Browse content similar to 15/09/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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after the summer recess, and the party conference season is already | :00:44. | :00:52. | |
Democrats. Have a great conference. Nick Clegg has some convincing to | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
do, according to our very own Sunday Politics poll, his troops don't | :00:56. | :01:01. | |
do, according to our very own Sunday his coalition bedmates. The latest | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
poll of the country also has the Lib Dems languishing behind UKIP in | :01:05. | :01:15. | |
Paddy Ashdown! So can the Lib Dems election in 2015? We will talking to | :01:15. | :01:22. | |
former leader, now the party's general election commander-in-chief, | :01:22. | :01:27. | |
George Osborne is a happy bunny these days, | :01:27. | :01:28. | |
And calls to strengthen the planning day. | :01:28. | :01:38. | |
And calls to strengthen the planning rules on solar farms. We reveal how | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
brightest hopes, Sarah Teather is acres | :01:41. | :01:44. | |
brightest hopes, Sarah Teather is now heading for the exit. We will | :01:44. | :01:45. | |
hear from Nick Clegg on what it And freshly showered from the Great | :01:45. | :01:58. | |
North Run and looking as fresh as daisies, the best and brightest | :01:58. | :02:04. | |
Janan Ganesh, Helen Lewis and Iain Now, their leader is our Deputy | :02:04. | :02:14. | |
Prime Minister. They are the junior government. They like the colour | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
yellow and they have not won a general election since dinosaurs | :02:18. | :02:21. | |
walked the earth. Now they are behind UKIP in the polls, so as | :02:21. | :02:25. | |
walked the earth. Now they are party gathers for its annual bash | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
this year in Glasgow, what is on their mind? Who are the people | :02:29. | :02:33. | |
gathering at the Clyde this weekend? their mind? Who are the people | :02:33. | :02:39. | |
Before they started drinking, we councillors in England and Wales, | :02:39. | :02:49. | |
comrade. The first question we asked was, if the next election results in | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
a hung parliament, which team would you rather go into coalition with, | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
the Reds or the blues? Lib Dem councillors said Labour, two to | :02:57. | :03:07. | |
the Reds or the blues? Lib Dem Tories or Labour? It is not for | :03:07. | :03:13. | |
the Reds or the blues? Lib Dem to say. It is for the voters to | :03:13. | :03:18. | |
say. We will decide depending on councillors favoured a coalition | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
is on the table. Who would you rather play table football against? | :03:22. | :03:35. | |
because I am winning. So in the winning 's which ones are heading | :03:35. | :03:51. | |
popular policy was a mansion tax on house is worth more than £2 million, | :03:51. | :04:02. | |
popular policy was a mansion tax on councillors. The next most popular | :04:02. | :04:04. | |
policy was scrapping the Trident nuclear deterrent, supported by | :04:04. | :04:09. | |
policy was scrapping the Trident of councillors. Then there was the | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
reinstatement of the 50p top rate of income tax. 70% of councillors like | :04:13. | :04:18. | |
the look of that. When it came to the idea of banning the burka in | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
public places like schools and airports, 45% of councillors were in | :04:22. | :04:27. | |
favour. Finally, a ban on topless Page three model is won the support | :04:27. | :04:34. | |
of 33% of councillors. Why is it so popular, the idea of a mansion tax? | :04:34. | :04:42. | |
It is a much fairer tax. We know there are people out there with | :04:42. | :04:46. | |
It is a much fairer tax. We know expensive houses. Which of these is | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
most important to you? Banning Trident. The cold war ended in | :04:49. | :04:56. | |
1989. Another one was the idea of banning the burka in public places. | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
whatever they like. If they want to banning the burka in public places. | :04:59. | :05:06. | |
wear the birth or a kilt or if they anything. We are the party of jobs. | :05:06. | :05:18. | |
Thank you. Last night, a fully clothed Nick Clegg rallied his | :05:18. | :05:23. | |
troops, but if he was not around, who would Lib Dem councillors want | :05:23. | :05:28. | |
instead? Business Secretary Vince Cable was most popular, with a third | :05:28. | :05:33. | |
of the votes. In second place, the party's president, Tim Farron, with | :05:33. | :05:39. | |
27%. 10% went to Danny Alexander, while the business minister Joe | :05:39. | :05:45. | |
Swinson received 7%. The Energy Secretary Ed Davey scooped 6%, and | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
in last place, Steve Webb, the pensions minister, who got 5%. If | :05:50. | :05:57. | |
any of these councillors want to talk to me about it, I would be | :05:57. | :05:59. | |
delighted to hear from them. Is talk to me about it, I would be | :05:59. | :06:09. | |
certainly isn't. What do you think contenders. But our survey is not | :06:09. | :06:17. | |
the only one that has got tongues wagging in Glasgow, because the | :06:17. | :06:22. | |
the only one that has got tongues Dem leadership have commissioned | :06:22. | :06:22. | |
their own poll which showed that 75% Dem leadership have commissioned | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
of the country will never vote Dem leadership have commissioned | :06:25. | :06:29. | |
the party, no matter what they do. Also meeting here this weekend, | :06:29. | :06:37. | |
the party, no matter what they do. Democrats like to think they have | :06:37. | :06:39. | |
got just as much va-va-voom, even if a big chunk of the country doesn't. | :06:39. | :06:46. | |
Add, back in his hometown. So, the Much of their party thinks they | :06:46. | :06:57. | |
Add, back in his hometown. So, the moving in the wrong direction. | :06:57. | :06:58. | |
Earlier, I spoke to former party moving in the wrong direction. | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
leader Paddy Ashdown. He has been put in charge of heading up the | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
leader Paddy Ashdown. He has been election campaign. I asked him if | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
the mood in Glasgow was grim. No. In many ways, as you know, Tory old | :07:11. | :07:16. | |
commentator that you are just as I am a hoary old member at the other | :07:17. | :07:21. | |
end of the camera, we have been midterm of a government, especially | :07:21. | :07:30. | |
when you are in government and the country is going for in a deep | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
economic crisis, has almost no relevance to where you might be | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
economic crisis, has almost no the nipple come to consider how | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
economic crisis, has almost no will vote in 600 days time -- when | :07:43. | :07:43. | |
the people come to consider how will vote in 600 days time -- when | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
will vote. We do not dismiss polls, but they are a snapshot of what | :07:47. | :07:52. | |
will vote. We do not dismiss polls, indication of where we will be. | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
will vote. We do not dismiss polls, guess is, for what it is worth, | :07:55. | :07:57. | |
will vote. We do not dismiss polls, as we come to the election, the | :07:57. | :08:01. | |
public will be in a very serious, probably frightened mood. Their | :08:01. | :08:06. | |
public will be in a very serious, thoughts will be, who maintains | :08:06. | :08:11. | |
public will be in a very serious, job, makes sure I don't have to | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
public will be in a very serious, to higher mortgage? The coalition | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
has delivered not only the required policies to make Britain's economy | :08:18. | :08:23. | |
prosperous, but also its society fair. That is what people will want | :08:23. | :08:28. | |
to see. I think coalition politics are here to stay and we have a role | :08:28. | :08:30. | |
to play in it. But you are in a are here to stay and we have a role | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
mood this morning. You tweeted that you were not happy with how the | :08:35. | :08:38. | |
Observer newspaper handled your there anything we can do to help? | :08:38. | :08:45. | |
There is probably something they arguments with the interview. The | :08:46. | :08:54. | |
headline they chose to put on it late last night was outrageous, | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
misrepresentative and in one case in Something about Ashdown wants a | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
coalition with the Tories, or at Something about Ashdown wants a | :09:03. | :09:09. | |
least they gave that in for us Something about Ashdown wants a | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
inference. Let me make this point. election. I am in charge of the | :09:13. | :09:21. | |
campaign. Any journalist who in these next two years says that any | :09:21. | :09:26. | |
Liberal Democrat prefers anything else in terms of the outcome of | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
Liberal Democrat prefers anything coalition but the result of the | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
ballot box dictating that outcome, that any prefer one side to another | :09:32. | :09:34. | |
coalition determined by the electors that any prefer one side to another | :09:34. | :09:42. | |
in the votes, will get a bloody that any prefer one side to another | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
time from me, no matter who they are. We take the warning. A survey | :09:46. | :10:08. | |
of Lib Dem councillors shows that in coalition with the Tories. That | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
of Lib Dem councillors shows that in clear sign that your activists want | :10:13. | :10:15. | |
a change of direction. I don't think it is news that as a left-wing | :10:15. | :10:17. | |
party, we find it more congenial with those on the left wing, but | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
that is not the issue. You saw it election. We are servants of the | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
ballot box. We do watch the British people require us to do to provide a | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
of our country. I am sure you have stable government in the interests | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
of our country. I am sure you have got the point by now. I have fought | :10:30. | :10:33. | |
the Tories all my life. But when responsibility to amend the economic | :10:33. | :10:39. | |
crisis, was this right for the determine who are going to be in any | :10:39. | :10:46. | |
coalition, should there be one, determine who are going to be in any | :10:46. | :10:53. | |
voters and nobody else. It is not about what we like. I understand | :10:53. | :10:59. | |
that. But your own internal polls leadership are not taking the party | :10:59. | :11:06. | |
with them on that. I don't think that is true. Nick Clegg has done | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
what no other party leader has done. He took the coalition agreement | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
what no other party leader has done. the party, and they voted for it. So | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
it is not true to say that members different direction. I think we | :11:18. | :11:24. | |
it is not true to say that members extraordinarily united. I did not | :11:24. | :11:26. | |
expect them to be so under these pressures, but they have surprised | :11:26. | :11:31. | |
me and made me joyful at the same time. The party has done what it | :11:31. | :11:39. | |
done in local government for a long time. We may have our private likes | :11:39. | :11:48. | |
and dislikes, but the thing that coalition is the ballot box. You | :11:48. | :11:54. | |
have said that three times. I can say it again if you like. Please | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
don't! What if your party votes say it again if you like. Please | :11:57. | :12:02. | |
reinstate tuition fees as party policy afternoon? We will have to | :12:02. | :12:12. | |
listen to that and act accordingly. You must listen to the voice of | :12:12. | :12:15. | |
listen to that and act accordingly. party and take it into account in | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
what you do. I am always quite answering hypothetical questions. I | :12:18. | :12:26. | |
don't think it is likely to happen, but if it did, we would have to | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
don't think it is likely to happen, distinguished Lib Dems was that | :12:31. | :12:33. | |
don't think it is likely to happen, your party conference voted for | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
something, it was in the manifesto. The manifesto is taken in its final | :12:36. | :12:42. | |
form before the party for decision. The party will express views at | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
form before the party for decision. stage in all sorts of ways. It did | :12:46. | :12:49. | |
in my leadership, too. The manifesto is democratically agreed by the | :12:49. | :12:53. | |
party at the time of the election, not before. The Tory conference | :12:53. | :12:59. | |
party at the time of the election, be about how they think they have | :12:59. | :12:59. | |
been vindicated, that austerity be about how they think they have | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
worked, the economy is turning a corner. But Nick Clegg's conference | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
announcements will be about plastic bags. Have you got the hang of this | :13:08. | :13:13. | |
coalition think? Andrew, you can always be guaranteed to put things | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
in the most discreditable form! always be guaranteed to put things | :13:16. | :13:24. | |
is part of your charm. That was about to be a minor announcement in | :13:24. | :13:31. | |
discovered beforehand. It has not the middle of his speech. But it was | :13:31. | :13:34. | |
discovered beforehand. It has not been very popular in terms of how it | :13:34. | :13:37. | |
has been received, but that is not the central message. That leads | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
has been received, but that is not to what I think is the biggest | :13:41. | :13:47. | |
election. Isn't the biggest danger that the Tories, not you, if there | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
is an economic recovery, they will get the credit for it? I don't think | :13:52. | :14:04. | |
think the electorate does gratitude. The only time people cast a thank | :14:04. | :14:10. | |
Thatcher over the sale of council houses. We could have a different | :14:10. | :14:13. | |
discussion over whether that was a good idea. But what you have done is | :14:13. | :14:21. | |
the underpinning for the promise of government, we have stayed firm | :14:21. | :14:30. | |
the underpinning for the promise of very tough economic policy. But | :14:30. | :14:37. | |
the underpinning for the promise of you get the credit? What we have | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
done by ourselves, which the Tories would never have done, is make sure | :14:40. | :14:44. | |
that when the pain is felt, it is not the poor who feel it. We have | :14:44. | :14:49. | |
seen the biggest shift of taxation, lifting the poorest in the country | :14:49. | :14:53. | |
out of taxation, that has ever happened, including in the previous | :14:53. | :14:59. | |
Labour government. You are presiding over the biggest squeeze on living | :14:59. | :15:04. | |
standards in modern times. Because it is the biggest recession in | :15:04. | :15:05. | |
modern times. When you speak to it is the biggest recession in | :15:05. | :15:15. | |
2.5 million people who have been lifted out of taxation altogether | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
because of the Liberal Democrats, tax cut. You may be able to make the | :15:19. | :15:32. | |
because of the Liberal Democrats, connection, Andrew, you are a sharp | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
economic crisis and difficulty for everybody. But it is clear that | :15:36. | :15:39. | |
economic crisis and difficulty for the Tories had been by themselves, | :15:39. | :15:41. | |
none of that would have happened. We have sought to shift the burden | :15:41. | :15:45. | |
none of that would have happened. We from the poorest in this country. I | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
am part of that. So when we go into the next election, the message will | :15:48. | :15:52. | |
am part of that. So when we go into be that if you want to continue | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
am part of that. So when we go into have a prosperous economy and a | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
society, only the Liberal Democrats will deliver that. Tim Farron says | :15:57. | :16:07. | |
want to diss him. Can you confirm he likes Ed Miliband and he does not | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
want to diss him. Can you confirm that there will be no dissing of Ed | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
Miliband? It is not much my style. I've never much liked comments about | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
the other leaders. I do not intend to make it so in the future. Can I'd | :16:19. | :16:27. | |
finish up on Syria? You said after the Syria vote that Britain was | :16:27. | :16:30. | |
finish up on Syria? You said after hugely diminished country. Given it | :16:30. | :16:36. | |
both sides on a course which could now see Syria give up chemical | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
weapons without records to military action, would you like to withdraw | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
these remarks and admit that you should be proud and happy with what | :16:43. | :16:45. | |
Britain has done? No. You and I should be proud and happy with what | :16:45. | :16:53. | |
know, because we are old observers, that that would never have happened | :16:53. | :16:59. | |
underpinning of a threat to use resigned from that. We have no part | :16:59. | :17:06. | |
to play in the fact that Assad and Putin have moved towards peace for | :17:06. | :17:09. | |
to play in the fact that Assad and fear of military action. We decided | :17:09. | :17:09. | |
exactly the opposite. Why would fear of military action. We decided | :17:09. | :17:15. | |
liked to have seen our country join in with those who are serious about | :17:15. | :17:23. | |
upholding an international law which has restrained even than axes and | :17:23. | :17:24. | |
left others to make sure that we talent, but instead we resigned | :17:24. | :17:35. | |
left others to make sure that we moved towards peace. -- even the | :17:35. | :17:35. | |
Maxis and Stalin. But if it had moved towards peace. -- even the | :17:35. | :17:43. | |
would not have had the time to allow this to happen. It has avoided war. | :17:43. | :17:49. | |
Job done, British Parliament. That would be true if it was accurate but | :17:49. | :17:56. | |
it is not. The resolution proposed a delay, that we should wait until the | :17:56. | :18:01. | |
inspectors came back. That time frame was absolutely nothing to | :18:01. | :18:03. | |
inspectors came back. That time with the parliamentary vote. The | :18:03. | :18:08. | |
vote was going to incorporate that. I do not think you can claim what | :18:08. | :18:15. | |
vote was going to incorporate that. remember that diplomacy, which was | :18:15. | :18:17. | |
not reinforced by the threat of military action, does not work. | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
not reinforced by the threat of is when diplomacy runs with a grain | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
of military action that it works. illustration of that, look at what | :18:25. | :18:30. | |
is happening over the last two weeks. By regret to say that our | :18:30. | :18:35. | |
country, which has always been in disengagement, had no part to play | :18:35. | :18:49. | |
And you we would get to the Balkans eventually, and we did. His biggest | :18:49. | :18:56. | |
challenge is if the economy is get some credit for the Lib Dems, | :18:56. | :19:03. | |
when the Tories will want to halt it all. But his position is not to | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
when the Tories will want to halt it the necessary axeman. That is George | :19:07. | :19:08. | |
Osborne's role. Their role is to be Osborne's role. Their role is to be | :19:08. | :19:12. | |
the chaser party, taking the edge off. They will because of me going | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
on about the pupil premium and That is what you will hear from | :19:16. | :19:22. | |
of the cuts. Will that work? They them, how they have taken the edge | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
of the cuts. Will that work? They are in a pretty good position. Even | :19:26. | :19:27. | |
if they have lost two thirds of are in a pretty good position. Even | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
popular support, according to the polls, I do not know anyone in | :19:31. | :19:36. | |
Westminster methinks that will be matched in their parliamentary | :19:36. | :19:37. | |
representation. If they have 56 matched in their parliamentary | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
now, they might lose a dozen but Strategically, they are in a better | :19:40. | :19:48. | |
position than the reading of the polls would tell you. I think Nick | :19:48. | :19:53. | |
Clegg's survival has been one of the stories of this Parliament. He is | :19:53. | :19:59. | |
looking good at the comfort -- at the conference. When he was at his | :19:59. | :20:04. | |
lowest after the AV referendum, people were saying he would survive | :20:04. | :20:09. | |
I thought that was fanciful. Believe and lead us into 2015 and beyond and | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
I thought that was fanciful. Believe it or not... Paddy Ashdown was | :20:13. | :20:15. | |
wrong, you were wrong and... I wasn't. I'm underestimated how bad | :20:15. | :20:21. | |
his rivals are. If you are Lib Dem member, however aggrieved you are | :20:21. | :20:27. | |
with Nick Clegg, you do not think, wouldn't it be great if Christian | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
was in charge? Nick Clegg is the best they have. -- Chris Huhne was | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
in charge. Of course, the people do in charge. Of course, the people do | :20:34. | :20:40. | |
government and it is a consequence of the way they vote, a different | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
matter. If Janan Ganesh is right, and they lose 15 seats in the next | :20:44. | :20:51. | |
pivotal in the next government. It Possibly the most amusing outcome | :20:51. | :20:57. | |
would be a Labour or Tory overall majority, which would be hilarious | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
for the look on Paddy Ashdown's face. The danger is they get trapped | :21:00. | :21:06. | |
constantly in talking about the politics of coalition and of a hung | :21:06. | :21:09. | |
parliament. And they are very puffed politics of coalition and of a hung | :21:09. | :21:16. | |
parliament. And they are very puffed up and they enjoy Parliament and | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
there is a possibility they will not be. While they are talking about the | :21:20. | :21:23. | |
Polish and themselves, they are be. While they are talking about the | :21:23. | :21:25. | |
talking about the issues facing be. While they are talking about the | :21:25. | :21:31. | |
coalition. It was interesting that he said that we are a left-wing | :21:31. | :21:37. | |
party, not a centre-left party or a centre party, but a left-wing party. | :21:37. | :21:44. | |
I'm going to put myself in the firing line and say that there is a | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
big split between the Tim Farron line who say they like Ed Miliband, | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
and another one, Jeremy Browne in the Home Office saying that Labour | :21:52. | :21:56. | |
are intellectually lazy. The risk clearly a clique around Nick Clegg | :21:56. | :22:05. | |
who wants to be a synthetic party, but that is not where the membership | :22:05. | :22:11. | |
who wants to be a synthetic party, activists are clearly of the left, | :22:11. | :22:16. | |
not just the centre-left. They are very pro-immigration and they want | :22:16. | :22:21. | |
strategy has to be to take the party to the centre. The something not | :22:21. | :22:26. | |
happen at some stage? The poll suggests it is a left-wing party. | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
happen at some stage? The poll Very left-wing. Other think the | :22:30. | :22:32. | |
happen at some stage? The poll would have yielded -- would have | :22:32. | :22:33. | |
yielded the same results before would have yielded -- would have | :22:33. | :22:40. | |
2010 election. This is reflected by the arithmetic. Whichever party | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
2010 election. This is reflected by biggest will most likely be the | :22:43. | :22:44. | |
2010 election. This is reflected by in coalition with the Lib Dems. | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
2010 election. This is reflected by Clegg's on latitude to choose is | :22:48. | :22:56. | |
exaggerated by us. The choice is no parliamentary arithmetic. But if you | :22:56. | :23:02. | |
remember the structure of the Lib Dems, they can tie themselves up in | :23:02. | :23:09. | |
infighting. -- the choice is not stable. And Nick Clegg has had a | :23:09. | :23:16. | |
good conference last year, and will have another one this year. The | :23:16. | :23:18. | |
economy is better than it was a have another one this year. The | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
ago. It could still go quite well for him. Yes, it is one of the | :23:21. | :23:27. | |
ago. It could still go quite well stories of this Parliament, his | :23:27. | :23:29. | |
survival and the way in which he has prospered. But there are a lot of | :23:29. | :23:35. | |
campaigners, labour activists who have not forgotten what he has done | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
in government and are determined to get him. It will be a tough year and | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
a half. Tougher than he imagined. Now, not so long ago they were | :23:42. | :23:47. | |
writing George Osborne's political obituary. Be on the Omni shambles | :23:47. | :23:53. | |
budget of 2012 and a lacklustre performance of the British economy | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
meant his reputation work -- was in the dirt. -- the omnishambles. But | :23:57. | :24:04. | |
things have changed. The Chancellor is saying he has been vindicated. If | :24:04. | :24:12. | |
runway, it looks as though the British economy has taken off, | :24:12. | :24:15. | |
quarter. Forecasts for the rest British economy has taken off, | :24:15. | :24:20. | |
the year have been revised up words. What's more, the office for National | :24:20. | :24:27. | |
recession never actually happened. Unemployment is down in the three | :24:27. | :24:32. | |
months to July and the number of spasticity rate since 1997. On | :24:32. | :24:42. | |
Monday, George Osborne said his policies were bearing fruit. We | :24:42. | :24:45. | |
Monday, George Osborne said his our nerve when many told us to | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
abandon our plans. As a result, thanks to the efforts and sacrifices | :24:49. | :24:54. | |
of the British people, Britain is turning a corner. The message for | :24:54. | :25:01. | |
his Labour critics was clear. The Chancellor thinks he was right and | :25:01. | :25:06. | |
Good afternoon. Good afternoon.Do you accept that the economy has | :25:06. | :25:21. | |
turned a corner? I think it is good that a stalled recovery appears | :25:21. | :25:27. | |
turned a corner? I think it is good get this in perspective. We have had | :25:27. | :25:29. | |
three wasted years. We have the worst economic recovery in history. | :25:29. | :25:34. | |
Debt is up and we have record youth programme if they feel better or | :25:34. | :25:43. | |
worse off, compared to 2010, the majority will tell you they feel | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
worse because, on average, wages are down by £1500 compared to May of | :25:47. | :25:54. | |
2010. That is the situation. The one of the things we have seen | :25:54. | :26:02. | |
talked about, Vince Cable has been talking about this as well, is what | :26:02. | :26:06. | |
is happening in the housing market. It seems that much of the solution | :26:06. | :26:08. | |
to powering the recovery in the It seems that much of the solution | :26:08. | :26:14. | |
of George Osborne lies in sorting out the housing market but the | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
problem is, we are at risk of being another housing bubble. Because | :26:18. | :26:21. | |
problem is, we are at risk of being research that came out this week, we | :26:21. | :26:26. | |
know that housing in the UK is three times more expensive than in the US. | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
know that housing in the UK is three We know that house prices are rising | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
five times faster than wages, but we also know that the government is | :26:32. | :26:38. | |
five times faster than wages, but we building new housing at a slower | :26:38. | :26:40. | |
rate, the slowest rate that we have complaining about a housing bubble, | :26:40. | :26:47. | |
isn't that like Satan complaining about seven? -- seven. We all know | :26:47. | :26:54. | |
that we cannot go back to business as usual. We need to build a new | :26:54. | :26:57. | |
model of growth. But the housing bubble you talk about, it is not a | :26:57. | :27:01. | |
bubble. It might turn into one. bubble you talk about, it is not a | :27:01. | :27:06. | |
said the risk of a bubble. It is nothing like what happened on the | :27:06. | :27:13. | |
I said, in 2009, we had the crash and we knew we needed to reconfigure | :27:13. | :27:16. | |
the way that our economy works. Having an economy based on crisis is | :27:16. | :27:24. | |
rebalance the economy. We saw the unemployment statistics this week, | :27:25. | :27:28. | |
and it is welcomed overall, that unemployment has come down. At half | :27:28. | :27:40. | |
up. And it went down in other parts. We know that we need to rebalance | :27:40. | :27:45. | |
our economy, so that we do not just rely on consumption, but that we | :27:45. | :27:51. | |
grow our productive sectors. And also that we grow our exports as | :27:51. | :27:55. | |
well. We know we have a continuing deficit. We always have a trade | :27:55. | :28:02. | |
deficit. There was never a trade surplus under Labour. Want to come | :28:02. | :28:12. | |
onto what you have mentioned but would you scrap the help to buy | :28:12. | :28:14. | |
scheme? We have not said that we would you scrap the help to buy | :28:14. | :28:18. | |
scheme? We have not said that we would do that. Why not if it is | :28:18. | :28:21. | |
causing the bubble? If you let me finish, on one hand what that scheme | :28:21. | :28:27. | |
does at the moment, at the moment it is inhalation to a new scheme but | :28:27. | :28:34. | |
tomorrow -- next year it will be in you do not sort out the supply of | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
housing, then that is a recipe for the problems we have seen. Our | :28:38. | :28:43. | |
argument is build more houses. Help more people to buy them by all means | :28:43. | :28:45. | |
but if you do not have the supply more people to buy them by all means | :28:45. | :28:48. | |
but if you do not have the supply you will end up with rising prices. | :28:48. | :28:52. | |
That is obvious. Labour said that government austerity would prevent | :28:52. | :28:54. | |
the return of growth. Austerity government austerity would prevent | :28:54. | :29:00. | |
were wrong. We never said that growth would never return. What | :29:00. | :29:04. | |
were wrong. We never said that said was that if you went for an | :29:04. | :29:05. | |
were wrong. We never said that overly extreme deficit reduction | :29:05. | :29:11. | |
recovery and you would choke growth. That is what we saw for three years. | :29:11. | :29:17. | |
If you say, look at the US economy, it has grown at three times the | :29:17. | :29:24. | |
If you say, look at the US economy, economy has grown at twice the rate. | :29:24. | :29:28. | |
But the British economy is growing quicker than the American or German | :29:28. | :29:31. | |
economy is now. But over time we have not seen that happen. But it is | :29:31. | :29:37. | |
now. That may be the case. But my point is that those three years | :29:37. | :29:42. | |
now. That may be the case. But my people undergoing huge stress and | :29:42. | :29:44. | |
worry. It is good that we have growth back again but the question | :29:45. | :29:48. | |
is, what kind of growth? What we have said... I'm going to come onto | :29:48. | :29:55. | |
that but your credibility depends on your previous analysis. And there | :29:55. | :29:57. | |
are doubts about it. This is what you said not that long ago. In | :29:57. | :30:05. | |
You and the Labour Party said it had choked off growth. You were wrong. | :30:05. | :30:33. | |
We were not wrong, because we had three years where the economy was | :30:33. | :30:38. | |
not moving. Let's remind ourselves. Claude Osborne was predicting that | :30:38. | :30:41. | |
the economy was going to grow by 6.9% between the start of this | :30:41. | :30:46. | |
Parliament and now. It has grown by 1.8%. We did not say we would never | :30:46. | :30:55. | |
have a return to growth. You never said that austerity would only | :30:55. | :30:58. | |
temporarily delay growth. We have looked through your speeches and Ed | :30:59. | :31:03. | |
Balls'. We can't find any reference to say this is simply delaying the | :31:03. | :31:09. | |
recovery. You said austerity would choke off growth. If that is true, | :31:09. | :31:13. | |
why has it returned now? Did we choke off growth. If that is true, | :31:13. | :31:19. | |
it would choke off growth for ever? choke off growth. If that is true, | :31:19. | :31:26. | |
We did not. You have changed your tune. I think your package at the | :31:26. | :31:29. | |
top of this programme, to frame tune. I think your package at the | :31:29. | :31:34. | |
around George Osborne, this is not a people's lives, and the people who | :31:34. | :31:39. | |
deserve huge credit for the growth we are seeing are our country's | :31:39. | :31:46. | |
businesses, who despite the tough economic times, have succeeded. | :31:46. | :31:49. | |
businesses, who despite the tough are the ones who have powered this | :31:49. | :31:49. | |
Westminster to take credit. But are the ones who have powered this | :31:49. | :31:57. | |
blame the government for lack of growth. So therefore, when the | :31:57. | :32:03. | |
growth comes, the government has to situation Britain is in now. We | :32:03. | :32:09. | |
growth comes, the government has to the recovery still has to reach | :32:09. | :32:12. | |
growth comes, the government has to parts of the country, but this is | :32:12. | :32:16. | |
the OECD annualised growth in the G-7, the world's guest economies. | :32:16. | :32:21. | |
That is looking pretty healthy. G-7, the world's guest economies. | :32:21. | :32:30. | |
is a recovery. I am not denying G-7, the world's guest economies. | :32:30. | :32:33. | |
we are seeing a stalled recovery, but who benefits from the growth? On | :32:33. | :32:38. | |
average, your viewers have sustained a £1500 pay cut. That is the second | :32:38. | :32:48. | |
biggest fall in the G20 since May 2010. Because we had the biggest | :32:48. | :32:54. | |
financial services sector and took services are still in decline. | :32:54. | :33:07. | |
the economy. They are not the only contributor to the economy. The | :33:07. | :33:12. | |
point is, who benefits? Unemployment is falling, but we don't just want | :33:12. | :33:15. | |
people to have any job, we want is falling, but we don't just want | :33:15. | :33:18. | |
to have decent jobs that pay a weight you can live off and that are | :33:18. | :33:23. | |
more secure. Let me show you the unemployment figures. Your criticism | :33:23. | :33:29. | |
has been that all the new jobs are part-time. They are not now, they | :33:29. | :33:41. | |
employment, up 94,000. This is a short time frame. It is since the | :33:41. | :33:48. | |
recovery began. Half the jobs that have been part-time jobs. Roughly | :33:48. | :33:58. | |
who would like to work full-time. Over the last 20 years, people now | :33:58. | :34:03. | |
feel more insecure at work than ever. The question is about what | :34:03. | :34:07. | |
feel more insecure at work than kind of growth and employment you | :34:07. | :34:07. | |
are getting. The other point is kind of growth and employment you | :34:07. | :34:14. | |
uneven spread of this across our north-east and north-west, the | :34:14. | :34:23. | |
Humber, the east of England, they agree that there was a regional | :34:23. | :34:33. | |
imbalance, but the service sector is growing, cheering and construction | :34:33. | :34:40. | |
are growing and financial services are in decline, so the rebalance is | :34:40. | :34:44. | |
happening. It is not happening to the degree we need to transform | :34:44. | :34:50. | |
happening. It is not happening to long-term, sustainable model of | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
comprehensive industrial strategy towards. Your party conference is | :34:54. | :35:04. | |
coming up. I am sure you are looking forward to it. Why do Ed Miliband's | :35:04. | :35:09. | |
people see of him? I don't accept approval ratings get worse the more | :35:09. | :35:17. | |
people see of him? I don't accept that. I have given you the figures. | :35:17. | :35:22. | |
Polls go up and down. I have said that on this programme before. But | :35:22. | :35:28. | |
his approval rating has consistently gone down. What actually matters our | :35:28. | :35:33. | |
leadership, the Labour Party have gone down. What actually matters our | :35:33. | :35:39. | |
put on almost 2000 extra councillors in places like Canada case, even | :35:39. | :35:50. | |
Whitney. What is wrong with Whitney? We have been putting on votes. Let | :35:50. | :35:56. | |
me show you this. This is the net satisfaction rating. Your leader is | :35:56. | :36:00. | |
now more unpopular than Gordon Brown was when he took Labour to the worst | :36:00. | :36:07. | |
defeat in living memory. Gordon Brown did not put on anything like | :36:07. | :36:14. | |
this number of councillors. Votes are what matter, Andrew. Few people | :36:14. | :36:21. | |
think Ed Miliband is a capable leader. Twice as many people think | :36:21. | :36:26. | |
over Spurs who lives on the moon. These are polls. If you are talking | :36:26. | :36:32. | |
to me about over Spurs lit, that puts this into context, Europe | :36:32. | :36:43. | |
Presley. Since 2010, we have put on thousands of members. Compare that | :36:43. | :36:46. | |
to the Conservative Party, which has not won a general election since | :36:46. | :36:54. | |
1992. They will not disclose their membership figures. Why -- why won't | :36:54. | :37:00. | |
you pledge to renationalise Royal Mail? Because that would be like | :37:00. | :37:03. | |
writing a blank cheque. We don't know at the moment how much the | :37:03. | :37:07. | |
government would receive for the sale of Royal Mail? So how can I | :37:07. | :37:09. | |
judge how much it would cost to sale of Royal Mail? So how can I | :37:09. | :37:14. | |
irresponsible. But the government does not need to do this right now. | :37:14. | :37:22. | |
The entire country is against it. Sources in the City and Whitehall | :37:22. | :37:25. | |
tell me that if Labour pledged to renationalise it, it would kill | :37:25. | :37:29. | |
tell me that if Labour pledged to the flotation. So if you are against | :37:29. | :37:29. | |
it, why don't you do it? For me the flotation. So if you are against | :37:29. | :37:35. | |
pledge to renationalise Royal Mail cheque. But if you put it in the | :37:35. | :37:42. | |
prospectus, people in the City, cheque. But if you put it in the | :37:42. | :37:46. | |
know more about these things, say it would not happen, so why not do | :37:46. | :37:52. | |
know more about these things, say it Because that would be irresponsible. | :37:52. | :37:54. | |
It would be like writing a cheque for billions to renationalise Royal | :37:54. | :37:59. | |
Mail. You would not have too right at the check if it did not happen. I | :37:59. | :38:05. | |
have to deal with the facts. I am not good deal with the plot somebody | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
might be speculating about in the City. We have to be careful about | :38:09. | :38:16. | |
renationalise it now would be like writing a bank cheque . We are going | :38:16. | :38:22. | |
government. That is why I am not prepared to do that. Ed Balls will | :38:22. | :38:28. | |
not be talking to you. You are watching the Sunday Politics. Coming | :38:28. | :38:29. | |
Hello, and welcome to the first of up in 20 minutes, | :38:29. | :38:46. | |
Hello, and welcome to the first of this new series. Later in the | :38:46. | :38:52. | |
programme, passions run high over plans the solar farms as hundreds of | :38:52. | :38:57. | |
acres of agricultural land in the region are developed. It is right | :38:57. | :39:01. | |
adjacent to the village, within yards of the nearest house. It is | :39:01. | :39:07. | |
going to ruin the whole character of the village. And, as the Lib Dem | :39:07. | :39:13. | |
conference opens, we hear from Nick Clegg, who defends their record in | :39:13. | :39:16. | |
the east. A lot has happened since we were | :39:16. | :39:21. | |
away, not least the plans for the post —— first toll road. But first, | :39:21. | :39:29. | |
let us meet our guests, Peter and Julian. This week, we had the | :39:29. | :39:34. | |
controversial news that the long awaited a 14 upgrade is to be a | :39:34. | :39:42. | |
compulsory toll road. It will rejoin the old A14 after Ellington. The | :39:42. | :39:50. | |
government has decided to remove a crucial role bridge in Huntington, | :39:50. | :39:58. | |
forcing cars onto the toll road. Most MPs relate —— remained | :39:58. | :40:03. | |
tight—lipped, with the exception of one MP. The taxpayers paid for this | :40:03. | :40:12. | |
road and the infrastructure, and I don't think we can take it away for | :40:12. | :40:17. | |
what is seen to be a ruse to get people onto a toll road. As the Lib | :40:17. | :40:22. | |
Dem party conference gets underway this weekend, our political | :40:22. | :40:25. | |
correspondent met up with Nick Clegg and Aston what he thinks about those | :40:25. | :40:30. | |
controversial plans for the A14. We all need to ask ourselves questions | :40:30. | :40:35. | |
about how we get the new roads and bypasses and the capacity on | :40:35. | :40:39. | |
congested parts of our road network but don't make sure the taxpayer is | :40:40. | :40:45. | |
on the hook for everything. The plan for the A14 is not that the toll | :40:46. | :40:51. | |
would cover all the costs, but some of the costs, so the general tax | :40:51. | :40:55. | |
paying public would therefore have their contribution somewhat reduced. | :40:55. | :40:58. | |
We've obviously had the significant announcement from the highways | :40:58. | :41:03. | |
agency about the timetable, but I hope people will see that they will | :41:03. | :41:11. | |
be persuaded. But you knocking down existing parts meaning most people | :41:12. | :41:17. | |
will have no choice but to pay the toll. That seems unfair. Well, there | :41:17. | :41:22. | |
are other bottlenecks where people do pay tolls and are used to doing | :41:22. | :41:28. | |
so. I think, frankly, it is part of a new world where we cannot just | :41:28. | :41:34. | |
expect the tax paying public to pay for everything. You have to somehow | :41:34. | :41:38. | |
share the burden between everyday pet —— payers and people who use the | :41:39. | :41:45. | |
road in question. People have said that using that toll road is going | :41:45. | :41:50. | |
to add £300,000 a year to his annual bill. This is hardly helping | :41:50. | :41:57. | |
business, is it? Well, I'm sure they are also using —— losing money | :41:57. | :42:04. | |
because of delays. You need to combat the problem of paying the | :42:04. | :42:10. | |
toll with being on the road as it is at the moment and not moving. We | :42:10. | :42:15. | |
want to have the traffic moving on the right road at the right speed at | :42:15. | :42:20. | |
the right price. Julian, you on the record saying this toll road is not | :42:20. | :42:25. | |
a good idea. Well, on the bigger issue, we're making some progress. I | :42:25. | :42:31. | |
argued over a decade now when I was a counsellor that we need to do | :42:31. | :42:35. | |
something about the A14, both because of the safety problems and | :42:35. | :42:39. | |
also because of things like the Huntington viaduct, which is well | :42:39. | :42:46. | |
past its sell by date. It is not a viable part of the road network | :42:46. | :42:52. | |
anymore. And I think it is right to get rid of it. But paying a toll can | :42:52. | :42:57. | |
lead to people rattling along other roads. Peter, where are you on this? | :42:57. | :43:07. | |
I think I agree with Nick. I understand what Julian is saying as | :43:07. | :43:13. | |
well, but if we're going to get large infrastructure projects | :43:13. | :43:17. | |
going, not everything can be paid for by the taxpayer. But we're | :43:17. | :43:22. | |
talking about not being people a proper alternative to paying the | :43:22. | :43:27. | |
toll. Well, I think of the M6 and you have the alternative, and that | :43:27. | :43:32. | |
works well. Sometimes you pay because you want to go quickly, | :43:32. | :43:36. | |
other times you go on the other road. I'm surprised they have done | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
this, but I understand it is because of damage to an existing bridge. So | :43:40. | :43:45. | |
you can still use the old route, but it will take longer. Gillian, a | :43:45. | :43:49. | |
school of thought says that people can be forced to use this toll road | :43:49. | :43:54. | |
to make it financially viable, unlike the M6, which people avoid. I | :43:54. | :44:00. | |
think there is a genuine issue about the old road, but I am concerned | :44:00. | :44:08. | |
about the toll. I was concerned that another plan was going to drive | :44:08. | :44:13. | |
traffic through Cambridge, and I do remained concerned about this | :44:13. | :44:18. | |
approach. It wouldn't apply overnight, but I am reluctant to see | :44:18. | :44:23. | |
it go ahead. I would encourage people to have a look at the | :44:23. | :44:26. | |
consultation, because they are consulting on the toll road and | :44:26. | :44:31. | |
there is a chance for people to make a difference. Do you think this sets | :44:31. | :44:36. | |
a precedent? Yes, I think if we're going to see new roads built | :44:36. | :44:42. | |
quickly, they are going to be toll roads. But they need to be | :44:42. | :44:43. | |
alternatives. Life in the countryside can be | :44:43. | :44:47. | |
anything but peaceful. The latest battle in our field is over the | :44:47. | :44:52. | |
explosion in the number of solar farms. The East is now dotted with | :44:52. | :44:57. | |
solar farms built or being built right across this region. Many more | :44:57. | :45:01. | |
are waiting for approval. Opposition is growing. Now there are calls to | :45:01. | :45:05. | |
strengthen powers given to residents to reject them. | :45:05. | :45:12. | |
We're all going to see it. You will not see it. We do not need your | :45:12. | :45:20. | |
construction year. There is no mistaking the strength of feeling | :45:20. | :45:26. | |
over solar farm applications. Here, 173 acres of farmland surrounded by | :45:26. | :45:32. | |
a conservation area are at stake. I sympathise with their views in terms | :45:32. | :45:38. | |
of the change of the use of the land, but I would ask that they just | :45:38. | :45:44. | |
consider whether or not a growing pool of objectors in one village | :45:44. | :45:49. | |
should really be denying surrounding villages and towns with the right to | :45:49. | :45:55. | |
clean, green, renewable energy. I think it will totally ruined the | :45:55. | :45:59. | |
village. It will dominate the scenery. It is twice as big as the | :45:59. | :46:07. | |
village itself, at least. Why take arable land out of production? Why | :46:07. | :46:13. | |
put solar panels on sites where there are nesting birds who are | :46:13. | :46:17. | |
listed as protected species? People come to this area for walking and | :46:17. | :46:24. | |
bird—watching. That is going to be the first thing that they see. | :46:24. | :46:27. | |
Despite objections from the majority of the residents, there is nothing | :46:27. | :46:32. | |
the parish council can do. Can you stop it? We will do our best. If it | :46:32. | :46:39. | |
counted on public opinion, certainly, public opinion is against | :46:39. | :46:45. | |
the setting. But we're not certain that that counts in planning policy. | :46:45. | :46:51. | |
The government has recently changed the planning guidelines for wind | :46:51. | :46:57. | |
farms, but solar farms can still be imposed on local communities. A | :46:57. | :47:00. | |
growing number of MPs believes that has to change. The government has | :47:00. | :47:06. | |
changed the rules. They said that for wind farms much greater account | :47:06. | :47:11. | |
needs to be taken of local opinion, and where they do get set up, the | :47:11. | :47:16. | |
local community should get some benefit. I think the arguments for | :47:16. | :47:20. | |
those two measures, which are very welcome, are just as strongly | :47:20. | :47:24. | |
applicable to solar farms. The huge growth in the number of solar farms | :47:24. | :47:29. | |
like this one being built on 38 acres near Suffolk was not | :47:29. | :47:33. | |
anticipated by the government, which barely mentioned solar in its energy | :47:33. | :47:40. | |
road map only two years ago. It is going to be a big player. | :47:40. | :47:43. | |
Obviously, the government didn't realise at that moment in time. They | :47:43. | :47:48. | |
should've looked at what was happening in Europe. We've gathered | :47:48. | :47:53. | |
a huge momentum in terms of solar in the UK. Here, a 35 acre solar farm | :47:53. | :48:01. | |
was welcomed. Now, there is an application for another, double its | :48:01. | :48:09. | |
size. For an opportunity to have a solar farm on the farm is absolutely | :48:09. | :48:14. | |
marvellous. It is guaranteed income with no cost going into it. A survey | :48:14. | :48:22. | |
found 76% of farmers save renewables could play a Gator —— greater role | :48:22. | :48:29. | |
in their business. Most of our solar farms have been built in the last | :48:29. | :48:35. | |
three years. This one went up in 2011. According to our figures, | :48:35. | :48:39. | |
there is at least 850 acres in the east that have solar farms built or | :48:39. | :48:43. | |
being built, and another 450 acres with applications pending for more | :48:43. | :48:48. | |
solar farms. And the building looks set to continue despite opponents | :48:48. | :48:52. | |
like these in Norfolk, his campaign is backed by the MP. There is no | :48:52. | :48:57. | |
point in having energy production on one hand if we are seeing a | :48:57. | :49:01. | |
reduction in food production. I want to see balance. By 2020 the UK's | :49:01. | :49:10. | |
target is to get 15% of its energy from renewables. Last year, the | :49:11. | :49:18. | |
scene was less than 20% —— 10%. The Green Party have been meeting in | :49:18. | :49:23. | |
Brighton for their conference. They are in favour of solar farm | :49:24. | :49:27. | |
developments and earlier I spoke to the campaign for this region, Doctor | :49:27. | :49:32. | |
Rupert Read. I asked him whether food security should be sacrificed | :49:32. | :49:37. | |
for energy security. Well, most of the land used the solar farms is low | :49:37. | :49:44. | |
quality agricultural land, marginal land. If you are a farmer, you've | :49:44. | :49:51. | |
got some good land and some not so good land. You will obviously put | :49:51. | :49:57. | |
your solar panels on the not so good land. So the problem is overstated. | :49:57. | :50:00. | |
The land is not good land, because that would not make sense. Are you | :50:00. | :50:07. | |
saying no solar panels are on high—grade land? I'm saying that any | :50:07. | :50:13. | |
farmer that does put solar panels on good land is not very illiterate —— | :50:13. | :50:23. | |
economical and financially literate. IU backing solar power because the | :50:23. | :50:31. | |
battle has been lost on offshore wind power? What we need is a mixed | :50:31. | :50:38. | |
bag of renewables. We need tidal power, river power, solar and wind | :50:38. | :50:44. | |
energy. We need a combination of them so we never have an absence of | :50:44. | :50:49. | |
power at any one time, and we need them soon. These are going to | :50:49. | :50:54. | |
produce good, green jobs as well. It is a win—win situation for | :50:54. | :50:59. | |
everybody. What about the visual impact? Local people in some areas | :50:59. | :51:05. | |
don't like them at all. If you compare the visual impact of solar | :51:05. | :51:11. | |
farms to wind farms, solar farms are generally less impactful. And many | :51:11. | :51:17. | |
people want wind farms in the area and many people want solar farms. If | :51:17. | :51:22. | |
there are a growing dissatisfaction with green policies at the moment? | :51:22. | :51:26. | |
Is that something you will be addressing at your conference this | :51:26. | :51:29. | |
week? We are very optimistic. Support is growing nationally and | :51:29. | :51:33. | |
regionally. The latest opinion poll puts us on track to win a seat at | :51:33. | :51:38. | |
the European elections, that would be me, the first parliamentarian in | :51:38. | :51:44. | |
this region. We're the party of the future and I think everybody in | :51:44. | :51:49. | |
their hearts knows that. When they hear is talking about community | :51:49. | :51:52. | |
renewable energies schemes they understand we combine fairness and | :51:52. | :52:00. | |
at the logical sanity. Thank you. Peter, you have solar farms in your | :52:00. | :52:10. | |
constituency. What is your opinion? There is a controversial application | :52:10. | :52:15. | |
at the moment. I don't think the council really have the right to | :52:15. | :52:20. | |
turn it down. Where do you stand? I think it's a load of rubbish. They | :52:20. | :52:25. | |
are only there because of the subsidy which puts everyone's | :52:25. | :52:30. | |
electricity prices up. Totally the wrong idea. But if there are | :52:30. | :52:36. | |
community 's electricity prices up. Totally the wrong idea. But if there | :52:36. | :52:41. | |
are communities that do want them and local councils want them, that's | :52:41. | :52:46. | |
fine. But if the local residents don't want them, they should not be | :52:46. | :52:48. | |
allowed. Should the planning rules be strengthened? We've seen all this | :52:48. | :52:52. | |
with wind farms, they are going up everywhere despite what local | :52:52. | :52:56. | |
communities are saying. The government has changed that, they | :52:56. | :52:59. | |
should shade —— change the same rules the solar panels. Gillian, | :52:59. | :53:03. | |
where do you stand? Food security or nuclear energy? I don't think that | :53:03. | :53:10. | |
you are opposed. We've seen energy prices rocketing up because of gas | :53:11. | :53:15. | |
prices. As a country, we cannot see our prices going up because of | :53:15. | :53:19. | |
international prices. I do think solar power has a part to play. But | :53:19. | :53:25. | |
I'm taken by the idea that the community should benefit if they are | :53:26. | :53:30. | |
something nearby. That would be a sensible way to go. Overall, that | :53:30. | :53:34. | |
would be better for the communities, for the country, | :53:34. | :53:37. | |
because we could generate more of our own energy. Do you think the | :53:37. | :53:41. | |
energy laws should be changed? I would like to see the local people | :53:41. | :53:47. | |
benefiting more. Peter, it seems that because the tariffs are being | :53:47. | :53:53. | |
cut, the farms have to be bigger and bigger. Where do you stand on that? | :53:53. | :53:59. | |
If he thinks that such a good idea, why subsidise them? They are only | :53:59. | :54:03. | |
being built because of subsidies. We should be looking at other sources. | :54:03. | :54:10. | |
Why not look at fracking? Wind farms and now old hat because people have | :54:10. | :54:16. | |
realised people do not want them and they are inefficient. Now, they have | :54:16. | :54:21. | |
switched to solar farms. But we have to reach these new route —— | :54:21. | :54:26. | |
renewable targets. Well, I don't think we should because they are | :54:26. | :54:32. | |
putting prices up. I'm afraid Peter is wrong, they are not pushing | :54:32. | :54:36. | |
energy prices up. It is the increasing cost of gas around the | :54:36. | :54:41. | |
world that is increasing prices. There are subsidies for renewable | :54:41. | :54:46. | |
energy because we have to get that going as an alternative to gas. If | :54:46. | :54:51. | |
you look at projections of what is happening to prices without this, | :54:51. | :54:54. | |
you will have problems. Fracking has huge risks, we don't know how much | :54:54. | :54:59. | |
it will generate and cost. We have to have a share of renewables. He | :54:59. | :55:03. | |
seriously banks solar panels are going to do the trick. What about | :55:03. | :55:12. | |
the visual impact? I think there are visual concerns about any of these | :55:12. | :55:16. | |
schemes, where it is fracking as solar or wind or anything else. We | :55:16. | :55:21. | |
will talk about fracking another day. | :55:21. | :55:25. | |
The conference season is well and truly underway. This week sees the | :55:25. | :55:31. | |
mid——— the Lib Dems meeting in Glasgow. They are stuck around 10% | :55:31. | :55:37. | |
in the opinion polls and there is concern about them being in the | :55:37. | :55:39. | |
coalition. So we went to Cambridge to see what people there make of the | :55:39. | :55:46. | |
party now. A lot of people who would support the Lib Dems have seen their | :55:46. | :55:52. | |
colour tone from yellow to a kind of yellow—blue. I don't think it is a | :55:52. | :55:58. | |
party anymore. They have just merged into the back seats of the | :55:58. | :56:00. | |
Conservatives. I think they are doing a lot better than the Tories | :56:00. | :56:05. | |
Labour can do. Labour have said a lot of things. RMP has got a bicycle | :56:05. | :56:18. | |
scheme in Cambridge which is fantastic. I think the whole point | :56:18. | :56:22. | |
of the coalition government was that it was a very hard choice to make. | :56:22. | :56:27. | |
If we hadn't made it we would have been running away. There were tough | :56:27. | :56:33. | |
decisions to make. Before he headed north, Nick Clegg had time to talk | :56:33. | :56:37. | |
to us about those views. Of course some people won't like the fact that | :56:37. | :56:42. | |
we went into a coalition in the first place and will be entitled to | :56:42. | :56:48. | |
that view. But I think quite a few other people are developing a | :56:48. | :56:52. | |
grudging respect that we have stuck with it and that that is why the | :56:52. | :56:57. | |
economy is starting to recover. If we had buckled and you turned like | :56:57. | :57:01. | |
our critics said we would, the economy would be in a greater mass | :57:01. | :57:06. | |
and we would have fewer new jobs. So I'm very proud of that. And I'm | :57:06. | :57:10. | |
proud of what we've delivered for the people in the East of England? | :57:10. | :57:14. | |
Fairer taxes, more apprenticeships, better pensions. These are great | :57:14. | :57:22. | |
achievements of which I am proud. Julian we better give you the first | :57:22. | :57:32. | |
word. I don't think it is true that we have merged into the back—seat of | :57:32. | :57:39. | |
the Tory party. Part of a coalition is compromise. It is not an easy | :57:39. | :57:45. | |
time. I would not have chosen now to be in government. When we came in to | :57:45. | :57:50. | |
government, for every £4 the government was spending it was | :57:50. | :57:55. | |
borrowing one of them. Gordon Brown doubled income tax. We've done a | :57:55. | :58:01. | |
whole range of things with promoting Civil Liberties, making | :58:01. | :58:04. | |
apprenticeships, stopping the extremes of the conservative | :58:04. | :58:10. | |
parties. For example, the proposals to stop under 25 is from getting | :58:10. | :58:15. | |
housing benefit. It is important we are protected that. Peter, you are | :58:15. | :58:22. | |
not thrilled, but your party did not win the last election. Well, we | :58:22. | :58:26. | |
could have governed as a minority party, which would have been my | :58:26. | :58:32. | |
interest. But arguably the two leaders came together because of the | :58:32. | :58:36. | |
enormous mess Labour left doesn't. My argument is that now that Labour | :58:36. | :58:44. | |
—— the crisis is over, there is no reason for the party to be joined | :58:44. | :58:49. | |
together with the Lib Dems. I don't think we are joined together, I | :58:49. | :58:56. | |
think we are separate parties. There is an —— there are a number of | :58:56. | :59:05. | |
issues that I want to get to. I'm proud of many things that we have | :59:05. | :59:10. | |
been able to do. The huge increase in apprenticeships, for example, the | :59:10. | :59:15. | |
transport schemes, there is a huge range of things. | :59:15. | :59:22. | |
The nights are drawing in, but let's remember those sunny summer days in | :59:22. | :59:29. | |
our 62nd political round—up. —— 60 second. This summer 's exam | :59:29. | :59:37. | |
results were cause for celebration according to Southend's MP. Will she | :59:37. | :59:43. | |
congratulate all Southend schools for its wonderful results? That old | :59:43. | :59:54. | |
chestnut again. Another Essex MP put on a display at his local summer | :59:54. | :59:58. | |
carnival. It was the roads themselves on the mind of Norfolk MP | :59:58. | :00:03. | |
George Freeman, particularly the development of the a 47. The 847 is | :00:03. | :00:12. | |
a key economic artery. And the summers delight at the Royal | :00:12. | :00:18. | |
birth prompted a debate in the house where one MP warned that not | :00:18. | :00:22. | |
everyone is rosy for George. He will be a public figure. In some | :00:22. | :00:26. | |
respects, children born into the Royal family are the least fortunate | :00:26. | :00:31. | |
in society. Clearly, not quite as famous as | :00:31. | :00:39. | |
Prince George, but you two are in the public eye. Is it a blessing or | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
a burden? Well, to be an MP is a huge blessing and you extra —— | :00:43. | :00:48. | |
accept all the scrutiny that goes with it. I don't think either of us | :00:48. | :00:53. | |
could think of something we would rather do. It is hard work to be in | :00:53. | :01:01. | |
the public eye but I don't think many people would agree with that | :01:01. | :01:03. | |
suggestion that Prince George is the least forced Jeanette —— fortunate. | :01:03. | :01:07. | |
I think many people would be happy to is —— to swap to have that | :01:07. | :01:14. | |
lifestyle. Immensely privileged. Absolutely. He was making a point. | :01:14. | :01:21. | |
You can't take it literally. We will have to leave it there. Thank you | :01:21. | :01:27. | |
both very much. That's over now. As always, you can keep in touch via | :01:27. | :01:30. | |
our website always, you can keep in touch via | :01:30. | :01:32. | |
more than pay is going up. Which deserves a programme all to itself. | :01:32. | :01:45. | |
In a moment, more from our political Good afternoon. Nick Clegg says | :01:45. | :01:51. | |
victory for either the Conservatives Good afternoon. Nick Clegg says | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
or labour at the next election would put at risk the economic recovery | :01:55. | :01:59. | |
is. Speaking in Glasgow at the Liberal Democrat annual conference, | :01:59. | :02:00. | |
he said a coalition would allow Liberal Democrat annual conference, | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
party to balance politics and enable the government to finish the job of | :02:04. | :02:09. | |
repairing the economy fairly. It is my genuine belief that if we go | :02:10. | :02:15. | |
repairing the economy fairly. It is coalition and Islands politics, | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
repairing the economy fairly. It is dominating blood on their own, you | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
will get a recovery which is neither fair nor sustainable. Labour would | :02:22. | :02:24. | |
wreck the recovery, and under the fair nor sustainable. Labour would | :02:24. | :02:29. | |
same commitment to fairness as ours, you would get the wrong kind | :02:29. | :02:35. | |
Two 19-year-old woman arrested after a stabbing on Thursday have been | :02:35. | :02:37. | |
released without charge. Police a stabbing on Thursday have been | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
trying to discover if there is a link between the killing and a fire | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
four hours later in which four Five people are being questioned in | :02:45. | :02:51. | |
connection with that blaze. A Syrian government minister has described | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
the agreement drawn up by America country's chemical weapons as a | :02:54. | :03:01. | |
The minister claims the deals helps the Syrians out of a crisis and | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
others war. The US Secretary of State John Kerry is in Israel to | :03:06. | :03:08. | |
brief the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on the proposal. China | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
and France have also welcomed the deal, which says Syria has until | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
Friday to submit a competence of list of its chemical stockpile. | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
Britain's Mo Farah has missed out on winning his first half marathon | :03:22. | :03:27. | |
Britain's Mo Farah has missed out on He was taking part in the Great | :03:27. | :03:29. | |
North Run between Newcastle and South Shields. Farrar, who was the | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
favourite following his two gold Ethiopian's can mean many Serb | :03:33. | :03:42. | |
favourite following his two gold Kenenisa Bekele in a sprint finish. | :03:43. | :03:45. | |
A carnival atmosphere for the start was about the challenge. For others, | :03:46. | :03:52. | |
walking it, so I have no time in simply dressing up for fun. I am | :03:52. | :04:00. | |
walking it, so I have no time in mind. I just want to enjoy it and | :04:00. | :04:02. | |
appreciate the crowds and have a fantastic time. For elite athletes, | :04:02. | :04:08. | |
today's race was about who would be first over the line. Despite the | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
wind and rain, large crowds turned out for the world's most popular | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
half marathon, which attracts some of the finest women runners, two, | :04:17. | :04:25. | |
including the Kenyan. There were high hopes for Britain's double | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
Olympic champion Mo Farah, but after Shields, he was narrowly beaten | :04:29. | :04:36. | |
Ethiopian's Kenenisa Bekele. It Shields, he was narrowly beaten | :04:36. | :04:46. | |
thought I would come back and close the gap slowly. I managed to close | :04:47. | :04:50. | |
it a little bit, but you can't take away what he has. Wheelchair athlete | :04:50. | :04:56. | |
David Weir won his race for a fourth time. More than £200 million has | :04:56. | :05:01. | |
been raised since the Great North That is it for now. There will be | :05:01. | :05:16. | |
more news on BBC One at 6:35pm. So, did anything happen while we | :05:16. | :05:19. | |
were away this summer? I thought heading now? Who better to answer | :05:19. | :05:27. | |
than the best political panel we could cobble together for a tenner? | :05:27. | :05:33. | |
Putting foreign affairs to one side for a moment, it seems that what | :05:33. | :05:38. | |
happened mystically was that it became more apparent that some sort | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
of recovery was underway at last, and that Mr Miliband still has not | :05:41. | :05:48. | |
yet resonated with the British public. These things are a problem | :05:48. | :05:54. | |
for Labour. Ed Miliband's mistake over the summer holiday was to take | :05:54. | :05:56. | |
a summer holiday. And it looked over the summer holiday was to take | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
the rest of the Labour Party had taken one too. They were not finding | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
issues they could make their own. The only person who made an impact | :06:04. | :06:09. | |
was Stella Creasy on online abuse. That is a huge problem, and it is | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
partly down to the fact that there is this intense message discipline. | :06:13. | :06:15. | |
They don't want to say anything is this intense message discipline. | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
of line until they have got all their ducks in a row. It makes the | :06:18. | :06:21. | |
party do at the moment. The terms of party do at the moment. The terms of | :06:21. | :06:26. | |
trade have swung in David Cameron's favour, but the political rhetoric | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
look at this headline from the is still with Mr Miliband. Let's | :06:30. | :06:39. | |
look at this headline from the Sunday Telegraph. That headline | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
might not be right, but the story is significant in that Mr Cameron is | :06:44. | :06:46. | |
still in danger on his right flank significant in that Mr Cameron is | :06:46. | :06:51. | |
doesn't need an enormous share of the vote to get an overall majority? | :06:52. | :06:59. | |
Westminster group think. Of course Ed Miliband is in trouble. The | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
Tories are reserved and. They are better organised, the economy is | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
recovering. That poses difficulties for Labour, but if you look at what | :07:08. | :07:15. | |
is happening on the ground, UKIP still pose a danger to Cameron. | :07:15. | :07:18. | |
is happening on the ground, UKIP don't need to poll 15% in a lot | :07:18. | :07:19. | |
is happening on the ground, UKIP those marginal seats, they just | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
is happening on the ground, UKIP to get five or 6% of the vote, and | :07:22. | :07:24. | |
that could potentially destroy the Tory lead. Lots of commentators | :07:24. | :07:34. | |
that could potentially destroy the to say, this guy will never be prime | :07:34. | :07:39. | |
minister, but it is possible that by default or by accident, in a very | :07:39. | :07:45. | |
Miliband could end up as prime minister. It is still all to play | :07:45. | :07:50. | |
for on both sides. If UKIP remains a threat to the Tory right flank and | :07:50. | :07:56. | |
the Tories themselves are not really a national party any more, I am | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
the Tories themselves are not really they will only target a few seats in | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
Scotland, they don't get any big seats in the big cities of the north | :08:02. | :08:05. | |
any more, they don't get the Ulster vote they used to get, so it is | :08:05. | :08:09. | |
possible that Labour, which is more nationally based and has seats in | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
the Midlands and the north and in Wales, so they could get in. I | :08:12. | :08:18. | |
agree. The advantage of having a bad summer is that Ed Miliband can go to | :08:19. | :08:25. | |
expectations. All he has to do is not dribble on the lectern, and | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
expectations. All he has to do is will be written up as spectacular. | :08:29. | :08:31. | |
expectations. All he has to do is He might not even use a lectin. | :08:31. | :08:38. | |
position. The electoral vagaries of the system work in his favour. He | :08:38. | :08:44. | |
still has a narrow poll lead, he is not out of the game at all. Of the | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
three main party leaders, the only one who can be confident about being | :08:47. | :08:54. | |
three main party leaders, the only in government after 2015 is Nick | :08:54. | :09:00. | |
electorally. But if it is this bad for Labour at the moment, what will | :09:00. | :09:06. | |
it be like if this recovery turns out to be real? It depends how much | :09:06. | :09:14. | |
they succeed. Chuka Umunna was shifting the debate are living | :09:14. | :09:16. | |
standards. They don't want to keep arguing about who called it right. | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
Do people feel richer than they arguing about who called it right. | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
in 2010? The data suggests that people don't feel richer than in | :09:24. | :09:28. | |
2010. Because they are not.That people don't feel richer than in | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
the basis on which Labour will fight the next election. It is clear that | :09:33. | :09:38. | |
Labour are unclear on what to say or do next. They have just got to hope | :09:38. | :09:42. | |
and pray that the economy is not as soundly based as it appears to be | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
and that George Osborne is Tony Barber, who thought he fixed the | :09:45. | :09:53. | |
just before the next crash. There are all sorts of uncertainties | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
just before the next crash. There China, the bond market, the housing | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
bubble might be blown up, and Labour just had to hope something goes | :10:00. | :10:01. | |
wrong for Osborne. Chuka Umunna just had to hope something goes | :10:01. | :10:07. | |
he would not get rid of help to just had to hope something goes | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
There are all these criticisms about just had to hope something goes | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
artificial schemes pumping up house prices, but he would not say that. | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
It is tortuous. You see this again and again. When asked if Labour | :10:19. | :10:27. | |
would repeal the bedroom tax, or the same thing with Royal Mail, it | :10:27. | :10:29. | |
happens again. They will be falling on people who have not had a meal in | :10:29. | :10:41. | |
coming out of the Labour Party. There is a kind and Gillette in | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
coming out of the Labour Party. them to a politician's career. When | :10:45. | :10:47. | |
they are under attack for a long time, the media get bored after | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
they are under attack for a long while and switch the story. It | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
happened to Osborne, who had a horrific 2012 and has recovered | :10:55. | :11:00. | |
bad press as he is getting at the moment, because people find it | :11:00. | :11:08. | |
tedious. Syria has been the big foreign-policy event this summer. It | :11:08. | :11:10. | |
has remarkably led to a Soviet- American initiative to get Syria to | :11:10. | :11:19. | |
give up its chemical weapons. The world will now expect the Assad | :11:19. | :11:24. | |
regime to live up to its public commitments. As I said at the outset | :11:24. | :11:27. | |
anything less than full compliance. John Kerry. Is this too good to | :11:27. | :11:44. | |
anything less than full compliance. true? Even superficially, it is | :11:44. | :11:46. | |
anything less than full compliance. very good. The only people who | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
emerge with any sense of triumph are the Russians, who have had their | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
emerge with any sense of triumph are biggest diplomatic coup. They are | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
back on the stage again. B if you want to know why Putin even has | :11:56. | :12:02. | |
back on the stage again. B if you because of moments like this. They | :12:02. | :12:04. | |
were humiliated after the end of the Cold War, and a Nou Camp is a great | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
power again. Then you have the Obama situation, because he has ended | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
power again. Then you have the Obama where he wanted to end up. He has | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
power again. Then you have the Obama concession from Syria, but the way | :12:16. | :12:16. | |
he got there was so embarrassing. It concession from Syria, but the way | :12:16. | :12:21. | |
made him look weak and erratic as a leader. There were contradictions | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
between himself and his Secretary of State last week, and it has not | :12:25. | :12:32. | |
between himself and his Secretary of him any good. I was in the States, | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
and it was open season on him. I have never understood the idea of | :12:37. | :12:41. | |
chemical weapons as a red line when you can massacre people in their | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
thousands through other means. But chemical weapons are beyond the | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
pale. The rebels are miserable. chemical weapons are beyond the | :12:50. | :12:57. | |
have run out of time. I will have to ask you what you think about Syria | :12:57. | :12:59. | |
next week, which gives you time ask you what you think about Syria | :12:59. | :13:05. | |
prepare. Your book on Fred the shred is going well? It is.I am back | :13:05. | :13:11. | |
tomorrow at noon with the Daily Politics at noon on BBC Two, where | :13:11. | :13:14. | |
we will have more from the Liberal Democrat conference in Glasgow. | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
we will have more from the Liberal is the start of our Daily Politics | :13:18. | :13:18. | |
conference coverage. Next week, is the start of our Daily Politics | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
will be back here at our normal is the start of our Daily Politics | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
of 11am, when we will be joined is the start of our Daily Politics | :13:24. | :13:30. | |
Grant Shapps. Remember, if it is Sunday, it is the Sunday Politics. | :13:30. | :13:50. |