Browse content similar to 18/05/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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difference. This man is 11 points ahead in one poll, he has promised | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
an earthquake on Thursday, but what then? Our Adam has braved the | :01:59. | :02:04. | |
campaign trail, he has been asking all | :02:05. | :02:09. | |
In the East Midlands, it's `n election special. We're on a | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
regional road trip to find out what our MEPs are up against, and taking | :02:14. | :02:15. | |
a closer this week, a last look at the euro | :02:16. | :02:17. | |
elections, and the 50th anniversary of the first elections to London's | :02:18. | :02:27. | |
32 boroughs. I am in the studio, with those who think they have got | :02:28. | :02:33. | |
all the big answers. Nick Watt, Helen Lewis and Janan Ganesh. So, it | :02:34. | :02:40. | |
is the European elections for everybody on Thursday, local | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
elections for England and a bit of Northern Ireland as well. They are | :02:45. | :02:47. | |
the last elections before the big one, the 2015 general election. Some | :02:48. | :02:52. | |
say that these European and local elections will not be much of a | :02:53. | :02:54. | |
pointer to how the big one goes But pointer to how the big one goes. But | :02:55. | :02:59. | |
that will not stop political commentators and party gurus from | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
examining them closely. So, what is at stake? Thursday May the 22nd is | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
local elections and European Parliament elections. | :03:10. | :03:30. | |
These local results should be known by Friday. In the European | :03:31. | :03:38. | |
elections, all 751 members of the European Parliament will be elected | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
across Europe. 73 MEPs will be let it by people living in the UK. But | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
the results will not be announced until Sunday night, after voting has | :03:48. | :03:51. | |
closed throughout the 28 member states of the EU. Nick Watt, we are | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
in a position where the polls this morning cannot tell us what the | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
outcome is going to be on Thursday, and the general election is still | :04:01. | :04:04. | |
wide open - we really are in uncharted territory? Also it is | :04:05. | :04:08. | |
difficult to know where we are, because there is that ComRes poll | :04:09. | :04:12. | |
which shows an 11 point lead amongst those certain to vote for UKIP, and | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
another poll in the Sunday Times showing that it is a much more | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
slender lead for UKIP. But we know that will they win? We do not know, | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
but clearly they will unsettle the major parties. Fall or five months | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
ago, we assumed that the UKIP success would create panic in the | :04:33. | :04:38. | |
Conservative Party, but that has been factored into David Cameron's | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
share price. The Conservative Party is remarkably relaxed at the moment, | :04:43. | :04:45. | |
and I wonder whether this time next week, when we have the results, | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
whether the two political leaders who will be under pressure will be | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg. Nick Clegg, because they could go down | :04:55. | :04:58. | |
from 12 MEPs to maybe just three or four. And Ed Miliband, because, one | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
year before a general election, he should be showing that he is a | :05:04. | :05:06. | |
significant, potent electoral force. So, they should all be | :05:07. | :05:12. | |
worried about UKIP, but whereas a couple of months ago, we would all | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
have said David Cameron was the one who should be worried, now, we are | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
saying it is Mr Miliband and Mr Clegg? And of the two, I think it is | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
Ed Miliband who should be worried. The Lib Dems are an incredibly | :05:26. | :05:34. | |
resilient party. He described his own party as cockroaches, and | :05:35. | :05:43. | |
incredible resilience! I think the Lib Dems are ready to take this one, | :05:44. | :05:47. | |
but I think Labour are really wobbly at the moment. What UKIP has done, | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
to England, it means that England has caught up with Scotland, | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
Northern Ireland and Wales, England now has a four party system, which | :05:57. | :06:01. | |
makes it all the more uncertain what the outcome will be? Yes, but | :06:02. | :06:08. | |
whether UKIP finish first or second, it will be the biggest insurgent | :06:09. | :06:11. | |
event since the European elections began in 1979. People talk about the | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
Greens in 1989, but I think they finished third. Were UKIP to win a | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
national election or even finish runner-up, it would be truly | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
historic. It is reflecting on something which is happening across | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
Europe, pianist in Italy, Holland, France and in this country. -- | :06:31. | :06:37. | |
populist parties. And it makes first past the post look absolutely | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
ridiculous. You could be in a situation after the next general | :06:44. | :06:46. | |
election where Labour do not get the largest percentage of the vote but | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
they get the largest number of seats. First past the post works | :06:51. | :06:53. | |
fairly if there are only two parties, but when there are four... | :06:54. | :07:00. | |
We will talk more about that. Let's speak now to Suzanne Evans of UKIP. | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
She is at Westminster. Now, UKIP claims that there is going to be an | :07:06. | :07:08. | |
earthquake in British politics on Thursday. Suppose there is, what | :07:09. | :07:13. | |
does UKIP then need to do to become a more grown-up, proper party? I | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
think UKIP has very much become a grown-up, proper party. We have been | :07:19. | :07:24. | |
around for 20 years. What we are going to be doing after the European | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
elections, if we do cause this earthquake, and the polls are | :07:30. | :07:33. | |
looking like we are going to, is we will be firmly looking towards 2015, | :07:34. | :07:36. | |
getting our general election manifesto out, to keep those votes | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
on board from the euro elections and putting forward common-sense | :07:43. | :07:44. | |
policies which really will bring Britain back to the people. We want | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
to be able to hold the balance of power come the general election. If | :07:49. | :07:51. | |
we can do that then there will be a referendum. That will be our aim. | :07:52. | :08:02. | |
You say you are a more grown-up party, but when you look at the | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
stream of gaffes and controversies created by your candidates and | :08:08. | :08:10. | |
members, I will not go into them this morning, at the very least, I | :08:11. | :08:16. | |
would suggest you are needing a more robust system of selection? You | :08:17. | :08:20. | |
could say the same for the other three parties, who have been around | :08:21. | :08:25. | |
for a lot longer. They have got nothing like the embarrassments you | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
had. I am afraid they had. Just this week, since Monday, we have had 17 | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
Liberal Democrat, labour or Conservative councillors either | :08:36. | :08:38. | |
arrested, charged or convicted on all manner of offences. In addition | :08:39. | :08:42. | |
we have had 13 who have been involved in some kind of racist | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
sexist or homophobic incident. I am not saying I am proud of any of | :08:47. | :08:50. | |
that. The whole of politics probably needs to be cleaned up, but I | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
certainly do not think we are any worse than the other parties, who | :08:55. | :08:56. | |
have much greater resources than we do. Those other parties are even | :08:57. | :09:04. | |
putting people in power who they know have got criminal convictions | :09:05. | :09:07. | |
or who have previously belonged to far right, fascist parties like the | :09:08. | :09:13. | |
BNP. Can you continue to be a one-man band? The only time any | :09:14. | :09:16. | |
other UKIP petition makes the headlines is when they say something | :09:17. | :09:22. | |
loony or objectionable? We have a huge amount of talent in this party. | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
We have fantastic spokespeople across the patch, the huge amount of | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
expertise in the party. Inevitably the media focuses on Nigel Farage, | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
who is a fantastic, charismatic leader. But believe me, there is a | :09:36. | :09:42. | |
huge amount of talent. When we get our MEPs into power after the | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
European elections, we will see many more of them I think on television | :09:48. | :09:49. | |
and radio and in the newspapers. more of them I think on television | :09:50. | :09:52. | |
and radio and in the newspapers We are not a one-man band. Who runs | :09:53. | :09:59. | |
your party? The party is run by Nigel Farage, our leader. But he | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
spends all his time running between television studios and in and out of | :10:05. | :10:10. | |
the pub! You would be amazed how much he does, and of course we have | :10:11. | :10:13. | |
a National Executive Committee, like the other parties. So who runs it? | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
The National Executive Committee, in conjunction with Nigel Farage, the | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
MEPs, the spokespeople, it is a joint effort. Your Local Government | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
Minister Stosur is, if you vote UKIP, you go on to pledge that your | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
councillors will not toe the party line, how does that work? -- your | :10:33. | :10:43. | |
local government manifesto says... On the main policies, they will toe | :10:44. | :10:46. | |
the party line, because that is obviously what people will be voting | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
for. It is no good putting forward a manifesto like the Lib Dems did on | :10:51. | :10:56. | |
2010 and going back on it. We have put forward a lot of positive -- | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
2010 and going back on it. We have put forward a lot of positive - a | :11:01. | :11:02. | |
lot of policies at local government level, and those we will stick to. | :11:03. | :11:05. | |
But when it comes to individual, But when it comes to individual | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
local issues, say, a particular development or the closure of a | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
school, whatever, UKIP then will vote what they think is in the best | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
interests of the people in the borough, and not according to any | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
party whip system. This plays out really well on the doorstep, I find. | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
People do not want their politicians to be in the pockets of their | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
party, putting party first, ahead of the people. You want people to vote | :11:32. | :11:36. | |
to leave the European Union in a referendum - have you published a | :11:37. | :11:39. | |
road map as to what would then happen? Yes, there will be a road | :11:40. | :11:45. | |
map. The Lisbon Treaty for the first time gave us that exit opportunity. | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
Have you published a road map? I am not the legal expert on this but | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
there are ways in which you can come out of Europe fairly quickly. There | :11:55. | :11:59. | |
is a longer you all as well. But have you published any of that | :12:00. | :12:04. | |
detail? Not that I have read. But certainly there are ways to do it. | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
We are the sixth strongest world economy, I think we are in a strong | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
position having left the EU to be able to negotiate a very good trade | :12:14. | :12:17. | |
deal with the European Union. It is what people voted for in 1975. What | :12:18. | :12:25. | |
would be our exact status? It would be I think what people voted for | :12:26. | :12:30. | |
back in 1975. An independent, sovereign country in a trade | :12:31. | :12:34. | |
agreement, a very positive and valuable trade agreement with the | :12:35. | :12:38. | |
European Union. I voted in that referendum, I remember it well, 1975 | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
involved the free movement of people 's... That is something which I do | :12:43. | :12:50. | |
not think UKIP or the country wants. 70% of people now are deeply | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
concerned about immigration. So it would not be 1975, then? Andrew, | :12:56. | :13:01. | |
concerned about immigration. So it would not be 1975, then? Andrew it | :13:02. | :13:01. | |
would not be 1975, then? Andrew, it sounds like you are complaining that | :13:02. | :13:05. | |
we might have something which is better than 1975. I am just trying | :13:06. | :13:11. | |
to find out what it is! That sounds like positive to me. We will | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
negotiate a trade deal and all manner of issues, whatever is best | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
for the British people. We want our sovereignty back, we want our | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
country back. Would you be upset if a bunch of Rumanian men moved in | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
next door to you? Where I live, I am surrounded by one and two-bedroom | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
flats. If ten Rumanian men moved in next door to me, I would want to ask | :13:33. | :13:37. | |
questions. That is very different from say a Robinho family moving in | :13:38. | :13:47. | |
next door. I would think, are they being ripped off, are they up to no | :13:48. | :13:51. | |
good or are they perhaps being trafficked by a gang master? So I | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
think it would be of concern, and I do not think there is anything wrong | :13:56. | :13:59. | |
with that, it is a humanitarian approach. That would be different | :14:00. | :14:02. | |
from a family moving in who were learning to speak English, who | :14:03. | :14:05. | |
wanted to contribute to the British economy. Maybe if your boss is | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
watching, he will now have found out how to answer that question. | :14:11. | :14:20. | |
Now, what is more glamorous, 24 hours in the life of a | :14:21. | :14:28. | |
counter-terrorism agent, or 12 hours in the life of Adam Fleming, on the | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
campaign trail? I will let you make up your own mind. So, it is eight | :14:34. | :14:39. | |
o'clock in the morning here in Westminster. Today's challenge is, | :14:40. | :14:44. | |
how much campaigning for the local and European elections can we fit | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
into 12 hours? See you back here at eight o'clock tonight. Wish me | :14:50. | :14:54. | |
luck. With my cameraman and producer, we went to Thurrock in | :14:55. | :15:01. | |
Essex first. I got a very, very warm welcome from Abe buoyant UKIP. They | :15:02. | :15:12. | |
have never had this much attention. One candidate's misdemeanour ends up | :15:13. | :15:18. | |
on the front page. But you have got Lib Dem candidates being convicted | :15:19. | :15:20. | |
of racially aggravated assault, and that was not on the front pages of | :15:21. | :15:24. | |
the newspapers. Houdini is fine but it must be applied evenly. Have you | :15:25. | :15:31. | |
had to sack Thurrock UKIP members for dodgy tweets or anything? Oh, | :15:32. | :15:39. | |
God, no. Next we head to meet a top Tory in a different area. We are | :15:40. | :15:43. | |
heading to Eastbourne. But stuck in traffic. We are going to miss | :15:44. | :15:49. | |
William Hague. We got there, just in time, to ask the really big | :15:50. | :15:53. | |
questions. David Cameron went to Nando De Colo last week, where are | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
you going to go for lunch? I do not even get time for lunch. I think | :15:59. | :16:05. | |
something in the back of the car. We will go down the street and see what | :16:06. | :16:10. | |
people have got to say. Even the Foreign Secretary has depressed the | :16:11. | :16:14. | |
flesh at election time? Even the Foreign Secretary meets real people. | :16:15. | :16:26. | |
The message William Hague impresses upon everyone he meets is that the | :16:27. | :16:31. | |
Tories are the only party offering a referendum on our membership of the | :16:32. | :16:40. | |
EU. He's off for lunch in the limo. I've got five minutes by the beach. | :16:41. | :16:44. | |
This is the best thing about elections, lunch. Do you want one? | :16:45. | :16:52. | |
And chips are weirdly relevant at our next stop - the Green Party | :16:53. | :16:55. | |
battle bus which is parked in Ashford in Kent. What is special | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
about this vehicle? It runs from chip fat oil so it is more friendly | :17:00. | :17:08. | |
to the environment. But boss was boiling. The next stop is Gillingham | :17:09. | :17:16. | |
to see Labour. Labour have just hired Barack Obama's election guru | :17:17. | :17:19. | |
David Axelrod to help them craft their message. What does David | :17:20. | :17:26. | |
Axelrod know about the people who live on the street? I know the local | :17:27. | :17:37. | |
details but you handle those. Ed Miliband and his party have had to | :17:38. | :17:40. | |
handle a few dodgy opinion polls lately, prompting some leadership | :17:41. | :17:43. | |
speculation from one activist. Who is your favourite Labour politician? | :17:44. | :17:52. | |
Ed Balls. Back in the car and we're flagging. Final stop, Southwark in | :17:53. | :18:00. | |
south London. We are in the right place, this is Simon Hughes' Lib Dem | :18:01. | :18:08. | |
taxi. The Lib Dems are campaigning as the party of in. But are they in | :18:09. | :18:14. | |
trouble? Your party president said the party would be wiped out and | :18:15. | :18:20. | |
lose its MEPs. Is that helpful? If he did say that, then no, that's not | :18:21. | :18:28. | |
terribly helpful. And let's not forget, every London council is | :18:29. | :18:31. | |
having elections too. I have 40 minutes to get back to the office in | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
Westminster, which calls for something drastic, like this. After | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
212 miles, but will be make it home for eight? We have made it, aided, | :18:42. | :18:50. | |
12 hours of pure politics. Happy elections, everyone. | :18:51. | :19:02. | |
Adam Fleming impersonating Jack Bauer! Natalie Bennett is in our | :19:03. | :19:10. | |
studio, welcome back. The Greens used to be the upcoming party in | :19:11. | :19:14. | |
Britain, now it is UKIP. What went wrong? We are in a very good place, | :19:15. | :19:25. | |
looking towards travelling our MEPs and we could be the fourth largest | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
group in Parliament after these elections. More and more people are | :19:31. | :19:35. | |
recognising we are the only party calling for real change, the only | :19:36. | :19:40. | |
party saying we have two stop making poor, disadvantaged young people | :19:41. | :19:46. | |
over the mistakes bankers. You have made a strong pro-environment stands | :19:47. | :19:52. | |
synonymous with the politics of the left, why have you done that? Why | :19:53. | :19:57. | |
should an equal minded Conservative vote for you? I think one of the | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
reasons why many Conservatives, I met them in Chester where they are | :20:03. | :20:09. | |
stopping coalbed methane exploration, lots of Conservatives | :20:10. | :20:15. | |
are looking to vote for us beyond issues like fracking and the Green | :20:16. | :20:19. | |
belt, and many of them are concerned about the fact we haven't reformed | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
the banks. This morning we had the Bank of England chief coming out and | :20:25. | :20:28. | |
saying we have a huge house price bubble and people recognise that | :20:29. | :20:34. | |
many of the parties offering the same are not working. And yet the | :20:35. | :20:46. | |
polls show that the hardline greenery is not winning. We are | :20:47. | :20:51. | |
looking to travel our number of MEPs and we have people recognising that | :20:52. | :20:56. | |
we have to change the way our economic 's, politics and society | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
works so that everyone has sufficient resources within the | :21:01. | :21:03. | |
limits of the one planet because one planet is all we have got. You want | :21:04. | :21:11. | |
all electricity to be generated by renewables, is that right? So where | :21:12. | :21:16. | |
would the electricity come from on days when the wind is not blowing? | :21:17. | :21:21. | |
Most of the electricity is there. It is mature. We need to be hooked into | :21:22. | :21:28. | |
a European wide grid, we need a smart grid that will allow for | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
demand to be adjusted according to supply. So we would take French | :21:34. | :21:40. | |
nuclear power, would we? We need to work with a partnership across | :21:41. | :21:48. | |
Europe. We are being left behind and we are losing opportunities. 50% of | :21:49. | :21:51. | |
we are losing opportunities. 50 of German renewable electricity is | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
owned by communities and it stays within communities, rather than the | :21:56. | :22:06. | |
big six energy companies. So you have still got to take the French | :22:07. | :22:16. | |
nuclear power. What we need to do... Nuclear is a dead technology, | :22:17. | :22:23. | |
going down in the developed world. At the moment the Government | :22:24. | :22:25. | |
proposes the At the moment the Government | :22:26. | :24:38. | |
joined now by the Conservative MP, the Lib Dem MP Simon Hughes and | :24:39. | :25:08. | |
Sajid Javid. We want to see a European Union resolutely focused on | :25:09. | :25:12. | |
the single market, free trade, and only we can bring about that change. | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
Labour and Lib Dems are happy with the status quo, in fact they would | :25:18. | :25:22. | |
like more integration, and a UKIP party can not deliver the change. | :25:23. | :25:29. | |
Hilary Benn, at this stage positions usually romp home in European | :25:30. | :25:33. | |
elections and no party has gone on to form a government without winning | :25:34. | :25:38. | |
the European elections first. Now it suggests you could become second, | :25:39. | :25:45. | |
you haven't handled UKIP very well either. There is a lot of alienation | :25:46. | :25:50. | |
from politics around, globalisation has left some behind and people are | :25:51. | :25:54. | |
concerned about that but UKIP will not provide the answer. Nigel Farage | :25:55. | :26:00. | |
only talks about Europe. We are to hear it would not be in the | :26:01. | :26:04. | |
interests of British people to come out of Europe. We do want a season | :26:05. | :26:09. | |
change in Europe, for example we want longer periods when new member | :26:10. | :26:15. | |
states come in. We don't think child tax credits should be paid to | :26:16. | :26:19. | |
children not living in the UK, but Nigel Farage is also proposing to | :26:20. | :26:26. | |
charge us when we see the GP, to halve maternity pay, and he wants a | :26:27. | :26:32. | |
flat tax. UKIP is not the answer to the problems we face and we will | :26:33. | :26:36. | |
continue to campaign as we have done to show that we are putting forward | :26:37. | :26:46. | |
policies on energy prices, and in the end that is what people will | :26:47. | :26:51. | |
look for. Simon Hughes, you will be lucky to come forth. The voters | :26:52. | :26:58. | |
decide these things. Really? I never knew that. My response to the UKIP | :26:59. | :27:03. | |
question is that they get support because they have never been in | :27:04. | :27:09. | |
power, they are never likely. A bit like the way you used to never get | :27:10. | :27:14. | |
into power. I accept that, but now we are in government. The reality is | :27:15. | :27:23. | |
that laws made in Brussels, we make together by agreement, and it is the | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
case from the Commons figures that only seven out of 100 laws are made | :27:29. | :27:37. | |
in Brussels. Actually they have been shown not to be the only ones. 14 | :27:38. | :27:43. | |
out of 100. If we were to come out of Europe, we would seriously | :27:44. | :27:52. | |
disadvantage our economics and the jobs... 3 million jobs depend on the | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
European Union. If the Conservatives comes third or even a poor second, | :27:59. | :28:02. | |
it will show that people don't really trust your promise about | :28:03. | :28:07. | |
European referendum. They have been there before, they don't trust you. | :28:08. | :28:12. | |
What we have already shown, despite being in coalition with Liberal | :28:13. | :28:17. | |
Democrats, we have shown progress on Europe, we have vetoed a European | :28:18. | :28:21. | |
treaty when people said we wouldn't, we have cut the European | :28:22. | :28:26. | |
budget which is something Liberal Democrats and Labour MEPs voted | :28:27. | :28:31. | |
against, we cut it by ?8 billion. But overall we are still paying | :28:32. | :28:40. | |
more. We have still cut it. We have taken Britain out of the bailout | :28:41. | :28:45. | |
fund that Labour signed us up to. We are now going to take that same | :28:46. | :28:50. | |
energy to Europe and renegotiate our relationship and let the British | :28:51. | :28:56. | |
people decide in a referendum. Why has Ed Miliband become such a | :28:57. | :29:04. | |
liability for your party? Even your own MPs are speaking out against | :29:05. | :29:10. | |
him. If you look at the polls, we have been in the lead almost | :29:11. | :29:15. | |
consistently. The voters will decide. Ed Miliband is a decent man, | :29:16. | :29:19. | |
but what really marks him out is that he is thinking about the | :29:20. | :29:25. | |
problems the country faces. Simon and Sajid both support the bedroom | :29:26. | :29:38. | |
tax, we will scrap it. Ed Miliband said the energy market doesn't work | :29:39. | :29:41. | |
for consumers, we will freeze energy prices while we change the system. | :29:42. | :29:50. | |
So why are his ratings even lower than Nick Clegg's? They will be | :29:51. | :29:59. | |
voted for next year in the general election, and if I were David | :30:00. | :30:03. | |
Cameron I would ask myself this question - the economy is | :30:04. | :30:09. | |
recovering, why is it that David Cameron and the Conservatives have | :30:10. | :30:12. | |
been behind in the polls? Because in the end the big choice in British | :30:13. | :30:17. | |
politics is between the two parties that say, if we sought the deficit | :30:18. | :30:23. | |
everything is fine, and Labour who say that there are things about this | :30:24. | :30:27. | |
country, the insecurity that has given rise for support for UKIP, and | :30:28. | :30:34. | |
we are the ones talking about doing something about zero hours | :30:35. | :30:38. | |
contracts. The more your leader bangs on about Europe, the worse | :30:39. | :30:43. | |
your poll ratings get. He is out of the kilter with British people. It | :30:44. | :30:53. | |
may not be a majority of people who think that we ought to stay in the | :30:54. | :30:56. | |
European Union, but when you speak to people about it, people | :30:57. | :31:01. | |
understand that we are better in them out. In the elections on | :31:02. | :31:06. | |
Thursday, that is not about who runs Britain, that is for next year. In | :31:07. | :31:10. | |
terms of the local councils, we have battles on the ground, like in my | :31:11. | :31:14. | |
community, where we are trying to take it back from the Labour Party. | :31:15. | :31:18. | |
Affordable housing has just not been delivered. We have delivered that in | :31:19. | :31:25. | |
office and we had admitted to that. -- we are committed to that. Labour | :31:26. | :31:30. | |
have actually demolished homes. So, people want more affordable homes. | :31:31. | :31:36. | |
One issue which is behind people's antipathy towards immigrants is that | :31:37. | :31:40. | |
they cannot get the affordable housing they need. We as a | :31:41. | :31:43. | |
government have delivered more affordable housing in this | :31:44. | :31:48. | |
Parliament -170,000 new properties earning and more, over the next | :31:49. | :31:54. | |
three years. That does not work out that very many per year. Overall | :31:55. | :32:03. | |
housing is a lot less than it was in 2006. Let me tell you, under the | :32:04. | :32:10. | |
Labour government, we lost nearly half a million affordable homes. | :32:11. | :32:13. | |
Fewer built than under Mrs Thatcher or under the coalition. What is your | :32:14. | :32:20. | |
last ditch message to the millions of Tory voters thinking of voting | :32:21. | :32:26. | |
UKIP on Thursday? First, what I would say is, Ed Miliband also said | :32:27. | :32:31. | |
that we should not tackle the deficit, it was not a priority. As a | :32:32. | :32:37. | |
result of our resolute focus, we now have the fastest growing economy in | :32:38. | :32:40. | |
the developed world, and more people employed than ever before. I am sure | :32:41. | :32:44. | |
you will have more chance to say that at the general election, what | :32:45. | :32:49. | |
is the answer to my question? We need a Europe which is focused on | :32:50. | :32:53. | |
free trade and the single market. Labour and Lib Dems are happy with | :32:54. | :32:57. | |
the status quo, we are not. We are the only party which can bring about | :32:58. | :33:01. | |
change, UKIP cannot bring about any change. Hilary Benn, why not have a | :33:02. | :33:11. | |
referendum on Europe? If you think like Nigel Farage that you should | :33:12. | :33:15. | |
get out of Europe, I do not agree with him, because Britain's future | :33:16. | :33:19. | |
lies in Europe. My message simply would be, vote for a party which | :33:20. | :33:23. | |
wants to tackle insecurity in the workplace, to give more security to | :33:24. | :33:27. | |
the 9 million people who are now privately renting, build more homes. | :33:28. | :33:34. | |
What Simon has just said about the coalition's housing record, it has | :33:35. | :33:38. | |
been appalling, the lowest level since Stanley Baldwin was Prime | :33:39. | :33:42. | |
Minister. With Labour, you have got a party which will freeze energy | :33:43. | :33:46. | |
prices, more childcare, policies which directly address the problems | :33:47. | :33:51. | |
which people face. I think the public will realise that. UKIP | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
offers absolutely nothing at all for the future of the country. You used | :33:56. | :34:00. | |
to be in favour of a referendum? We are in favour, we voted for one, we | :34:01. | :34:04. | |
have legislated for one. The next time there is a change between | :34:05. | :34:08. | |
Britain and Europe, in the relationship, there will be a | :34:09. | :34:14. | |
referendum. We have supported that. We voted for it. You would obviously | :34:15. | :34:19. | |
want to vote yes in any referendum. We would. But if you had one now, it | :34:20. | :34:27. | |
would be for coming out or staying in, and you are going to wait until | :34:28. | :34:30. | |
there is another step son shall transfer of powers to Brussels, and | :34:31. | :34:36. | |
then say to people, either vote for this substantial transfer or vote to | :34:37. | :34:43. | |
leave! Of course they will vote to leave! Yes, we are not natural | :34:44. | :34:50. | |
partners with the Conservatives, but we do not want to be distracted at | :34:51. | :34:55. | |
the moment by a referendum in the future in relation to Europe. | :34:56. | :34:58. | |
Because what we have done is built our own economy back. That has been | :34:59. | :35:06. | |
the priority. We do not want artificial priorities. The Tories | :35:07. | :35:09. | |
want an artificial date plucked out of the air for their own advantage. | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
We say, let's get on with being positive about being in Europe, and | :35:15. | :35:17. | |
many people on the doorstep absolutely understand that. | :35:18. | :35:21. | |
Yesterday, the Energy Minister said that he thought the party would be | :35:22. | :35:25. | |
willing to campaign for a British withdrawal from the EU if there was | :35:26. | :35:32. | |
not a successful negotiation, a successful repatriation, do you | :35:33. | :35:38. | |
agree with that? First of all, I am very optimistic... I got that I am | :35:39. | :35:48. | |
going into these negotiations with confidence but Michael Fallon is one | :35:49. | :35:51. | |
of your ministerial colleagues, he said that if we cannot get a deal on | :35:52. | :35:56. | |
substantial repatriation, then the party should be willing to campaign | :35:57. | :36:01. | |
for a British withdrawal - do you agree? My view is that I am | :36:02. | :36:05. | |
confident we will get a deal, and then we will put it to the British | :36:06. | :36:10. | |
people. But you will have to take a line. If you do not get substantial | :36:11. | :36:14. | |
repatriations, will you side with Michael Fallon all with the Prime | :36:15. | :36:17. | |
Minister, who seems to want to stay in regardless? I may only have been | :36:18. | :36:23. | |
in politics for four years, but I am not going to ask that kind of | :36:24. | :36:26. | |
hypothetical question. Every question I ask is hypothetical, that | :36:27. | :36:33. | |
is the fascination of the programme! I go into these negotiations with | :36:34. | :36:36. | |
complete confidence. If you look at our track record, it suggests we | :36:37. | :36:43. | |
will be successful. Hilary Benn, what is the difference between your | :36:44. | :36:47. | |
attitude and that of the Lib Dems towards a referendum? We have been | :36:48. | :36:53. | |
very clear that if it is proposed at sometime in the future, further | :36:54. | :36:58. | |
powers would be transferred, then, we would put that to the British | :36:59. | :37:01. | |
people in a referendum. That is the Lib Dem position. This is our | :37:02. | :37:07. | |
position, which I am planing to you. It would be an in-out referendum. We | :37:08. | :37:12. | |
would only agree to a transfer of powers if we thought that it was in | :37:13. | :37:18. | |
the interest of Britain. But we believe that Britain's place remains | :37:19. | :37:20. | |
and should remain in Europe, for economic reasons. But we also want | :37:21. | :37:28. | |
to see some changes in our relationship with Europe, and | :37:29. | :37:34. | |
electing Labour MEPs on Thursday will be a way of boosting that | :37:35. | :37:41. | |
argument. In what way is everything you have just said not entirely sell | :37:42. | :37:45. | |
my must with the Lib Dem position? I am not worried about that. -- | :37:46. | :37:53. | |
entirely synonymous. It is the dividing line between us and UKIP, | :37:54. | :37:56. | |
because they somehow believe that Britain leaving the European Union | :37:57. | :38:00. | |
would be good for our economy. Truth is, it would be really bad, because | :38:01. | :38:05. | |
so many jobs depend on being part of a large market in an increasingly | :38:06. | :38:17. | |
globalised world. I have got one more question for you on the locals. | :38:18. | :38:19. | |
We seem to have lost our connection more question for you on the locals. | :38:20. | :38:24. | |
with Leeds. What is the single most important reason that people should | :38:25. | :38:28. | |
vote for you in the local election? Because taxpayers' money is just | :38:29. | :38:31. | |
that, it does not belong to the politicians, and we can do a lot | :38:32. | :38:35. | |
more and get more for less with taxpayers money. If you look at | :38:36. | :38:38. | |
Conservative councils up and down the country, most of them have not | :38:39. | :38:42. | |
been raising council tax, they have been getting more for less, and that | :38:43. | :38:48. | |
is what people deserve. We will produce the maximum amount possible | :38:49. | :38:51. | |
of affordable housing to meet the housing needs of Britain, instead of | :38:52. | :38:54. | |
the richest minority having flats and houses that nobody can afford. | :38:55. | :39:01. | |
We seem to have lost Hilary Benn. I can answer for him. I will do it - | :39:02. | :39:08. | |
he would certainly say, vote Labour. You are watching The Sunday | :39:09. | :39:13. | |
Politics. We say goodbye to viewers in Scotland, who now leave us for | :39:14. | :39:16. | |
Sunday Politics Scotland. Coming In the East Midlands, it's election | :39:17. | :39:26. | |
week and we're out on the c`mpaign week and we're out on the c`mpaign | :39:27. | :39:31. | |
trail as the parties fight for your vote. | :39:32. | :39:32. | |
Hello, sir. Would you like ` Hello, sir. Would you like ` | :39:33. | :39:35. | |
handful? Do you live local? I do, yes. That's a Labour candid`te. Are | :39:36. | :39:37. | |
yes. That's a Labour candidate. Are you voting next week in the local | :39:38. | :39:42. | |
elections? I shall be, yes. We'll be taking a close look at this | :39:43. | :39:46. | |
week's vote for our local councils, and trying to work out how our | :39:47. | :39:49. | |
European candidates get round such a sprawling patch. | :39:50. | :39:52. | |
I've been out on the road to discover the vast Euro constituency | :39:53. | :39:55. | |
that makes up the East Midl`nds Think of it as a road movie but with | :39:56. | :40:04. | |
votes. Hello, I'm Marie Ashby and this week | :40:05. | :40:07. | |
we have a full house, with representatives from four p`rties | :40:08. | :40:08. | |
we have a full house, with representatives from four parties in | :40:09. | :40:09. | |
representatives from four p`rties in the studio and we'll also be | :40:10. | :40:10. | |
representatives from four parties in the studio and we'll also bd hearing | :40:11. | :40:11. | |
the studio and we'll also be hearing from the Greens as we gear tp for | :40:12. | :40:13. | |
the studio and we'll also bd hearing from the Greens as we gear up for a | :40:14. | :40:13. | |
from the Greens as we gear tp for a vital election week. Sir Edward | :40:14. | :40:16. | |
Garnier is the Conservative MP for Harborough, Chris Williamson is | :40:17. | :40:19. | |
Labour's MP for Derby North. Also here ` Stuart Bray, the Lib Dem | :40:20. | :40:22. | |
leader of Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council, and David Parsons, | :40:23. | :40:25. | |
a former Tory leader of Leicestershire County Counchl and | :40:26. | :40:28. | |
now a UKIP candidate for North West Leicestershire. Welcome to you all. | :40:29. | :40:32. | |
Leicestershire. Welcome to xou all. So, first of all, we're going to | :40:33. | :40:34. | |
take a look at the local elections take a look at the local elections | :40:35. | :40:36. | |
in our patch. In three of otr take a look at the local eldctions | :40:37. | :40:38. | |
in our patch. In three of otr local authorities, a third of the council | :40:39. | :40:42. | |
is up for election ` at Derby City Council and Bassetlaw in | :40:43. | :40:43. | |
Nottinghamshire, but most eyes Council and Bassetlaw in | :40:44. | :40:44. | |
Nottinghamshire, but most exes will Nottinghamshire, but most exes will | :40:45. | :40:44. | |
be on the voting in a council that's be on the voting in a counchl that's | :40:45. | :40:48. | |
also a vital Parliamentary larginal. Helen McCulloch reports from Amber | :40:49. | :40:52. | |
Valley. Hello, sir. Would you like a | :40:53. | :40:54. | |
Hello, sir. Would you like ` handful? Do you live local? I do, | :40:55. | :40:57. | |
yes. Well, that's a Labour candidate. Are you voting next | :40:58. | :40:59. | |
yes. Well, that's a Labour candidate. Are you voting ndxt week | :41:00. | :40:59. | |
candidate. Are you voting next week in the local elections? I shall be, | :41:00. | :41:04. | |
yes. I'd like to think you can support us. Will you be voting | :41:05. | :41:06. | |
yes. I'd like to think you can support us. Will you be vothng the | :41:07. | :41:08. | |
next week? Not Labour, no. Fair enough. Last`minute leaflethng | :41:09. | :41:10. | |
next week? Not Labour, no. Fair enough. Last`minute leafleting in | :41:11. | :41:14. | |
Ripley. Despite a majority of just three, the Conservative leader is | :41:15. | :41:17. | |
ready for the fight. Thanks very much. Thank you. We have coped very | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
well with all the cuts that have been passed up from Westminster. We | :41:23. | :41:24. | |
have a council which is verx have a council which is very | :41:25. | :41:28. | |
efficient, very effective. We have had to make some changes, cuts and | :41:29. | :41:29. | |
had to make some changes, ctts and costs, but at the end of the day the | :41:30. | :41:34. | |
front line services have not been reduced at all. In fact, they | :41:35. | :41:38. | |
front line services have not been reduced at all. In fact, thdy have | :41:39. | :41:39. | |
been improved. The key issues, reduced at all. In fact, they have | :41:40. | :41:41. | |
been improved. The key issuds, the main issues are around housing, | :41:42. | :41:44. | |
cleanliness of the streets, regeneration of the town centres. I | :41:45. | :41:46. | |
think the council at the moment regeneration of the town centres. I | :41:47. | :41:48. | |
think the council at the molent just think the council at the molent just | :41:49. | :41:52. | |
seem to lack a direction. There are 16 seats up for grabs across Amber | :41:53. | :41:56. | |
Valley. The council has been held by Conservatives for the past 04 | :41:57. | :41:57. | |
Valley. The council has been held by Conservatives for the past 14 years. | :41:58. | :42:00. | |
This is by no means a two`horse race. UKIP is out in force, fielding | :42:01. | :42:05. | |
candidates in every ward. The reality is the Conservatives have to | :42:06. | :42:07. | |
look to UKIP. UKIP will take reality is the Conservatives have to | :42:08. | :42:08. | |
look to UKIP. UKIP will takd some look to UKIP. UKIP will takd some | :42:09. | :42:12. | |
votes off them. It depends on local issues. Labour tend to suffer | :42:13. | :42:15. | |
votes off them. It depends on local issues. Labour tend to suffdr more | :42:16. | :42:16. | |
issues. Labour tend to suffer more at the hands of the BNP. Whdther it | :42:17. | :42:18. | |
at the hands of the BNP. Whether it is going to be Conservative or | :42:19. | :42:21. | |
Labour doing very well, it depends again on local issues. It is all | :42:22. | :42:26. | |
about the local matters as far as we are concerned. I think the TKIP vote | :42:27. | :42:30. | |
will do more damage to the Conservatives although it does | :42:31. | :42:32. | |
actually have an impact on the Labour vote. But you just h`ve to | :42:33. | :42:34. | |
Labour vote. But you just have to look at what their policies are A | :42:35. | :42:38. | |
party that wants to come out of Europe ` what credible policies have | :42:39. | :42:41. | |
they for local government and dealing with community issuds like | :42:42. | :42:42. | |
dog dirt, messy streets? They dealing with community issues like | :42:43. | :42:45. | |
dog dirt, messy streets? Thdy don't have policies on that. How worried | :42:46. | :42:49. | |
are you about the UKIP factor? I'm not worried. I'm concerned. Because | :42:50. | :42:55. | |
it will dilute the vote. And it will dilute the vote for everyone, | :42:56. | :42:56. | |
dilute the vote for everyond, actually. | :42:57. | :43:03. | |
Diluting the vote for everyone, David? Hardly. If you look `t | :43:04. | :43:06. | |
Diluting the vote for everyone, David? Hardly. If you look at our | :43:07. | :43:08. | |
poll ratings nationally, in the Euro elections and in other elections, we | :43:09. | :43:11. | |
are actually heading those polls in some instances. So all people can do | :43:12. | :43:15. | |
in a local election is to stand for what they believe. UKIP candidates | :43:16. | :43:19. | |
will do that. We have 150 councillors nationwide and we expect | :43:20. | :43:20. | |
to get quite a few more. Edward, to get quite a few more. Edward, | :43:21. | :43:25. | |
everyone is expecting UKIP, in reality, to take some Conservative | :43:26. | :43:28. | |
votes. Will that let Labour through the door? Who knows? We will find | :43:29. | :43:33. | |
out. Over 50% of the BNP now support UKIP so they have an interesting | :43:34. | :43:37. | |
collection of people who want to support them. It is up to the public | :43:38. | :43:43. | |
how they want to vote. I suggest it is a mistake to vote for UKIP, | :43:44. | :43:45. | |
how they want to vote. I suggest it is a mistake to vote for UKHP, more | :43:46. | :43:48. | |
than a mistake. It is a pitx because it will let in Labour candidates in | :43:49. | :43:51. | |
where there are sitting Conservatives, which will lead | :43:52. | :43:52. | |
where there are sitting Conservatives, which will ldad to | :43:53. | :43:52. | |
Conservatives, which will lead to precisely the object that m`ny | :43:53. | :43:53. | |
Conservatives, which will ldad to precisely the object that many UKIP | :43:54. | :43:54. | |
supporters don't want to sed. supporters don't want to sed. | :43:55. | :43:58. | |
Talking of the UKIP threat, David Cameron has ordered Tory MPs to | :43:59. | :44:01. | |
visit Newark at least three times during the by`election to stop that | :44:02. | :44:08. | |
UKIP advance. Have you been? I went there yesterday, Saturday, `nd | :44:09. | :44:09. | |
UKIP advance. Have you been? I went there yesterday, Saturday, and I | :44:10. | :44:11. | |
shall be going there tomorrow, on Monday. Chris, shouldn't Labour be | :44:12. | :44:16. | |
way ahead in the polls right now? I think we are doing pretty wdll, | :44:17. | :44:17. | |
actually. We are not complacent. think we are doing pretty well, | :44:18. | :44:19. | |
actually. We are not complacent We actually. We are not complacent. We | :44:20. | :44:20. | |
will fight for every possible vote. I think we are in uncharted | :44:21. | :44:24. | |
territory at the moment. Thd advent of the UKIP reminds me a little bit | :44:25. | :44:29. | |
of the early 1980s when the SDP came on the scene and you saw re`l | :44:30. | :44:32. | |
turmoil in the polls. All three parties, as it was then, were neck | :44:33. | :44:38. | |
and neck. The difference thhs time, of course, is that the centre`left | :44:39. | :44:42. | |
vote tended to be more split. I think this time it is the | :44:43. | :44:45. | |
centre`right vote. We are not being complacent. I think we have a very | :44:46. | :44:49. | |
exciting offer. We will be campaigning for people to vote on a | :44:50. | :44:52. | |
very positive prospectus whhch Labour will put forward. Stuart, | :44:53. | :44:54. | |
Labour will put forward. Sttart everyone seems to be writing off the | :44:55. | :44:58. | |
Lib Dems' opportunities. Wh`t about you? Absolutely not. We always hear | :44:59. | :45:03. | |
people writing off Lib Dem chances and I have defended my council since | :45:04. | :45:05. | |
the Coalition, my County Cotncil the Coalition, my County Council | :45:06. | :45:09. | |
seat. We are still winning elections. We have a full slate of | :45:10. | :45:12. | |
candidates across Amber he says. But I just go back. People | :45:13. | :47:04. | |
are in the mood to not support the old parties. I am absolutelx | :47:05. | :47:06. | |
are in the mood to not support the old parties. I am absolutely amazed | :47:07. | :47:10. | |
at the number of people, as I say. I was in Newark yesterday and in | :47:11. | :47:13. | |
Bingham. Everyone is going to Newark. And Bingham. And thd number | :47:14. | :47:18. | |
of people who came up and said Newark. And Bingham. And the number | :47:19. | :47:20. | |
of people who came up and s`id they of people who came up and said they | :47:21. | :47:22. | |
were fed up with the old politics and liked what we are saying. We are | :47:23. | :47:27. | |
allowing them to discuss the and liked what we are saying. We are | :47:28. | :47:28. | |
allowing them to discuss thd issues. allowing them to discuss the issues. | :47:29. | :47:32. | |
I had a smile when he talked about them being the antiestablishment | :47:33. | :47:39. | |
party. The truth of it is that their leader has been a professional | :47:40. | :47:42. | |
politician for the last 15 years. Their policies represent thd very | :47:43. | :47:46. | |
worst of the old politics when you actually look at what they really | :47:47. | :47:49. | |
stand for. They are turbo`charged Tories. Thatcherite Tories. They | :47:50. | :47:53. | |
want to have a flat rate tax, which would mean a big reduction in | :47:54. | :47:55. | |
want to have a flat rate tax, which would mean a big reduction hn taxes | :47:56. | :47:55. | |
would mean a big reduction in taxes for millionaires. Even more than | :47:56. | :48:01. | |
this lot did with the reduction .. You're quite enjoying sitting in | :48:02. | :48:02. | |
that position, aren't you? Actually, that position, aren't you? @ctually, | :48:03. | :48:05. | |
it would mean ordinary workhng people, who they claim to appeal to, | :48:06. | :48:07. | |
would actually pay more. They would would actually pay more. Thdy would | :48:08. | :48:12. | |
be quite content with privatisation of the NHS. They want to take away | :48:13. | :48:17. | |
workers' rights, maternity rights. When people actually understand what | :48:18. | :48:20. | |
UKIP stand for, people that associate with the left of centre | :48:21. | :48:22. | |
and the Labour Party and are and the Labour Party and ard | :48:23. | :48:25. | |
thinking about voting UKIP, when they realise what UKIP really stand | :48:26. | :48:32. | |
for... Are you going to let him carry on like this? Describing | :48:33. | :48:33. | |
for... Are you going to let him carry on like this? Describhng you | :48:34. | :48:33. | |
carry on like this? Describing you as turbo Tories? I have news for | :48:34. | :48:38. | |
Chris. Lots of Labour supporters are coming up to us in the stredt | :48:39. | :48:40. | |
Chris. Lots of Labour supporters are coming up to us in the street and | :48:41. | :48:42. | |
saying they are not going to vote Labour any more. But you want to | :48:43. | :48:44. | |
privatise the NHS. Tell them you privatise the NHS. Tell thel you | :48:45. | :48:46. | |
want to increase their tax rate. privatise the NHS. Tell them you | :48:47. | :48:47. | |
want to increase their tax rate And want to increase their tax rate. And | :48:48. | :48:50. | |
take away their workers' rights What I am in favour of is a good NHS | :48:51. | :48:55. | |
where it is publicly provided or privately provided, as you have done | :48:56. | :49:00. | |
when you were in office. Let's have a good NHS for the patients. You're | :49:01. | :49:05. | |
not being honest. The questhon not being honest. The question | :49:06. | :49:09. | |
people need to ask themselvds before the European elections is which is | :49:10. | :49:13. | |
the party which will give the people a referendum on the in/out puestion? | :49:14. | :49:16. | |
a referendum on the in/out question? It is only the Conservatives that | :49:17. | :49:20. | |
can do that. They can do a lot of talking. They don't want ond, they | :49:21. | :49:24. | |
don't want one, they can't do it. I recognise the benefits of being in | :49:25. | :49:25. | |
recognise the benefits of bding in the European Union. Well, let's | :49:26. | :49:27. | |
recognise the benefits of being in the European Union. Well, ldt's get | :49:28. | :49:27. | |
the European Union. Well, let's get a referendum. I've got nothhng to | :49:28. | :49:31. | |
fear from a referendum. I think when the arguments are out there, I am | :49:32. | :49:35. | |
certain, as the British people did 40`odd years ago, they voted to | :49:36. | :49:39. | |
remain in the European Union. When you look at the East Midlands, for | :49:40. | :49:42. | |
example, the biggest inward investment that Western Europe has | :49:43. | :49:47. | |
ever seen is Toyota. They only came here because of our membership of | :49:48. | :49:59. | |
the EU. They promised one before and they haven't delivered. Why should | :50:00. | :50:03. | |
we believe the Conservatives on their referendum now? The thing | :50:04. | :50:06. | |
people are interested in is the cost of living, being able to pay their | :50:07. | :50:08. | |
of living, being able to pax their mortgage, how much wages are they | :50:09. | :50:10. | |
mortgage, how much wages ard they taking home each week? HMRC | :50:11. | :50:17. | |
figures, last week, came out. They will no doubt say what a great job | :50:18. | :50:19. | |
will no doubt say what a grdat job they are doing repairing the economy | :50:20. | :50:21. | |
and getting growth back. Thd they are doing repairing thd economy | :50:22. | :50:23. | |
and getting growth back. The reality and getting growth back. The reality | :50:24. | :50:28. | |
is... It is only 300,000, the top 300,000 wealthiest people in the | :50:29. | :50:34. | |
country who have seen an increase. 27 million taxpayers in this period | :50:35. | :50:37. | |
of growth have seen a reduction in their... We will carry this on in a | :50:38. | :50:41. | |
minute. You can get more information on who is standing in each wards by | :50:42. | :50:47. | |
going to each council's website Let's move onto the other election | :50:48. | :50:50. | |
that's taking place on Thursday for the European Parliament. Despite the | :50:51. | :50:55. | |
fierce rows that Europe evokes, it's not a campaign that seems to have | :50:56. | :50:58. | |
caught the public imagination. But could that be because the East | :50:59. | :51:00. | |
could that be because the E`st Midlands is so big the parties find | :51:01. | :51:02. | |
Midlands is so big the parthes find it hard to connect with voters? | :51:03. | :51:04. | |
Midlands is so big the parties find it hard to connect with votdrs? Our | :51:05. | :51:05. | |
it hard to connect with voters? Our political editor, John Hess, has | :51:06. | :51:06. | |
been on an East Midlands ro`d political editor, John Hess, has | :51:07. | :51:09. | |
been on an East Midlands ro`d trip. This is a car journey with a | :51:10. | :51:11. | |
This is a car journey with ` difference. I am setting off to find | :51:12. | :51:16. | |
out how big the East Midlands Euro constituency actually is and whether | :51:17. | :51:19. | |
that is a factor for the low voter interest. First stop, Nottingham, | :51:20. | :51:22. | |
and an expert on how the political wind is blowing. Generally, I think | :51:23. | :51:26. | |
the European Union and the Europe the European Union and the Europe | :51:27. | :51:28. | |
project has failed to reallx make project has failed to really make | :51:29. | :51:31. | |
the case to voters, particularly in Britain, who have long been more | :51:32. | :51:34. | |
Eurosceptic, as to why thesd elections really matter. Voters | :51:35. | :51:41. | |
struggle to name their MEPs. And they struggle to understand how the | :51:42. | :51:43. | |
system of proportional representation works, because we | :51:44. | :51:47. | |
have a different system in Britain. Back on the road. Destination, | :51:48. | :51:53. | |
north. This is the town of Glossop. Just over the hill a few miles away | :51:54. | :51:55. | |
is Manchester City centre. Xet the is Manchester City centre. Xet the | :51:56. | :52:00. | |
people here, despite the proximity to Greater Manchester, will be | :52:01. | :52:01. | |
voting for their five East Lidlands voting for their five East Lidlands | :52:02. | :52:05. | |
MEPs and that is because we are on the very north`western edge of | :52:06. | :52:11. | |
Derbyshire. The East Midlands Euro constituency covers five counties | :52:12. | :52:12. | |
constituency covers five cotnties and includes 3.2 million voters. | :52:13. | :52:15. | |
and includes 3.2 million voters That is a lot of votes to count. | :52:16. | :52:17. | |
That is a lot of votes to count Probably 10`15,000 staff, 3000 | :52:18. | :52:21. | |
polling stations. Bringing that together, coordinating it and coming | :52:22. | :52:24. | |
to some sensible result that everyone has confidence in hs quite | :52:25. | :52:32. | |
an operation. From Derbyshire's high peak, I am heading east to the Fens. | :52:33. | :52:36. | |
I've arrived in Boston in Lincolnshire and it has takdn | :52:37. | :52:37. | |
I've arrived in Boston in Lincolnshire and it has taken me | :52:38. | :52:37. | |
I've arrived in Boston in Lincolnshire and it has takdn me 2.5 | :52:38. | :52:38. | |
hours to drive here and made Lincolnshire and it has taken me 2.5 | :52:39. | :52:39. | |
hours to drive here and madd me hours to drive here and made me | :52:40. | :52:42. | |
realise how difficult it is for the parties and their candidates in this | :52:43. | :52:45. | |
election to get around such a vast regional constituency. | :52:46. | :52:50. | |
Have you had all the leaflets of the parties? We have had some. Two so | :52:51. | :52:57. | |
far. That's about it. I think we had got more leaflets it would be easier | :52:58. | :53:01. | |
for me to get the information and to decide. No, I've only had one. Who's | :53:02. | :53:07. | |
that from? UKIP. And he's not getting my vote. Voters oftdn use | :53:08. | :53:11. | |
getting my vote. Voters often use European elections as a way of | :53:12. | :53:14. | |
kicking incumbent governments in the mouth. It is often seen as ` form of | :53:15. | :53:17. | |
mouth. It is often seen as a form of elections that encourage a protest | :53:18. | :53:18. | |
vote. Likely because voters don't vote. Likely because voters don't | :53:19. | :53:21. | |
treat them as important as general elections. Back on the road and I've | :53:22. | :53:30. | |
already clocked up 250 miles. This is where our journey across the Euro | :53:31. | :53:33. | |
constituency of the East Midlands ends, at the Kettering Conference | :53:34. | :53:37. | |
Centre in Northamptonshire. The count will be held inside the | :53:38. | :53:40. | |
centre's sports hall, three days after we have voted. Why the delay? | :53:41. | :53:44. | |
after we have voted. Why thd delay? No votes can be counted in any | :53:45. | :53:47. | |
election whilst anyone can still be voting. You can't announce results | :53:48. | :53:54. | |
while the voting is still going on. The voting will still be going on in | :53:55. | :53:56. | |
Italy up to ten o'clock UK time By Italy up to ten o'clock UK time. By | :53:57. | :54:00. | |
next Sunday evening, after the rest of Europe has voted, we will find | :54:01. | :54:04. | |
out the five MEPs who will represent us in the European Parliament. | :54:05. | :54:10. | |
John clocked up 320 miles on that road trip! Isn't campaigning in this | :54:11. | :54:15. | |
election mission impossible for local candidates? By the European | :54:16. | :54:20. | |
constituency, yes. This is ` local candidates? By the European | :54:21. | :54:23. | |
constituency, yes. This is a vast geographical area with 3.2 lillion | :54:24. | :54:27. | |
people in it. It is not easx. Personally, I would prefer to go | :54:28. | :54:30. | |
back to the one member, one constituency system we used to have | :54:31. | :54:33. | |
20 years ago. That seems to have gone. I would also like to get rid | :54:34. | :54:39. | |
of the PR system but, again, the European rules suggest otherwise. It | :54:40. | :54:41. | |
is a vast area. Is it too bhg? It is a vast area. Is it too big? It | :54:42. | :54:47. | |
is, in my view. This is the third Euro election I have been in for the | :54:48. | :54:51. | |
Liberal Democrats. It is 1.8 million houses. Trying to get a campaign | :54:52. | :54:55. | |
across that area is just... It is very tricky. We have to do what we | :54:56. | :54:58. | |
can. We have the advantage in very tricky. We have to do what we | :54:59. | :55:00. | |
can. We have the advantage hn this can. We have the advantage in this | :55:01. | :55:02. | |
election of Royal Mail election address, which major parties use to | :55:03. | :55:05. | |
make sure they get the message out. But it is difficult. What you need | :55:06. | :55:11. | |
is to get the message to voters and they need to get one back to you. | :55:12. | :55:16. | |
The one thing coming over to us is that we cannot control our borders | :55:17. | :55:20. | |
and immigration. Whenever I go and campaign in this massive | :55:21. | :55:23. | |
constituency, which I agree is too big, those messages come over | :55:24. | :55:24. | |
constituency, which I agree is too big, those messages come ovdr and | :55:25. | :55:26. | |
politicians ignore them at their peril. The people missing out here | :55:27. | :55:33. | |
are the voters because they don t are the voters because they don't | :55:34. | :55:36. | |
get to see their European candidates. How can they know what | :55:37. | :55:38. | |
they're voting for what thex stand they're voting for what thex stand | :55:39. | :55:44. | |
for? I agree with Edward in relation to the size of the constituency. And | :55:45. | :55:48. | |
to the size of the constitudncy And unhappiness with proportional | :55:49. | :55:53. | |
representation. I think going back to the single member, singld | :55:54. | :55:55. | |
constituency would be something people can understand more easily. | :55:56. | :55:58. | |
people can understand more dasily. But are you just saving your pennies | :55:59. | :56:02. | |
for next year and don't want to blow the budget on these elections? The | :56:03. | :56:04. | |
Labour candidates have cert`inly Labour candidates have certainly | :56:05. | :56:05. | |
been pretty visible. They h`ve got been pretty visible. They h`ve got | :56:06. | :56:11. | |
round a lot of areas in Derby. They have the advantage in Derby as well | :56:12. | :56:13. | |
of having local elections, `nd have the advantage in Derby as well | :56:14. | :56:15. | |
of having local elections, `nd in some other areas. That helps to | :56:16. | :56:20. | |
garner the troops and get local activists out getting the message | :56:21. | :56:22. | |
garner the troops and get local activists out getting the mdssage to | :56:23. | :56:27. | |
the local electorate. But it is definitely a major challenge. | :56:28. | :56:30. | |
the local electorate. But it is definitely a major challengd. Even | :56:31. | :56:32. | |
in the old days when we had the whole of Derbyshire and part of | :56:33. | :56:40. | |
Nottinghamshire. That was also a major challenge. The Lib Dems | :56:41. | :56:43. | |
Nottinghamshire. That was also a major challenge. The Lib Dels are | :56:44. | :56:43. | |
major challenge. The Lib Dems are targeting the Polish vote. We are | :56:44. | :56:47. | |
targeting every vote. There is clearly a section of the colmunity | :56:48. | :56:49. | |
clearly a section of the community which is pro`European. One of our | :56:50. | :56:53. | |
messages is about jobs and the future of jobs by being in Durope. | :56:54. | :56:56. | |
We also have a message about the record of our MEP, the longdst | :56:57. | :56:58. | |
record of our MEP, the longest serving and most experienced one in | :56:59. | :57:02. | |
the whole of Europe. He also has the best voting record of any MDPs in | :57:03. | :57:09. | |
the region. We are taking that message positively to as many people | :57:10. | :57:14. | |
as we can. David? As I say, it is a huge challenge to get to these | :57:15. | :57:20. | |
people. It is all about the message. Actually, our candidates have been | :57:21. | :57:21. | |
getting all the way over thhs getting all the way over thhs | :57:22. | :57:27. | |
massive constituency. They `re being told immigration is the number one | :57:28. | :57:33. | |
issue. And we really do need to tackle our borders. They have been | :57:34. | :57:36. | |
left porous by the Coalition Government. This is one thing which | :57:37. | :57:44. | |
we have really got to take on. He's a one`trick pony that can only talk | :57:45. | :57:47. | |
about immigration. He can't talk about positive aspects are the | :57:48. | :57:52. | |
benefits of... I recall he said how marvellous the coalition was. I | :57:53. | :58:03. | |
never said that. As you well know. We have heard from all of you in the | :58:04. | :58:07. | |
studio at the moment. But the Green Party is hoping to make headway in | :58:08. | :58:09. | |
the European elections. Herd's what the European elections. Here's what | :58:10. | :58:12. | |
East Midlands Green Tony Clarke makes of their prospects. | :58:13. | :58:15. | |
The Greens are now polling `nd as our vote grows, the Lib Dem vote | :58:16. | :58:20. | |
shrinks. I think also UKIP stole the lead because they were shouting. But | :58:21. | :58:25. | |
lead because they were shouting But once you get behind the shouting, | :58:26. | :58:27. | |
once you get behind the shotting, you realise they are pretty nasty. | :58:28. | :58:30. | |
They want to privatise the NHS and take maternity leave away and all | :58:31. | :58:34. | |
those issues. Those looking for an alternative from the tradithonal | :58:35. | :58:36. | |
parties want something more positive that can be delivered. We are | :58:37. | :58:42. | |
gaining votes from both ends of the spectrum. From Lib Dems who can t | :58:43. | :58:45. | |
gaining votes from both ends of the spectrum. From Lib Dems who can't be | :58:46. | :58:47. | |
trusted anymore but also from those who went to UKIP for an alternative | :58:48. | :58:49. | |
who went to UKIP for an altdrnative but didn't like what they found. | :58:50. | :58:54. | |
The Greens have clearly got you in their sights and some polls have | :58:55. | :58:57. | |
them neck and neck. I don't believe it, to be honest. Chris mentioned | :58:58. | :59:01. | |
local elections in Derby. I helped in the last ones. The Greens had | :59:02. | :59:05. | |
candidates standing in quitd a lot of wards and they have none this | :59:06. | :59:08. | |
time. They have hardly any councillors in the region at all. I | :59:09. | :59:12. | |
do not think they are threat in this election. Could they pick up protest | :59:13. | :59:15. | |
votes like UKIP, people who perhaps don't want to vote for them will | :59:16. | :59:19. | |
turn to the Greens instead? They might do. Obviously with | :59:20. | :59:21. | |
proportional representation it plays to the advantage of smaller parties | :59:22. | :59:24. | |
like the Greens. My message to anybody concerned about the | :59:25. | :59:26. | |
environment and sustainabilhty anybody concerned about the | :59:27. | :59:26. | |
environment and sustainability is anybody concerned about the | :59:27. | :59:27. | |
environment and sustainability is to vote for Labour because thex are | :59:28. | :59:29. | |
environment and sustainabilhty is to vote for Labour because they are the | :59:30. | :59:29. | |
vote for Labour because thex are the party which introduced the Climate | :59:30. | :59:32. | |
Change Act and they are the party of the green movement which can | :59:33. | :59:34. | |
actually deliver positive bdnefits actually deliver positive benefits | :59:35. | :59:44. | |
on the environment. I would hope that anybody thinking of dallying | :59:45. | :59:47. | |
with the Greens will actually look at Labour's programme and recognise | :59:48. | :59:48. | |
at Labour's programme and rdcognise the should cast their vote for us. | :59:49. | :59:56. | |
Edward. We have the advantage in Leicestershire that our teal | :59:57. | :59:57. | |
Edward. We have the advantage in Leicestershire that our team can | :59:58. | :59:57. | |
Leicestershire that our teal can concentrate on the European | :59:58. | :59:58. | |
elections, not distracted by concentrate on the European | :59:59. | :59:59. | |
elections, not distracted bx no elections, not distracted by no | :00:00. | :00:01. | |
doubt very important local elections in other parts of the region. But we | :00:02. | :00:08. | |
have a good story to tell on immigration, law and order, criminal | :00:09. | :00:10. | |
justice, foreign affairs. Wd immigration, law and order, criminal | :00:11. | :00:12. | |
justice, foreign affairs. We have immigration, law and order, criminal | :00:13. | :00:13. | |
justice, foreign affairs. Wd have a justice, foreign affairs. We have a | :00:14. | :00:15. | |
strong team led by Emma McClarkin. Stuart, you will be hoping to cling | :00:16. | :00:20. | |
on. Five years ago, people were saying that Bill Newton Dunn would | :00:21. | :00:22. | |
lose his seat because of the lose his seat because of the | :00:23. | :00:25. | |
enlargement. He won and I expect his positive message and campaign to win | :00:26. | :00:29. | |
again. Full details on all the candidates standing are on the BBC | :00:30. | :00:32. | |
website. Just go to bbc.co.uk/vote2014. Time for a | :00:33. | :00:38. | |
round`up of some of the othdr round`up of some of the othdr | :00:39. | :00:41. | |
political stories in the East Midlands this week ` here's John | :00:42. | :00:42. | |
with 60 seconds. Some of our council`owned tourist | :00:43. | :00:49. | |
attractions could find themselves in new hands as Nottinghamshire County | :00:50. | :00:55. | |
Council grapples with budget cuts. Labour leader Alan Rhodes s`id | :00:56. | :00:56. | |
Labour leader Alan Rhodes said handing over the Holme Pierrepont | :00:57. | :00:59. | |
Watersports Centre to a trust had been a success. Sherwood Forest | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
Visitor Centre could be next. Protesters in Leicester are | :01:06. | :01:07. | |
celebrating a partial victory to stop Tesco opening a store hn | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
Clarendon Park. The supermarket need permission to make alterations to | :01:12. | :01:13. | |
the former Barclays Bank buhlding on the former Barclays Bank buhlding on | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
Queens Road. The Loughborough MP Nicky Morgan is | :01:18. | :01:19. | |
pointing out a tip to constituents pointing out a tip to constituents | :01:20. | :01:22. | |
that could save them ?140 on their energy bills this winter. She is | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
urging them to sign up to a British Gas Warm Home scheme. | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
More police stations will close to save ?12.7 million under pl`ns being | :01:32. | :01:34. | |
considered by Nottinghamshire's Police Commissioner Paddy Thpping. | :01:35. | :01:40. | |
Labour MPs Graham Allen and Chris Leslie have voiced concerns, | :01:41. | :01:50. | |
claiming Government austerity cuts. `` blaming. | :01:51. | :01:53. | |
Polling begins at 7am on Thtrsday and next Sunday we'll have all | :01:54. | :01:55. | |
Polling begins at 7am on Thursday and next Sunday we'll have `ll the | :01:56. | :01:57. | |
results from the council elections and the latest on those European | :01:58. | :01:58. | |
elections too. Join politic`l editor elections too. Join political editor | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
John Hess for the European dlection John Hess for the European dlection | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
debate on your BBC local radio station from seven o'clock tomorrow | :02:07. | :02:13. | |
evening. Thanks to all our guests. Time to hand you back to Andrew | :02:14. | :02:15. | |
Neil. thank you very much indeed. Back to | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
Andrew. Welcome back. Politicians always | :02:21. | :02:34. | |
insist in public that opinion polls do not matter. Even though their own | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
parties each spend a small fortune on private polling. If they take | :02:40. | :02:45. | |
them seriously, so do we! Let's take a closer look. First up, how the | :02:46. | :02:50. | |
votes might fall for the European Parliament. Back in January, Labour | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
looked set to finish first. By April, UKIP had edged into the lead. | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
According to today's poles, Nigel Farage's party is either down into | :03:02. | :03:04. | |
place, or has soared ahead. Both cannot be right. It is a similar | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
picture for the general election. Labour's lead has been cut back by | :03:11. | :03:26. | |
the Tories. This is the most unpredictable general election in a | :03:27. | :03:28. | |
long time. It keeps us in a job! We long time. It keeps us in a job We | :03:29. | :03:34. | |
are joined now by the managing director of the pollsters, ComRes. | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
Welcome to the programme. While the polls all over the place on the | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
European election? We are trying to do two things, figure out who is | :03:44. | :03:46. | |
going to be voting, and how they are going to be voting. I think a lot of | :03:47. | :03:51. | |
the polls are predicting quite high turnout. They are looking at more | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
than 50% turnout, which is simply not can be the case. So, what we are | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
doing is predicting it based on those who are ten out of ten, | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
certain to vote, and it really benefits UKIP, it benefits them | :04:06. | :04:07. | |
democratically, demographically, democratically, demographically | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
with the older age profile, who are going to vote. Another poll gives | :04:14. | :04:24. | |
them only a one-point lead, so, come the results coming out, you are | :04:25. | :04:27. | |
either going to look away ahead of your time or very stupid? | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
Absolutely. That is the job of pollsters. Somebody has to be wrong. | :04:32. | :04:38. | |
Ultimately, we were spot on in 2009, and we are hoping to be spot on on | :04:39. | :04:45. | |
Thursday. So you were spot on on voting intention in 2009? Yes. What | :04:46. | :04:56. | |
does the indications of what is now a four party system mean, does it | :04:57. | :05:05. | |
change the nature of your methods? It changes how we look at the polls, | :05:06. | :05:11. | |
how we look at what is going to happen as a result of the vote. | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
Predicting the number of seats is becoming more and more important and | :05:17. | :05:21. | |
more difficult to do, because distribution is becoming | :05:22. | :05:22. | |
fundamentally important. Because it is for parties? That's right. . Does | :05:23. | :05:31. | |
the polling give us any evidence to try to settle the matter of whether | :05:32. | :05:33. | |
UKIP votes are coming from? Yes We UKIP votes are coming from? Yes. We | :05:34. | :05:39. | |
know that over 50% of the UKIP vote share is coming from the | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
Conservatives come people who did vote Conservative in 2010. But | :05:44. | :05:46. | |
actually, the other 50% is coming from a wide range of different | :05:47. | :05:52. | |
sources. And what we are seeing is that ultimately, every single | :05:53. | :05:55. | |
establishment party should be worried, because the people voting | :05:56. | :05:59. | |
for UKIP are the people that really do not like politics at the moment. | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
They are wanting people to speak on their behalf, so it affects all of | :06:05. | :06:10. | |
them. There is evidence that there is now a move of some working-class | :06:11. | :06:13. | |
Labour votes to UKIP as well? That's right. That is what I mean about the | :06:14. | :06:19. | |
establishment vote, the people that they can really reach out to, who | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
are really interested in things like immigration, in those single issues, | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
where they do not feel the political parties of the mainstream are | :06:31. | :06:34. | |
representing them. I would suggest that for the European elections, | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
where turnout is low, ComRes may be right or wrong, but likely to vote | :06:40. | :06:47. | |
would seem to be the yardstick. I would say that is true in almost any | :06:48. | :06:51. | |
European election apart from this one. Because there has been so much | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
attention on this election, because of UKIP and the probably do that | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
they will win second, I wonder whether it is now such a big topic | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
of conversation, the subject of Nigel Farage, that people who would | :07:05. | :07:07. | |
otherwise talk a good game about Nigel Farage, that people who would | :07:08. | :07:20. | |
underestimate how many people are completely disengaged by politics. I | :07:21. | :07:28. | |
think it is very easy for us to think, and I agree that by any other | :07:29. | :07:33. | |
standards, this is the most coverage a European election has ever had in | :07:34. | :07:36. | |
Britain, but still, most people don't care. Instinctively, Nick, | :07:37. | :07:40. | |
Britain, but still, most people don't care. Instinctively, Nick you | :07:41. | :07:40. | |
don't care. Instinctively, Nick, you would think, if you are a UKIP | :07:41. | :07:46. | |
photo, if you have made that choice, then you would probably be more | :07:47. | :07:49. | |
motivated to go and vote on Thursday? I am sure that is right. | :07:50. | :07:53. | |
Also, the publicity that Nigel Farage has had. And also, as | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
Catherine says, Farage has had. And also, as | :07:58. | :09:41. | |
yet. If UKIP does well, there could be some leadership crises we will | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
have to cover. I want to look at a couple of the headlines on the | :09:47. | :09:59. | |
screen. Now, it seems, as you can see from the Mail, Mr Miliband could | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
be in some trouble. The Labour MP for Rochdale talking about the | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
mantra of misery which is Labour's policy is not going down well. And | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
there are also rumbles about, if Mr Clegg comes fourth or even fifth in | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
the European elections, that there will be a plot to remove him. There | :10:19. | :10:22. | |
are not many names behind that plot yet, but Vince Cable does get an | :10:23. | :10:30. | |
honourable mention! Not that he is plotting, but he could take over! If | :10:31. | :10:38. | |
Labour comes a poor second, and the Tories are third, and Nick Clegg is | :10:39. | :10:43. | |
nowhere, there is a Clevedon-Miliband agenda, isn't | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
there? It will be very different for each man. The worst thing that could | :10:48. | :10:56. | |
happen to Labour is if Nick Clegg loses his job, because he will be | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
replaced by somebody substantially to the left of him, you would have | :11:01. | :11:04. | |
to assume, someone like Tim Farron. I think it is unlikely that David | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
Laws Danny Alexander, the two prominent figures who are to the | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
right of him, would win the leadership. If it is someone who is | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
quite a way to the left of Nick Clegg, then some voters might find | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
the party a more attractive proposition. Which is why the Tories | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
want to hold on to Nick Clegg. Absolutely. But I think you are | :11:29. | :11:31. | |
right, there is a really big bubble for Ed Miliband here. The second big | :11:32. | :11:37. | |
thing, I do not know if you saw the photo opportunity this week, Boris | :11:38. | :11:40. | |
Johnson strolling through a garden with David Cameron, they got off the | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
chew one-stop early just to appreciate the spring sunshine. But | :11:46. | :11:53. | |
where are the shadow cabinet? I hear rumours of a politician called | :11:54. | :11:56. | |
Yvette Cooper, but I do not know what she has been up to recently. | :11:57. | :12:00. | |
And Rachel Reeves and Andy Burnham, all of these big hitters are not | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
lashing themselves to the mast of the Labour election campaign. And | :12:05. | :12:10. | |
some of these big hitters are immensely talented, Rachel Reeves, | :12:11. | :12:13. | |
Chuka Umunna, these guys are really talented. You get the impression | :12:14. | :12:16. | |
that they are watching this as you say and biding their time. Ed | :12:17. | :12:22. | |
Miliband has bet the farm on this calculation that there has been this | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
rupture between the rise in wages and the rise in inflation, although | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
that is now beginning to slow. The calculation he is making is that in | :12:31. | :12:37. | |
the 2012 presidential election, Mitt Romney was ahead on many of the | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
economic indicators, but Barack Obama won because he said, I am on | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
your side. He has bet the farm on that. But there is a big difference | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
between Miliband and Barack Obama, which is that Barack Obama was | :12:51. | :12:52. | |
elected in 2008 after the crash, so elected in 2008 after the crash so | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
everything he did was about rescue. The problem for Ed Miliband and Ed | :12:57. | :13:02. | |
Balls is that they were in power when the crash happened, so it is | :13:03. | :13:05. | |
difficult to make that comparison. Labour is nip and tuck with the | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
Tories, or ahead by a small amount - Mr Miliband's personal ratings are | :13:11. | :13:15. | |
much worse than what David Cameron's were at the same stage in | :13:16. | :13:18. | |
the political cycle, does that matter? I think personal ratings do | :13:19. | :13:25. | |
matter, particularly if things like Ukraine gained more prominence in | :13:26. | :13:31. | |
the media. It is a question of who you want as your statesman. But on | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
the economy specifically, actually, the economic ratings in terms of | :13:37. | :13:39. | |
confidence in the leader has not changed. That has not changed for | :13:40. | :13:46. | |
years now. It is pretty stable. Actually, the narrowing of the polls | :13:47. | :13:53. | |
could be due to the usual narrowing about 12 months out from the | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
election, and Labour really need to use the momentum. Thank you for | :13:59. | :14:02. | |
that. Plenty to talk about after you all go to the polls on Thursday | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
There will be tonnes of election coverage and results on the BBC | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
Thursday night, Friday, and of course, Sunday night, when the | :14:11. | :14:14. | |
European results come out. Daily Politics is back on BBC Two tomorrow | :14:15. | :14:18. | |
lunchtime. I will be back here next Sunday at 11 o'clock as usual for | :14:19. | :14:22. | |
The Sunday Politics. Remember, if it is Sunday, it is The Sunday | :14:23. | :14:25. |