :10:04. | :10:11. | |
campaigned and he was saying, why celebrate because we have not won | :10:11. | :10:13. | |
yet. You are promoting your alcohol celebrate because we have not won | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
yet. You are promoting your alcohol awareness campaign. Perhaps the | :10:17. | :10:19. | |
party conference is not the best place to do that! That is one reason | :10:19. | :10:28. | |
why I am doing that. I'm hosting probably the only alcohol free | :10:28. | :10:34. | |
reception of the week! There is nothing worse than a convert, I | :10:34. | :10:41. | |
reception of the week! There is that. But I travel a lot. I travel | :10:41. | :10:47. | |
around the world and Britain has a something we should be ashamed of. | :10:47. | :10:56. | |
Why is that, is it cultural? I think it is historical. But I dig David | :10:56. | :11:03. | |
Cameron was right to go for minimum unit pricing and wrong to do a | :11:03. | :11:16. | |
reversal. 6% of alcoholics get treatment. I expect that drugs are a | :11:16. | :11:19. | |
problem but we spent £2 billion treatment. I expect that drugs are a | :11:19. | :11:26. | |
100,000 problem drug takers and treatment. I expect that drugs are a | :11:26. | :11:28. | |
million on 1.6 million problem have written this book about a young | :11:28. | :11:41. | |
million on 1.6 million problem alcoholic, a teenager. And it is in | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
the first person. People could think you are writing about yourself. | :11:45. | :11:48. | |
did you choose a teenage girl? Well did you choose a teenage girl? Well | :11:48. | :11:55. | |
partly, I dedicated this to the Southampton. He told me when he | :11:55. | :12:06. | |
started his career that his patience was split nine to one, men to women | :12:06. | :12:13. | |
and it is now 50 - 50. They're getting younger and younger. One | :12:13. | :12:21. | |
doctor looking after me said I will take you around this hospital and | :12:21. | :12:27. | |
the problems of alcohol are in every single ward. Not just accident and | :12:27. | :12:33. | |
emergency. I watched the foot all, advertisements for gambling and | :12:33. | :12:41. | |
advertising. How have we allowed this to happen, ? We are just awash | :12:41. | :12:51. | |
with it. What we did I think on Availability and price either too | :12:51. | :12:58. | |
means by which you can bring this down. And the country that has had | :12:59. | :13:05. | |
the biggest success on this is Russia, bizarrely. Thank you very | :13:05. | :13:17. | |
much for that. That's all for today. Thanks to all our guests. I'll be | :13:17. | :13:22. | |
with live coverage of Labour Party Conference, including the speech | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
from the man who wants to be the next Chancellor, Ed Balls. Remember | :13:25. | :13:27. |