:00:36. > :00:39.Morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics.
:00:40. > :00:42.Downing Street announces an inquiry into allegations of hardball tactics
:00:43. > :00:47.and intimidation by unions in industrial disputes. That's our top
:00:48. > :00:51.story. Thousands dead. Hundreds of
:00:52. > :00:56.thousands without homes. Millions affected. What is Britain doing to
:00:57. > :00:58.help the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan? We'll ask
:00:59. > :01:03.International Development Secretary Justine Greening.
:01:04. > :01:06.Winter is coming and so, it seems, is another crisis in England's
:01:07. > :01:07.hospitals. I'll be asking the Shadow Health Secretary how he'd put a stop
:01:08. > :01:14.to Here in the East, an organisation
:01:15. > :01:17.from Cambridge leading the fight to clean up the internet.
:01:18. > :01:18.And claims that council cuts could lead to crime as youth services
:01:19. > :01:23.And claims that council cuts could fatalities on the capital's streets,
:01:24. > :01:31.and renewed calls to get lorries off the roads in peak hours.
:01:32. > :01:38.With me, the best and brightest political panel that money can buy.
:01:39. > :01:40.Janan Ganesh, Nick Watt and this week, Zoe Williams, who'll be
:01:41. > :01:46.tweeting their thoughts throughout the programme.
:01:47. > :01:48.The Government has announced a review to investigate what the Prime
:01:49. > :02:00.Minister has called "industrial intimidation" by trade union
:02:01. > :02:04.activists. Bruce Carr QC will chair a panel to examine allegations of
:02:05. > :02:06.the kind of tactics that came to light during the Grangemouth
:02:07. > :02:09.dispute, when the Unite union took their protests - replete with a
:02:10. > :02:15.giant rat - outside the family homes of the firms' bosses. Earlier this
:02:16. > :02:22.morning the Cabinet office minister, Francis Maude spoke to the BBC and
:02:23. > :02:25.this is what he had to say. To look at whether the law currently works
:02:26. > :02:30.and see if it is ineffective in preventing the kind of intimidatory
:02:31. > :02:40.activity that was alleged to have taken place around range mouth
:02:41. > :02:45.during the previous disputes -- Grangemouth. We make no presumptions
:02:46. > :02:48.at the beginning of this. I do think it is a responsible thing for the
:02:49. > :02:52.government to establish what happened and really do a proper
:02:53. > :03:00.review into whether the law is adequate to meet the needs. That was
:03:01. > :03:04.Francis Maude. This is a purely political move, isn't it? Unite did
:03:05. > :03:09.this a couple of times, it is hardly happening all over the country but
:03:10. > :03:15.the government want to say, we are prepared to investigate Unite
:03:16. > :03:19.properly, Labour isn't. This seemed a lot worse when I thought it was a
:03:20. > :03:25.real rat. I thought it was a giant dead rat. I am not sure if you know
:03:26. > :03:31.much about rats but real rats are not this big, even the ones in
:03:32. > :03:35.London. The thing is, obviously it is naked politics but I think it is
:03:36. > :03:40.more intelligent than it looks. They are trying to taint Miliband as a
:03:41. > :03:45.week union puppet and that doesn't really wash. They hammer away with
:03:46. > :03:51.it and it might wash for some people. But it really castrates
:03:52. > :03:55.Miliband in the important issues he has to tackle. Zero hours, living
:03:56. > :04:01.wage, all of those things in which he needs to be in concert with the
:04:02. > :04:07.unions, and to use their expertise. He is making them absolutely toxic
:04:08. > :04:18.to go anywhere near. It keeps the Unite story alive, have to kill --
:04:19. > :04:26.particularly since Mr Miller band is under pressure to reopen the
:04:27. > :04:36.investigation into what Unite are up to -- Mr Miliband. They are
:04:37. > :04:40.frustrated, not only at the BBC but the media generally at what they
:04:41. > :04:44.think is a lack of coverage. I see the political rationale from that
:04:45. > :04:49.respect. There is a risk. There are union members who either vote Tory
:04:50. > :04:56.or are open to the idea of voting Tory. All Lib Dem. If the party
:04:57. > :05:10.comes across as too zealous in as -- its antipathy, there is an electoral
:05:11. > :05:14.consequence. Ed Miliband has been careful to keep a distance. Yes
:05:15. > :05:18.they depend on vast amounts of money. When Len McCluskey had a real
:05:19. > :05:22.go at the Blairites, Ed Miliband was straight out there with a very
:05:23. > :05:27.strong statement. Essentially Len McCluskey wanted Blairites in the
:05:28. > :05:30.shadow cabinet sacked and Ed Miliband was keen to distance
:05:31. > :05:36.himself or for that is why it is not quite sticking. Another story in the
:05:37. > :05:42.Sunday papers this morning, the Mail on Sunday got hold of some e-mails.
:05:43. > :05:47.When I saw the headline I thought it was a huge cache of e-mails, it
:05:48. > :05:51.turns out to be a couple. They peel away the cover on the relationship
:05:52. > :05:58.between Ed Miliband and Ed Balls, with some of Ed Miliband's cohorts
:05:59. > :06:06.describing what Mr balls is trying to do as a nightmare. How bad are
:06:07. > :06:09.the relations? They are pretty bad and these e-mails confirm the
:06:10. > :06:14.biggest open signal in Westminster, which is that relations are pretty
:06:15. > :06:18.tense, -- open secret. That Ed Miliband doesn't feel that Ed Balls
:06:19. > :06:23.is acknowledging the economy has grown that Labour needs to admit to
:06:24. > :06:31.past mistakes. The sort of great open signal is confirmed. On a scale
:06:32. > :06:38.of 1-10, assuming that Blair-Brown was ten. I think it is between six
:06:39. > :06:44.and seven. They occupy this joint suite of offices that George Cameron
:06:45. > :06:49.and -- David Cameron and George Osborne had. It is not just on the
:06:50. > :06:53.economy that there were tensions, there were clearly tensions over
:06:54. > :06:59.HS2, Ed Balls put a huge question over it at his conference. There
:07:00. > :07:01.will be more tensions when it comes to the third runway because my
:07:02. > :07:07.information is that Mr balls wants to do it and Ed Miliband almost
:07:08. > :07:12.resigned over it when he was in government. I don't think Ed
:07:13. > :07:15.Miliband is thinking very politically because he has tried
:07:16. > :07:21.live without Ed Balls and that is not tenable either. -- life without.
:07:22. > :07:26.He has defined a way of making it work. That is where Tony Blair had
:07:27. > :07:30.the edge on any modern politician. He didn't want to make Ed Balls his
:07:31. > :07:34.Shadow Chancellor, he had to. Somebody said to him, if you make Ed
:07:35. > :07:38.Balls Shadow Chancellor, that will be the last decision you take as
:07:39. > :07:56.leader of the Labour Party. Is it as bad? I was surprised at how tame the
:07:57. > :08:00.e-mails were. At the FT it is compulsory, one French word per
:08:01. > :08:06.sentence! To call him a nightmare, compared to what they are willing to
:08:07. > :08:08.say in briefings, conversations bits of frustrations they express
:08:09. > :08:14.verbally come what is documented in the e-mails is actually pretty
:08:15. > :08:17.light. It has been a grim week for the people of the Philippines as
:08:18. > :08:22.they count the cost of the devastation wrought by Typhoon
:08:23. > :08:25.Haiyan. HMS Daring has just arrived near the worst hit areas - part of
:08:26. > :08:31.Britain's contribution to bring aid to the country.
:08:32. > :08:34.It has been one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the
:08:35. > :08:37.Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan hit the country nine days ago, leaving
:08:38. > :08:43.devastation in its wake. The numbers involved are shocking. The official
:08:44. > :08:48.death toll is over 3600 people, with many thousands more unaccounted for.
:08:49. > :08:51.More than half a million people have lost their homes and the UN
:08:52. > :08:56.estimates 11 million have been affected. David Cameron announced on
:08:57. > :09:00.Friday that the UK government is to give an extra ?30 million in aid,
:09:01. > :09:06.taking the total British figure ?250 million. An RAF Sea 17 aircraft
:09:07. > :09:12.landed yesterday with equipment to help aid workers get too hard to
:09:13. > :09:15.reach areas. HMS Illustrious is on its way and due to arrive next
:09:16. > :09:23.weekend. The British public have once again dipped into their pockets
:09:24. > :09:27.and given generously. They have given more than ?30 million to the
:09:28. > :09:29.Disasters Emergency Committee. The International Development
:09:30. > :09:33.Secretary, Justine Greening, joins me now for the Sunday Interview
:09:34. > :09:37.Good morning, Secretary of State. How much of the ?50 million that the
:09:38. > :09:43.government has allocated has got through so far? All of it has landed
:09:44. > :09:47.on the ground now. HMS Daring has turned up, that will be able to
:09:48. > :09:51.start getting help out to some of those more outlying islands that
:09:52. > :09:56.have been hard to reach. We have seen Save the Children and Oxfam
:09:57. > :10:01.really being able to get aid out on the ground. We have a plane taking
:10:02. > :10:05.off today that will not read just carrying out more equipment to help
:10:06. > :10:11.clear the roads but will also have their staff on board, too. We have
:10:12. > :10:17.?50 million of aid actually on the ground? We instantly chartered
:10:18. > :10:24.flights directly from Dubai where we have preprepared human Terry and
:10:25. > :10:31.supplies, and started humanity work -- humanitarian supplies.
:10:32. > :10:38.A lot of it has now arrived. I think we have done a huge amount so far.
:10:39. > :10:43.We have gone beyond just providing humanitarian supplies, to getting
:10:44. > :10:47.the Royal Air Force involved. They have helped us to get equipment out
:10:48. > :10:52.there quickly. We have HMS Illustrious sailing over there now.
:10:53. > :10:55.Why has that taken so long? It was based in the Gulf and is not going
:10:56. > :10:59.to get there until two weeks after the storm first hit and that is the
:11:00. > :11:04.one ship we have with lots of helicopters. The first decision we
:11:05. > :11:09.took was to make sure we could get the fastest vessel out there that
:11:10. > :11:12.was able to help HMS Daring. HMS Illustrious was just finishing an
:11:13. > :11:16.exercise and planning to start to head back towards the UK. We have
:11:17. > :11:22.said to not do that, and diverted it. Shouldn't it have happened more
:11:23. > :11:26.quickly? We took the decisions as fast as we were able to, you can't
:11:27. > :11:31.just turn a big warship around like the HMS Illustrious. We made sure we
:11:32. > :11:35.took those decisions and that is while it will be taking over from
:11:36. > :11:41.HMS Daring come and that is why HMS Daring is ready there. It will be
:11:42. > :11:45.able to provide key support and expertise that has not been there so
:11:46. > :11:51.far. The US Navy is doing the heavy lifting here. The US Navy had the
:11:52. > :11:56.USS Washington, there is an aircraft carrier, 80 planes, 5000 personnel
:11:57. > :11:58.and they have the fleet, they are doing the real work. We obviously
:11:59. > :12:03.helping but the Americans are taking the lead. It is a big international
:12:04. > :12:08.effort. Countries like the US and the UK, that have a broader ability
:12:09. > :12:16.to support that goes beyond simply call humanitarian supplies -- have
:12:17. > :12:21.made sure we have brought our logistics knowledge, we have sent
:12:22. > :12:26.out our naval vessels. It shows we are working across government to
:12:27. > :12:33.respond to this crisis. Why does only just over 4% of your aid budget
:12:34. > :12:38.go on emergency disaster and response? A lot depends on what
:12:39. > :12:42.crises hit in any given year. We have done a huge amount, responding
:12:43. > :12:47.to the crisis in Syria, the conflict there and the fact we have 2 million
:12:48. > :12:51.refugees who have fled the country. We are part of an international
:12:52. > :12:56.effort in supporting them. Shouldn't we beginning more money to that
:12:57. > :13:00.rather than some of the other programmes where it is harder to see
:13:01. > :13:06.the results question of if we were to give more money to the refugees,
:13:07. > :13:11.it would be a visible result. We could see an improvement in the
:13:12. > :13:15.lives of children, men and women. What we need to do is alongside that
:13:16. > :13:20.is stop those situations from happening in the first place. A lot
:13:21. > :13:23.of our development spend is helping countries to stay stable. Look at
:13:24. > :13:29.some of the work we are doing in Somalia, much more sensible. Not
:13:30. > :13:34.just from an immigration but there is a threat perspective. There is a
:13:35. > :13:39.lot of terrorism coming from Somalia. You only have to look at
:13:40. > :13:45.Kenya recently to see that. Which is why you talk about what we do with
:13:46. > :13:48.the rest of the spend. It is why it is responsible to work with the
:13:49. > :13:55.government of Somalia. Should we give more, bigger part of the budget
:13:56. > :14:00.to disaster relief or not? I think we get it about right, we have to be
:14:01. > :14:06.flexible and we are. This Philippine relief is on top of the work in
:14:07. > :14:09.Syria. Where can you show me a correlation between us giving aid to
:14:10. > :14:15.some failed nation, or nearly failed nation, and that cutting down on
:14:16. > :14:18.terrorism? If you look at the work we have done in Pakistan, a huge
:14:19. > :14:25.amount of work. Some of it short-term. It is written by
:14:26. > :14:32.terrorism. That is -- ridden by terrorism. That is not going to fix
:14:33. > :14:41.it self in a sense. Look at the work that we do in investing in
:14:42. > :14:49.education. The things that little girls like Malala talk about as
:14:50. > :14:55.being absolutely key. We are ramping up our aid to Pakistan, it will be
:14:56. > :15:00.close to half ?1 billion by the time of the election. Why should British
:15:01. > :15:08.taxpayers be giving half ?1 billion to a country where only 0.5% of
:15:09. > :15:16.people in Pakistan pay income tax, and 70% of their own MPs don't pay
:15:17. > :15:21.income tax. It is a good point and that is why we have been working
:15:22. > :15:31.with their tax revenue authority to help them increase that and push
:15:32. > :15:37.forward the tax reform. You are right, and I have setup a team that
:15:38. > :15:41.will go out and work with many of these countries so they can raise
:15:42. > :15:55.their own revenues. You really think you will raise the amount of tax by
:15:56. > :16:00.sending out the British HRM see How many troops I we sending out to
:16:01. > :16:07.protect them? They don't need troops. We make sure that we have a
:16:08. > :16:18.duty of care alongside our staff, but we have to respond to any crisis
:16:19. > :16:23.like the Philippines, and alongside other countries we have two work
:16:24. > :16:28.alongside them so that they can reinvest in their own public
:16:29. > :16:34.services. If they can create their own taxes, will we stop paying aid?
:16:35. > :16:40.We need to look at that but the new Pakistan Government has been very
:16:41. > :16:48.clear it is a priority and we will be helping them in pursuing that.
:16:49. > :16:55.Let me show you a picture. Who are these young women? I don't know I'm
:16:56. > :16:59.sure you are about to tell me. They are the Ethiopian Spice Girls and
:17:00. > :17:06.I'm surprised you don't know because they have only managed to become so
:17:07. > :17:12.famous because your department has financed them to the tune of ?4
:17:13. > :17:15.million. All of the work we do with women on the ground, making sure
:17:16. > :17:22.they have a voice in their local communities, making sure they have
:17:23. > :17:30.some control over what happens to their own bodies in terms of
:17:31. > :17:36.tackling FGM, female genital mutilation... Did you know your
:17:37. > :17:44.department has spent ?4 million on the Ethiopian Spice Girls? Yes, I
:17:45. > :17:49.do, and we have to work with girls and show them there is a life ahead
:17:50. > :17:52.of them with opportunity and potential that goes beyond what many
:17:53. > :17:58.of them will experience, which includes early and forced marriage.
:17:59. > :18:09.It is part of the work we do with local communities to change
:18:10. > :18:13.attitudes everything you have just said is immeasurable, and they
:18:14. > :18:18.broadcast on a radio station that doesn't reach most of the country so
:18:19. > :18:26.it cannot have the impact. It only reaches 20 million people and the
:18:27. > :18:33.project has been condemned saying there were serious inefficiencies.
:18:34. > :18:37.That aid report was done a while ago now, and it was talking about the
:18:38. > :18:42.project when it first got going and a lot of improvements have happened
:18:43. > :18:46.since. I would go back to the point that we are working in very
:18:47. > :18:50.difficult environments where we are trying to get longer term change on
:18:51. > :18:54.the ground and that means working directly with communities but also
:18:55. > :19:00.investing for the long-term, investing in some of these girls
:19:01. > :19:06.start changing attitudes in them and their communities. Why does the
:19:07. > :19:18.British taxpayers spend ?5 million on a Bangladesh version of Question
:19:19. > :19:24.Time? We work with the BBC to make sure we can get accountabilities...
:19:25. > :19:45.That is bigger then the BBC Question Time Normal -- budget. That includes
:19:46. > :19:51.the cost of David Dimbleby's tattoo! We are working to improve
:19:52. > :19:55.people's prospects but also we are working to improve their ability to
:19:56. > :19:58.hold their governments to account so that when they are not getting
:19:59. > :20:02.services on the ground, they have ways they can raise those concerns
:20:03. > :20:09.with the people who are there to deliver services for them. In your
:20:10. > :20:16.own personal view, should the next Conservative Government, if there is
:20:17. > :20:20.one, should you continue to ring fence spending on foreign aid? But
:20:21. > :20:26.it is critical that if we are going to spend 7.7% of our national
:20:27. > :20:31.income, we should make sure it is in our national interest and that means
:20:32. > :20:35.having a clear approach to humanitarian responses, in keeping
:20:36. > :20:40.the country safe, and a clearer approach on helping drive economic
:20:41. > :20:47.development and jobs so there is a long-term end of the dependency Do
:20:48. > :20:54.you believe in an shrine in the percentage of our GDP that goes on
:20:55. > :21:01.foreign aid in law? Yes, and that is a coalition agreement. There have
:21:02. > :21:06.been a lot of agreements that you are sceptical about ring fencing. We
:21:07. > :21:16.are focused on shaking up the economy and improving our public
:21:17. > :21:25.finances. Why haven't you done that? At the end of the day we will be
:21:26. > :21:32.accountable but we are committed to doing that. You are running out of
:21:33. > :21:37.time, will you do it? I hope we can find the Parliamentary time, but
:21:38. > :21:45.even if we don't, we have acted as if that law is in place and we have
:21:46. > :21:48.already met 0.7% commitment. If you are British voter that doesn't
:21:49. > :21:55.believe that we should enshrine that in by law, which means that with a
:21:56. > :22:00.growing economy foreign aid will rise by definition, and if you think
:22:01. > :22:04.we should be spending less money on the Ethiopian Spice Girls, for whom
:22:05. > :22:11.should you wrote in the next election? I think we have a very
:22:12. > :22:18.sensible approach. I don't know what the various party manifestoes.. The
:22:19. > :22:23.only party who thinks we shouldn't be doing this is UKIP. I think you
:22:24. > :22:37.have to look at the response to both the Philippines crisis and Children
:22:38. > :22:41.In Need. Of all the steps we are taking to get the country back on
:22:42. > :22:47.track, it shows the British people will respond to need when they need
:22:48. > :22:54.it and it is one of the things that makes Britain's special.
:22:55. > :22:56.Thank you. "It's always winter but never Christmas" - that's how
:22:57. > :22:58.doctors describe life inside accident and emergency. The College
:22:59. > :23:03.of Emergency Medicine have warned that this year could bring the
:23:04. > :23:05."worst crisis on record". If that dire prediction comes, expect a
:23:06. > :23:10.spring of political recriminations, but how prepared are the NHS in
:23:11. > :23:17.England? And what do they make of this autumnal speculation? Giles has
:23:18. > :23:21.been to Leeds to find out. This winter has already come to our
:23:22. > :23:31.hospitals. It had an official start date, November the 3rd. That is when
:23:32. > :23:35.weekly updates are delivered to the NHS's most senior planners, alerting
:23:36. > :23:43.them to any sudden changes in patient numbers coming in. Where do
:23:44. > :23:49.they numbers register most then A They are the barometer for what
:23:50. > :23:54.is going on everywhere else, and they are the pressure point, so if
:23:55. > :23:59.the system is beginning to struggle then it is in the A department
:24:00. > :24:06.that we see the problems. It is not that the problems are the A
:24:07. > :24:12.departments, but they are the place where it all comes together. Plans
:24:13. > :24:17.to tackle those problems start being drawn up in May and they look at
:24:18. > :24:30.trends, even taking notice of any flu epidemics in New Zealand. They
:24:31. > :24:34.also look at the amount of bets But the weather, economic realities
:24:35. > :24:39.structural reforms, and changes to the general health of the
:24:40. > :24:44.population, are all factors they have to consider. We get huge
:24:45. > :24:49.amounts of information through the winter in order to help the NHS be
:24:50. > :24:53.the best it can be, but we had to redouble our efforts this year
:24:54. > :24:59.because we expected to be a difficult winter. We know the NHS is
:25:00. > :25:05.stretched so we are working hard to be as good as we can be. That means
:25:06. > :25:12.they are looking at winter staffing levels, plans to ask for help from
:25:13. > :25:16.neighbouring hospitals, and dovetailing help with GP surgeries,
:25:17. > :25:23.and still having the ability to move up an extra gear, a rehearsed
:25:24. > :25:29.emergency plan if the NHS had to face a major disease pandemic. You
:25:30. > :25:33.spend any time in any of our hospitals and you realise the NHS
:25:34. > :25:37.knows that winter is coming and they are making plans, but you also get a
:25:38. > :25:42.palpable feeling amongst health workers across the entire system
:25:43. > :25:48.that they do get fed up of being used as a political football.
:25:49. > :25:52.Doctors and all health care professionals are frustrated about
:25:53. > :25:57.the politics that surrounds the NHS in health care. They go to work to
:25:58. > :26:03.treat patients as best as they can, and the political knock-about does
:26:04. > :26:07.not help anyone. I find it frustrating when there is a
:26:08. > :26:13.commentary that suggests the NHS does not planned, when it is
:26:14. > :26:17.surprised by winter, and wherever that comes from it is hard to take,
:26:18. > :26:28.knowing how much we do nationally and how much our hard working front
:26:29. > :26:35.line staff are doing. When the Coalition have recently tried to
:26:36. > :26:41.open up the NHS to be a more independent body, it is clear the
:26:42. > :26:47.NHS feel they have had an unhealthy dose of political wrangling between
:26:48. > :26:52.parties on policy. The NHS is not infallible or making any guarantees,
:26:53. > :26:54.but they seem confident that they and their patients can survive the
:26:55. > :26:57.winter. Joining me now from Salford in the
:26:58. > :27:08.Shadow Health Secretary, Andy Burnham. Tell me this, if you were
:27:09. > :27:15.health secretary now, you just took over in an emergency election, what
:27:16. > :27:22.would you do to avoid another winter crisis? I would immediately halt the
:27:23. > :27:28.closure of NHS walk-in centres. We heard this week that around one in
:27:29. > :27:32.four walk-in centres are closed so it makes no sense whatsoever for the
:27:33. > :27:38.Government to allow the continued closure of them. I would put nurses
:27:39. > :27:44.back on the end of phones and restore an NHS direct style service.
:27:45. > :27:51.The new 111 service is not in a position to provide help to people
:27:52. > :27:56.this winter. I think the time has come to rethink how the NHS care is
:27:57. > :28:00.particularly for older people so I propose the full integration of
:28:01. > :28:06.health and social care. It cannot make any sense any more to have this
:28:07. > :28:10.approach where we cut social care and let elderly people drift to
:28:11. > :28:19.hospitals in greater numbers. We have two rethink it as a whole
:28:20. > :28:23.service. So you would repeal some of the Tory reforms and move
:28:24. > :28:29.commissioning to local authorities so the NHS should brace itself for
:28:30. > :28:34.another major top-down health reorganisation? No, unlike Andrew
:28:35. > :28:45.Lansley I will work with the organisations ie inherit. He could
:28:46. > :28:50.work with primary care trusts but he turned it upside down when it needed
:28:51. > :29:04.stability. I will not do that but I will repeal the health and social
:29:05. > :29:08.care act because last week we heard that hospitals and health services
:29:09. > :29:12.cannot get on and make sensible merger collaborations because of
:29:13. > :29:18.this nonsense now that the NHS is bound by competition law. Let me get
:29:19. > :29:22.your views on a number of ideas that have been floated either by the
:29:23. > :29:32.press or the Coalition. We haven't got much time. Do you welcome the
:29:33. > :29:40.plan to bring back named GPs for over 75s? Yes, but it has got harder
:29:41. > :29:43.to get the GP appointment under this Government because David Cameron
:29:44. > :29:49.scrapped the 48-hour guarantee that Tony Blair brought in. He was
:29:50. > :29:54.challenged in the 2005 election about the difficulty of getting a GP
:29:55. > :29:58.appointment, and Tony Blair brought in the commitment that people should
:29:59. > :30:05.be able to get that within 48 hours. That has now been scrapped.
:30:06. > :30:09.Do you welcome the idea of allowing everyone to choose their own GP
:30:10. > :30:15.surgery even if it is not in our traditional catchment area? I
:30:16. > :30:21.proposed that just before the last election, so yes. Do you welcome the
:30:22. > :30:26.idea of how a practice is being rated being a matter of public
:30:27. > :30:32.record, and of us knowing how much, at least from the NHS, our GP earns?
:30:33. > :30:36.Of course, every political party supports transparency in the NHS.
:30:37. > :30:41.More information for the public of that kind is a good thing. Do you
:30:42. > :30:48.welcome this plan to make it will form the collect in an NHS hospital
:30:49. > :30:53.-- make wilful neglect a criminal offence. It is important to say you
:30:54. > :30:57.can't pick and mix these recommendations, you can't say we
:30:58. > :31:01.will have that one and not the others. It was a balanced package
:31:02. > :31:05.that Sir Robert Francis put forward. My message is that it must be
:31:06. > :31:10.permitted in full. If we are to learn the lessons, the whole package
:31:11. > :31:14.must be addressed, and that includes safe staffing levels across the NHS.
:31:15. > :31:19.Staff have a responsible to two patients at the government also has
:31:20. > :31:26.responsible at T2 NHS staff and it should not let them work in
:31:27. > :31:42.understaffed, unsafe conditions -- a responsibility to NHS staff. Is
:31:43. > :31:47.there a part of the 2004 agreements that you regret and should be
:31:48. > :31:51.undone? A lot of myths have been built up about the contract. When it
:31:52. > :31:57.came in, there was a huge shortage of GPs across the country. Some
:31:58. > :32:02.communities struggle to recruit This myth that the government have
:32:03. > :32:08.built, that the 2004 GP contract is responsible for the AM decries is,
:32:09. > :32:16.it is spin of the worst possible kind -- the A crisis. You would
:32:17. > :32:20.redo that contract? It was redone under our time in government and
:32:21. > :32:23.change to make it better value for money. GPs should be focused on
:32:24. > :32:28.improving the health of their patients and that is a very good
:32:29. > :32:34.principle. Not so great if you can't get 24-hour access. I agree with
:32:35. > :32:39.that. We brought in evening and weekend opening for GPs. That is
:32:40. > :32:43.another thing that has gone in reverse under Mr Cameron. It is much
:32:44. > :32:49.harder to get a GP appointment under him and that is one of the reasons
:32:50. > :32:56.why A is an oppressor. -- under pressure. What do you make of the
:32:57. > :33:02.review into intimidatory tactics by unions? If there has been
:33:03. > :33:09.intimidation, it is unacceptable, and that should apply to unions as
:33:10. > :33:14.well as employers. Was Unite wrong to turn up and demonstrate? I don't
:33:15. > :33:18.know the details, this review will look into that presumably. I need
:33:19. > :33:22.reassurance that this is not a pretty cool call by Mr Cameron on
:33:23. > :33:28.the designed to appear near the election -- that this is not a
:33:29. > :33:41.political call. Are you sponsored by unite? No. Do you get any money from
:33:42. > :33:49.Unite? No. What have you done wrong? It seems others are getting money
:33:50. > :33:53.from Unite. Can I tell you what I think is the scandal of British
:33:54. > :33:57.party political funding, two health care companies have given ?1.5
:33:58. > :34:04.million in donations to the Tory party, they have ?1.5 billion in NHS
:34:05. > :34:10.contracts. I wonder why you don t spend much time talking about that
:34:11. > :34:17.and obsess over trade union funding. We are happy to talk about that We
:34:18. > :34:22.see from e-mails that Mr Miliband's closest advisers regard Mr Ed Balls
:34:23. > :34:27.as a bit of a nightmare, do you see a bit of a nightmare about him as
:34:28. > :34:31.well? I don't at all, he is a very good friend. I can't believe that
:34:32. > :34:35.you are talking about those e-mails on a national political programme.
:34:36. > :34:40.My goodness, you obviously scraping the barrel today. I have been in
:34:41. > :34:44.front-line labour politics for 0 years. I can't remember the front
:34:45. > :34:48.bench and the wider party being as united as it is today and it is a
:34:49. > :34:52.great credit to Ed Miliband and Ed Balls. We are going into a general
:34:53. > :34:57.election and we are going to get rid of a pretty disastrous coalition
:34:58. > :35:00.government. It was worth spending a few seconds to establish your not
:35:01. > :35:03.having nightmares. Thank you for joining me.
:35:04. > :35:06.It's just gone 11:30am. You're watching the Sunday Politics. Coming
:35:07. > :35:17.up in just over 20 minutes, I'll be talking to the MP accused of using
:35:18. > :35:22.Hello and welcome to the local part of the programme, I'm Etholle
:35:23. > :35:30.George. Coming up: Mis`spent youth ` what's the cost of cutting local
:35:31. > :35:35.services for teenagers? I don't know what is going to happen, the latest
:35:36. > :35:38.crib `` the rate of criminality is so much higher.
:35:39. > :35:44.Getting tough online. Calls for MPs to do more to stop internet abuse.
:35:45. > :35:48.The social and moral framework of the digital world does not exist
:35:49. > :35:52.yet, so there is quite an important role for legislators to play.
:35:53. > :35:56.And the EU has ?60 billion up for grabs for science and technology `
:35:57. > :35:59.with the East leading the way. But first, our guests for this week,
:36:00. > :36:02.George Freeman the Conservative MP for Mid Norfolk answer Bob Russell
:36:03. > :36:06.the Liberal Democrat MP for Colchester. And I'd like to start in
:36:07. > :36:09.Colchester again this week where the General Hospital has now officially
:36:10. > :36:11.been placed in special measures over allegations that staff were
:36:12. > :36:18."bullied" into falsifying details about cancer waiting times. In a
:36:19. > :36:25.public meeting this week the hospital tried to reassure patients.
:36:26. > :36:31.My Gran had a long time before receiving treatment, too long, that
:36:32. > :36:34.they should have done a lot better, it should not have been three
:36:35. > :36:38.months, it should have been the two weeks when she was first told, not
:36:39. > :36:48.three months later. And now it is becoming inoperable and incurable.
:36:49. > :36:54.Sir Bob Russell, you keep saying this is a good hospital, they used
:36:55. > :36:59.all stand by that? It is not acceptable what has gone on, it is
:37:00. > :37:01.devastating, there is no excuses. The commission should have put the
:37:02. > :37:09.hospital into special measures on day one, they should not have
:37:10. > :37:14.waited, prolonging it. The hospital, write across`the`board, people can
:37:15. > :37:18.have confidence in. We need to come across where the problem is. The
:37:19. > :37:24.Care Quality Commission has identified... When the hospital was
:37:25. > :37:30.in trouble over mortality rates, you came out very strongly saying, you
:37:31. > :37:36.stood by the hospital. Should you not now be joining the call for
:37:37. > :37:42.resignations? No, I am not quick to join that sort of call. Trying to
:37:43. > :37:46.link the two is not helpful, and the hospital did not go into special
:37:47. > :37:50.measures, it was looked at, it was not put in special measures. As a
:37:51. > :37:55.result of the review, the whistle`blower, we should thank him
:37:56. > :38:07.or her, identified this. We mustn't blacken the whole hospital. Briefly,
:38:08. > :38:10.does it so good hospital to you? I think there is a general point here,
:38:11. > :38:17.the public are beginning to want to see public services working for
:38:18. > :38:21.them. The data release, we are changing the culture here. The
:38:22. > :38:26.public are starting to look at the NHS and seeing it as our NHS, we
:38:27. > :38:37.fund, and I think that is a good thing. Thank you. We've all seen
:38:38. > :38:40.them hanging around outside shops, young people with nowhere to go.
:38:41. > :38:44.Well, their number is likely to grow now there are plans to close even
:38:45. > :38:47.more youth clubs as budgets are slashed. In the East, according to
:38:48. > :38:51.figures from the House of Commons, between 2010 and 2012 the whole of
:38:52. > :38:54.youth service budgets have been reduced by nearly ?20 million. All
:38:55. > :38:57.but two of our councils have made cuts ` with Norfolk losing ?8.5
:38:58. > :39:00.million. And Cambridgeshire has already made savings of ?1.8 million
:39:01. > :39:08.and has just agreed another ?350,000 cut. Now Essex is conducting a
:39:09. > :39:13.consultation on part of its youth services to make another ?3 million
:39:14. > :39:22.of savings over the next two years. Here's Tom Barton.
:39:23. > :39:26.This youth club has only been open for three years, and already it is
:39:27. > :39:32.facing closure, used as a youth club by local youngsters, it also houses
:39:33. > :39:37.a sexual health clinic, support services and a group of teenage
:39:38. > :39:42.parents. Harlow has loads of trouble with young people, and the youth
:39:43. > :39:45.support will just go away, and I do not know what is going to happen,
:39:46. > :39:51.the rate of criminality will increase so much in Harlow. It is
:39:52. > :39:59.going to have a really massive negative impact. Local authorities
:40:00. > :40:01.are required by law to deliver recreational and educational leisure
:40:02. > :40:07.time activities for young people. But there is a caveat. The only have
:40:08. > :40:13.to do so as far as is reasonably practicable. Three years ago, Essex
:40:14. > :40:18.county council use that caveat to cut its youth service budget from
:40:19. > :40:25.?12 million to ?5 million. If these cuts go ahead, the new budget will
:40:26. > :40:30.be just ?2 million. All of the county's youth services are under
:40:31. > :40:35.threat, including 36 youth clubs, used by 5000 young people each
:40:36. > :40:40.month. Alternative education and support for young carers could also
:40:41. > :40:45.be cut, as well as the Essex dance Theatre and the council's provision
:40:46. > :40:54.of the Princes trust. And the Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme. Across
:40:55. > :41:01.Essex, 4000 young people take part in the Duke of Edinburgh's award,
:41:02. > :41:07.like these youngsters who have just completed their expeditions. It is
:41:08. > :41:11.incredibly valuable. They get to build relationships and the
:41:12. > :41:15.community, they take part in physical activity, they learn new
:41:16. > :41:23.skills and best of all they go out on expedition and team build. It is
:41:24. > :41:26.just an amazing experience for them. The Conservative run council has
:41:27. > :41:33.faced criticism from its own party in parliament. They do remarkable
:41:34. > :41:40.work, and I cannot believe their future is uncertain because of Essex
:41:41. > :41:44.county council. The Police and Crime Commissioner has his own concerns. I
:41:45. > :41:49.am anxious about the fact that provision for youth might be cut,
:41:50. > :41:53.because I regard it as very important to keep those young people
:41:54. > :41:57.who might be on that journey towards crime, to keep them diverted from
:41:58. > :42:04.that. Youth services make quite a difference in that respect. The
:42:05. > :42:10.plans led to protests at County Hall in Chelmsford. Young people asking
:42:11. > :42:13.whether anything meaningful can be achieved on a budget that would have
:42:14. > :42:17.been cut by more than 80% in three years.
:42:18. > :42:21.Well, joining me now from Chelmsford is the leader of Essex County
:42:22. > :42:25.Council, David Finch. The budget used to be ?20 million, it's going
:42:26. > :42:30.down to ?2million after this latest round of cuts. Don't you care about
:42:31. > :42:36.youth service provision? Absolutely do care about youth services and
:42:37. > :42:43.provision, but actually we are in a very difficult position. You well
:42:44. > :42:49.know that we are faced with a ?235 million savings target over the next
:42:50. > :42:56.three years, in addition to that I have got to find 93 of that 235 next
:42:57. > :42:58.year. I have also got to look after 36,000 elderly people, either in
:42:59. > :43:04.residential homes or domiciliary care. I have got a thousand young
:43:05. > :43:07.children who are in need of our care and protection. There are huge
:43:08. > :43:11.pressures on our cost base, and it isn't just an Essex, it is across
:43:12. > :43:15.the entire country, there are pressures on our costs. If I could
:43:16. > :43:21.find a way of protecting youth service, I would do so.
:43:22. > :43:23.We heard in the film that you are required by law to provide
:43:24. > :43:26.recreational and leisure activities for young people, so you're feeling
:43:27. > :43:32.in your duty of your going to cut your services by so much? It's very
:43:33. > :43:38.easy to say we are failing in our duty. I would argue that we are not
:43:39. > :43:41.failing. We are doing many things that are ground`breaking in terms of
:43:42. > :43:49.looking after young people with poor social impact bond. I would argue ``
:43:50. > :43:52.our social impact bond. We are helping them learn the skills that
:43:53. > :43:57.would make them employable in the future. We have a scheme which is
:43:58. > :44:04.better than even the government's own scheme. The choice is very
:44:05. > :44:09.simple. I have a limited budget, I need to spend that budget in the
:44:10. > :44:15.best way possible for the greater benefit of Essex residents. You
:44:16. > :44:18.heard in the film, a young person in Harlow saying that this will lead to
:44:19. > :44:27.an increase in crime in the town, and the PCC agrees. What do you say
:44:28. > :44:36.to that? You're robbing Peter to pay all? I understand the emotion behind
:44:37. > :44:40.the Harlow young people, and I understand the concern by the Police
:44:41. > :44:48.and Crime Commissioner. We have to find savings across. We are out to
:44:49. > :44:52.consultation, that consultation does not finish until the end of this
:44:53. > :44:55.month, the 20th of this month, on the basis of the feedback that we
:44:56. > :45:02.get we will look at how we can model the services for the use of this
:45:03. > :45:05.county. But the consultation in itself is not about whether the
:45:06. > :45:09.services are being cut, it is about what services are being cut, things
:45:10. > :45:15.like the Duke of Edinburgh scheme. Surely that is counter`productive?
:45:16. > :45:19.We are not cutting anything at this point in time. What we are seeking
:45:20. > :45:24.through the consultation process is establishing exactly what it is that
:45:25. > :45:27.the use of the county values, and then how can we provide that service
:45:28. > :45:33.to the youth within a very different budget profile. RTE sending a
:45:34. > :45:40.message to young people that the book `` that they don't matter? The
:45:41. > :45:48.amount of effort and focus that we are putting into the young of Essex
:45:49. > :45:51.is paralleled around the country. I think we are absolutely concerned
:45:52. > :45:56.about the youth of Essex, that they get the best possible chances, and
:45:57. > :46:00.we put significant money into helping young people with emotional
:46:01. > :46:06.problems, on the edge of care. Young people who want to find jobs, how
:46:07. > :46:11.we're helping them train. I would not agree at all but we are doing
:46:12. > :46:18.anything which is to harm the youth of our cut `` the youth of our
:46:19. > :46:22.country. We are going to have to leave it there. Thank you very much
:46:23. > :46:28.for joining us. Sir Bob Russell, what message do you think the sense
:46:29. > :46:34.to young people? A deplorable message. Essex county council has
:46:35. > :46:39.millions of pounds in reserves, it is all a question of political will
:46:40. > :46:42.and political leadership. Essex county council once had a proud
:46:43. > :46:49.record. It is abandoning young people. You are in a position as an
:46:50. > :46:59.Essex MP to join with other MPs. Are you going to do that? Absolutely. We
:47:00. > :47:06.must value our young people. Fancy attacking your own government. Even
:47:07. > :47:13.attacking royal sponsored and backed schemes. This is quite remarkable.
:47:14. > :47:22.It reinforces my view that we should abolish Essex county council. George
:47:23. > :47:26.Freeman, what about in Norfolk? Norfolk has been subject to strong
:47:27. > :47:33.cuts as well. It is a real problem. Youngsters growing up in isolated,
:47:34. > :47:39.cut off towns, they are coming out with big debts, facing out the #
:47:40. > :47:45.facing an economy coming out from a traumatic crisis. Nobody wants to
:47:46. > :47:50.make cuts, we are all paying the price for a decade of Labour
:47:51. > :47:57.profligacy. Are you comfortable with these cuts? No. Eric Pickles has led
:47:58. > :48:08.the way with huge back`office savings. I want to see our councils
:48:09. > :48:12.drive forward, more so. Why are we still running eight chief executive
:48:13. > :48:16.'s? We should not be cutting on the front line, the most vulnerable in
:48:17. > :48:23.society. What about the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, not the most
:48:24. > :48:29.vulnerable in society? It gives a lot of young people and experience
:48:30. > :48:34.of life which sets them up for life. When I took part in the Duke of
:48:35. > :48:40.Edinburgh award scheme, I did get the gold award, it works better for
:48:41. > :48:47.me when I went for a job interview than my academic qualifications.
:48:48. > :48:56.Once the economy recovers, will they ever get the services back? Yes.
:48:57. > :48:58.Here in Norfolk county council, the Conservative administration was
:48:59. > :49:02.setting up a really bold programme so we could protect front line
:49:03. > :49:08.services. The question now is what are they going to do to manage the
:49:09. > :49:16.budget? Can they actually manage ?1 billion a year of funding? They have
:49:17. > :49:20.already cut them to this low level. The to try to get them back towards
:49:21. > :49:26.what they used to be. Thank you very much. Now, internet safety, cyber
:49:27. > :49:29.bullying and online child pornography, all issues giving rise
:49:30. > :49:31.to increasing concern, and politicians are under increasing
:49:32. > :49:35.pressure to do something about them. Tomorrow a summit will be held at
:49:36. > :49:38.Downing Street to discuss what's the best way of cleaning up the
:49:39. > :49:40.internet. Playing a major role at the conference will be an
:49:41. > :49:47.organisation from Cambridgeshire. Andrew Sinclair reports.
:49:48. > :49:51.In an office on a Cambridge research Park, four people are analysing
:49:52. > :49:56.images from the World Wide Web. This is the Internet Watch Foundation,
:49:57. > :50:02.which receives 40,000 complaints a year about pictures of alleged child
:50:03. > :50:06.abuse. So graphic as the content, the staff have to have regular
:50:07. > :50:11.counselling. They also do not want their faces shown on television. I
:50:12. > :50:15.see horrific things on a day`to`day basis. It can be disheartening to
:50:16. > :50:21.know how much content there is out there. I have got two choices, I can
:50:22. > :50:27.either be part of the solution or I can be pretending it is not there.
:50:28. > :50:33.And I know it is there, I know there is a fair amount of it out there,
:50:34. > :50:36.and I want to help. If they find a UK website hosting illegal images it
:50:37. > :50:40.can be closed down within the hour. If it is overseas, they can block it
:50:41. > :50:45.in this country, but getting the image removed can take much longer.
:50:46. > :50:50.Last year we removed just over 10,000 URLs. It is a global issue,
:50:51. > :50:55.and of people did what we did, there would be nowhere for this to hide.
:50:56. > :51:00.Our other countries taking it seriously as we are? It depends from
:51:01. > :51:07.country to country. In some countries it is just not on the
:51:08. > :51:14.agenda. I always say, it is not just a drop in the ocean, that is no
:51:15. > :51:17.reason not to do anything. Tackling child pornography will be just one
:51:18. > :51:22.of the items on the agenda for tomorrow's summit. But two other
:51:23. > :51:25.difficult issues will also feature. First of all, how do you restrict
:51:26. > :51:29.what children view on the Internet? MPs who studied this issue are
:51:30. > :51:35.clear, it is up to the industry to put in proper filters, and parents.
:51:36. > :51:39.It is a question about educating people about the measures which can
:51:40. > :51:44.be taken. And then giving them a choice so they have to make the
:51:45. > :51:47.deliberate decision. You have to accept that the material we are
:51:48. > :51:54.talking about in this case is illegal. But obviously children
:51:55. > :51:59.should be protected from it, and ultimately that would bear
:52:00. > :52:03.responsibility for parents. Then there is the worrying rise in cyber
:52:04. > :52:06.bullying among young people. The industry says it is doing all it can
:52:07. > :52:13.but it is also looking for politicians for guidance. The social
:52:14. > :52:18.and moral framework for the digital world does not exist yet. There is
:52:19. > :52:22.quite an important role for legislators to play in thinking
:52:23. > :52:26.through where are the absolute black and white rules that we need to put
:52:27. > :52:32.in place. I wish I could say that there was a magic bullet, there
:52:33. > :52:35.really isn't. We are the generation that has to think through each of
:52:36. > :52:43.these issues. The summit will announce extra funding to help this
:52:44. > :52:47.group continue its work. That is an easy way to make the Internet safer.
:52:48. > :52:53.Dealing with other aspects of this issue are far more complicated.
:52:54. > :52:57.George Freeman, you are a member of the Internet Watch Foundation, in
:52:58. > :53:01.general terms do you not think that politicians are not helping enough,
:53:02. > :53:09.they are behind the curve, and instead of volleying `` following
:53:10. > :53:15.they are `` instead of following `` instead of leading the following? My
:53:16. > :53:20.colleagues have led the way in the past year, and we have set in place
:53:21. > :53:26.a scheme agreeing with industry or protection of children within the
:53:27. > :53:31.homes, so that every device in the home can be covered by an opt out.
:53:32. > :53:37.This is leadership. No one wants is to get heavy`handed, to try and
:53:38. > :53:41.overly regulate a clamp`down. We have to protect children in a family
:53:42. > :53:44.environment from material on the Internet is that we don't want to
:53:45. > :53:48.see. I have children, I want them to be on the Internet and learning and
:53:49. > :53:53.engaging. But I want to know that they are being protected. Sir Bob
:53:54. > :53:59.Russell, how much of this should be down to the parents? Should it be
:54:00. > :54:03.down to the Internet providers? I think it is down to the Internet
:54:04. > :54:06.providers. I agree with the point is that George is making, this is
:54:07. > :54:14.technology that is way beyond my knowledge. I have the comprehension
:54:15. > :54:19.of the awfulness going on, but I value MPs like George who are ahead
:54:20. > :54:22.of the game in one sense, politically ahead of the game. But
:54:23. > :54:27.as somebody who doesn't understand the modern technology, and I put my
:54:28. > :54:35.hands up, I don't, and oldest Twitter bullying `` all of this
:54:36. > :54:42.Twitter bullying, we have to clamp`down on it, to my mind it is
:54:43. > :54:46.worse than bullying in the street. This is difficult to do any
:54:47. > :54:51.unilateral way, though. We can do everything we can, but it just goes
:54:52. > :54:55.abroad? That's true. You want to know that children can logon and do
:54:56. > :55:00.their homework, and they are safe from all of this. How do we cope
:55:01. > :55:04.with this globalisation of content online? My instinct would be, be
:55:05. > :55:09.open with children and have the conversation. I went to a school in
:55:10. > :55:11.my constituency yesterday where their policy is bringing your
:55:12. > :55:17.devices, there is Internet in the school, they can switch off all
:55:18. > :55:22.Internet access at a switch. We have to leave it there. Thank you. Well,
:55:23. > :55:25.they're back in the jungle tonight but the fall out from last year's
:55:26. > :55:32.escapade continues. All in Deborah McGurran's 60 second round up of the
:55:33. > :55:38.week. Plans for an East`West rail link
:55:39. > :55:47.have been confirmed now that funding has been confirmed. More funding
:55:48. > :55:51.from the EU, expected to improve ?60 billion for science and to research
:55:52. > :55:59.next week. MPs say a lot of the money is likely to come to a region.
:56:00. > :56:04.It is a huge amount of money, a lot of that comes into the East of
:56:05. > :56:07.England. The Conservative MP Nadine Dorries delivered a speedy apology
:56:08. > :56:11.to the House of Commons after failing to register how much money
:56:12. > :56:17.she made from her appearance on a reality TV show. I wish to apologise
:56:18. > :56:25.to the house filly and unreservedly for what was a genuinely inadvertent
:56:26. > :56:37.breach of the rules. At two of Colchester offered on eBay had no
:56:38. > :56:42.takers. `` at tour. What about this huge boost for
:56:43. > :56:48.science funding? It is great news. My message has been, East Anglia has
:56:49. > :56:54.always been treated as a rule backwater, give us the tools and we
:56:55. > :56:59.will give you the growth. This investment can unlock huge growth
:57:00. > :57:07.here. Is the space race the right thing to be spending it on?
:57:08. > :57:15.Stevenage is ahead quarters `` at headquarters of space technology. We
:57:16. > :57:23.can really create new jobs for the next 20, 30, 40 years. This spending
:57:24. > :57:30.is hugely exciting. Your wok has now taken off, there have been some
:57:31. > :57:40.takers. Yes, seven now. It is hilarious. I am not complaining. One
:57:41. > :57:51.of my political rivals gave it out, absolute ridicule, but it is
:57:52. > :57:54.brilliant. All the Roman history and the house where twinkle twinkle
:57:55. > :58:03.Little Star was written. What a bargain. It is up to ?100. We will
:58:04. > :58:05.have to leave it there. Thank you very much.
:58:06. > :58:08.That's all from us. We're back next week at our usual time but for now
:58:09. > :58:09.it's back week at our usual time but for now
:58:10. > :58:11.receiving it. We will return to this if we hear more. Thank you. Andrew,
:58:12. > :58:29.it is back to you. Who'd be an MP? It's a good
:58:30. > :58:32.question. Certainly something Mark Pritchard must have asked himself
:58:33. > :58:34.when his picture graced the front page of the Daily Telegraph, with
:58:35. > :58:38.allegations that he had offered to set up business deals overseas in
:58:39. > :58:40.return for hundreds of thousands of pounds. Mr Pritchard dismissed the
:58:41. > :58:42.claims as hurtful and wrong. He referred himself to the
:58:43. > :58:44.Parliamentary Standards Commissioner who has now said there is
:58:45. > :58:47.insufficient evidence to investigate. In a moment we'll talk
:58:48. > :58:50.to Mr Pritchard, but first let's take a look back at how the story
:58:51. > :58:55.unfurled. A Conservative MP has denied allegations that he used his
:58:56. > :58:59.Parliamentary contacts for financial gain... The daily Telegraph says
:59:00. > :59:05.Mark Pritchard offered to broker investments overseas. In a statement
:59:06. > :59:14.he said the allegations made by the Telegraph are false. Mr Pritchard
:59:15. > :59:18.was secretly filmed... What do you make of these allegations? He has
:59:19. > :59:21.referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for
:59:22. > :59:30.standards to clear his name and I suspect this story will reopen the
:59:31. > :59:38.debate about what MPs should be allowed, having business interests
:59:39. > :59:49.elsewhere. Is it not clear that you did ask for money in consultancy
:59:50. > :59:53.services? First of all I would like to apologise for the sunglasses I
:59:54. > :00:01.have had a lot of comments about that. On a serious point, these
:00:02. > :00:08.claims by the Telegraph of false. You didn't ask for ?3000? They are
:00:09. > :00:12.false, hurtful and malicious. It is known widely that I have sued the
:00:13. > :00:18.Telegraph previously. I have also been critical of their coverage of
:00:19. > :00:22.the plebgate affair, their reporting of that. I have been supportive of
:00:23. > :00:26.the cross-party Royal Charter and I know that some people in the media
:00:27. > :00:31.don't like my position on that. That is why it is malicious. I believe in
:00:32. > :00:39.a free press. That free press also has a responsibility to be fair
:00:40. > :00:43.accurate and lawful. In discussions with this business who turned out to
:00:44. > :00:49.be a Telegraph reporter, it is true that you ask for ?3000 a month
:00:50. > :00:56.consultancy fee. The point is.. That is the point. No. That video
:00:57. > :01:01.has been cut and pasted to serve the Telegraph's story. The story was
:01:02. > :01:07.that we want to get Mark Bridger, for whatever reason, at any cost. --
:01:08. > :01:11.Mark Bridger hard. I would not go down the line they were hoping I
:01:12. > :01:18.would go down. Everything I own outside of Parliament is openly
:01:19. > :01:20.declared. We are allowed to have outside witness interests. The
:01:21. > :01:25.Telegraph need to say clearly whether they accept that or they
:01:26. > :01:30.don't. I think you need to say clearly whether you asked for the
:01:31. > :01:33.money or not. You then went on to ask for ?300,000 if it was a 10
:01:34. > :01:41.million deal, you asked for 3% commission. Let me be clear, if I
:01:42. > :01:44.was asking for income in return for lobbying, or raising issues in
:01:45. > :01:49.Parliament, or setting up Parliamentary groups, or going to
:01:50. > :01:55.ministers, writing to ministers that would be completely
:01:56. > :02:00.inappropriate. I was approached by somebody to advise them on business.
:02:01. > :02:04.It is entirely proper and entirely within the rules for members of
:02:05. > :02:10.Parliament to have outside consultancies and interests. Did you
:02:11. > :02:14.or didn't you? I am answering the question in the way that I want to
:02:15. > :02:17.answer it, not in the way that fits a particular narrative. The
:02:18. > :02:21.narrative, unfortunately, of some parts of the Telegraph and to be
:02:22. > :02:26.fair, there are some very good journalists, I know there is a
:02:27. > :02:31.dispute about the direction of that paper at senior parts. Do they want
:02:32. > :02:35.to return to being a Catholic, objective newspaper or do they want
:02:36. > :02:40.to slip into the slippery slope of being an agnostic rag, looking for
:02:41. > :02:43.sensationalist headlines? Part of this has come from your membership
:02:44. > :02:51.of these all-party Parliamentary groups. You were in Malta when you
:02:52. > :02:56.are first approached, I think you were on a trip there, Hungary is
:02:57. > :03:00.another one, there is an uncomfortable overlap between your
:03:01. > :03:04.political and business interests. I have no business interests in any of
:03:05. > :03:10.those countries. Some of the country is the Telegraph mentioned, let me
:03:11. > :03:15.be clear, I have not even visited. You were boasting that you knew the
:03:16. > :03:21.Albanian Prime Minister and the Mayor of Teheran and the previous
:03:22. > :03:24.prime minister. I make no apology for making foreign trips. I think it
:03:25. > :03:29.is unfortunate we have a narrative developing in some parts of the
:03:30. > :03:33.press that if a politician goes abroad at the taxpayers expense it
:03:34. > :03:36.is wrong. If they go abroad at a host government's expense it is
:03:37. > :03:41.wrong. If they go abroad with a charity, NGO and private company,
:03:42. > :03:46.even if it is declared, it is wrong. We want people with an international
:03:47. > :03:52.perspective in Parliament. Look at this map. You are a member of 5
:03:53. > :03:56.country groups. I don't know what Canada has done not to deserve you,
:03:57. > :04:03.or Australia. 54 groups, you are a part of. You're like... This is the
:04:04. > :04:07.Mark Pritchard British Empire. That is very kind. If I had global
:04:08. > :04:15.interests that white I would not be in Parliament. No, no, no. That is
:04:16. > :04:19.the point... It is the suspicion, that you used these groups to drum
:04:20. > :04:23.up business for your consultants. Prove it, that is the trouble. These
:04:24. > :04:31.sorts of headlines, create suspicion. I am suing the
:04:32. > :04:38.Telegraph... Have you issued a writ? I expect an apology. Have you issued
:04:39. > :04:46.a writ? I have just answered your question. It is yes or no, have you
:04:47. > :04:49.issued a writ? I am in final legal discussions tomorrow about issuing a
:04:50. > :04:54.writ. You have raised something for top the fact is that is inaccurate.
:04:55. > :05:01.I am a member of 40-something Parliamentary groups, of which I
:05:02. > :05:07.make no apology. We have got 54 Let me answer the question if I may It
:05:08. > :05:12.would be very useful. There are 196 countries around the world, it is
:05:13. > :05:21.less than a quarter of the country groups on my figures. I make no
:05:22. > :05:24.apology. One of my regrets is not having visited Syria, I don't know
:05:25. > :05:29.if I am a member of the Syria group, part I should become a member, I
:05:30. > :05:33.make no apology. -- perhaps I should become. When it came to the Syria
:05:34. > :05:40.vote, I was blind sided foot of yes, we have excellent briefings. I had
:05:41. > :05:45.to make a judgement based on part knowledge with nothing beats being
:05:46. > :05:50.on the ground, as even BBC journalists recognised this week.
:05:51. > :05:52.Nothing beats being on the ground. You posted about your connections in
:05:53. > :05:56.Albania to getting a business contract. You meet these people
:05:57. > :06:02.through these all Parliamentary groups. That is where there is an
:06:03. > :06:08.unhealthy overlap. That is what the Telegraph said, let's wait and see.
:06:09. > :06:12.Look... You are a newspaperman, you know lots of people in the newspaper
:06:13. > :06:16.industry, as well as being a respected broadcaster. I am not
:06:17. > :06:20.going to prejudice my legal proceedings against the Telegraph. I
:06:21. > :06:26.make no apology. A good politician has to be local am a national and
:06:27. > :06:32.international. Hang on hang on - has to be local, national and
:06:33. > :06:35.international. We need politicians who get out of the Westminster
:06:36. > :06:38.bubble, who have a business hinterland, who keep their foot in
:06:39. > :06:45.the real world and have an international perspective. And ask
:06:46. > :06:49.for 3% commission? I have answered the question. It was a cut and
:06:50. > :06:53.pasted video, photo shopped to suit the agenda of the Telegraph. They
:06:54. > :06:56.need to get back to serious news reporting and I wish those well at
:06:57. > :07:00.the senior part of the Telegraph who want to get to those days. We look
:07:01. > :07:04.forward to the writ. Thank you. Now - there's been more good news on
:07:05. > :07:07.the economy for George Osborne this week - inflation's down, growth
:07:08. > :07:09.forecasts have been revised up and unemployment has fallen again. On
:07:10. > :07:12.Friday the former Bullingdon boy donned a head torch and went down't
:07:13. > :07:15.pit for just one of many photo opportunities ahead of the Autumn
:07:16. > :07:18.Statement, which he'll deliver in the Commons on fifth December. And,
:07:19. > :07:25.who knows, he might even take his hard hat off for that.
:07:26. > :07:35.# Going underground. # Let the boys all saying and let
:07:36. > :07:41.the boys all shout for tomorrow # Lah, lah, love, love.
:07:42. > :07:50.# I talk and talk until my head explodes.
:07:51. > :07:53.# Make this boy shout, make this boy scream.
:07:54. > :08:03.# Going underground. # Going underground.
:08:04. > :08:10.# I'm going underground. # I'm going underground.
:08:11. > :08:17.George Osborne in his heart out he probably sleeps with it on. This
:08:18. > :08:22.Autumn Statement is becoming a more important part of the political
:08:23. > :08:25.calendar for the coalition. It looks like this is where they are finally
:08:26. > :08:32.going to come up with some kind of response to Ed Miliband's game
:08:33. > :08:36.changing electricity price freeze. The idea which is mooted is they
:08:37. > :08:40.will move people's green tax on two general bills which is not an answer
:08:41. > :08:44.but cosmetically it could have apolitical impact. George Osborne is
:08:45. > :08:50.receiving a lot of representations from lobby groups, business, MPs on
:08:51. > :08:54.his own side, for tax cuts and extra bits spending and he has to spend
:08:55. > :08:57.the next two weeks reminding people of something that has been skewered
:08:58. > :09:06.by the economic recovery. This country has a fiscal deficit which
:09:07. > :09:10.is twice that of France, supposedly the crisis economy in western Europe
:09:11. > :09:12.or if you accept it will take another parliament again to
:09:13. > :09:16.eliminate this deficit, we are not even halfway through the age of
:09:17. > :09:20.austerity. He is in no position to give anything away. He has to hold
:09:21. > :09:24.the line. Danny Alexander has been useful but this is his real
:09:25. > :09:29.challenge. He is going to give stuff away. When the Autumn Statement
:09:30. > :09:33.comes away, 15 months from an election, Nick Clegg has been
:09:34. > :09:38.talking about raising the tax allowance threshold even further,
:09:39. > :09:43.talk of moving green levies of the electricity bills, he is going to
:09:44. > :09:45.give stuff away. We will get funding for free school meals that Nick
:09:46. > :09:50.Clegg mentioned in his party conference. The significance of the
:09:51. > :09:54.Autumn Statement is twice a year, a Chancellor stands up and we all look
:09:55. > :09:57.at the state of the economy. If you talk to members of the Chancellor's
:09:58. > :10:01.circle, it is interesting how nervous they are. They say, don t
:10:02. > :10:04.assume we are going to have this wonderful growth for ever, don't
:10:05. > :10:09.assume everything is fine in the eurozone. I think what would help
:10:10. > :10:15.the Chancellor is if somebody was able to see some of that humility in
:10:16. > :10:15.public. It is recognised that he was far too triumphalist
:10:16. > :10:22.speech he made on the 9th of September, when he said to Ed Balls,
:10:23. > :10:23.we have one and you cannot make an economic policy on the cost of
:10:24. > :10:36.living -- we have... Won. economic policy on the cost of
:10:37. > :10:41.people don't seem to learn from Norman Lamont's green shoots. Labour
:10:42. > :10:46.has moved from complaining there is no growth, now there is, to say
:10:47. > :10:46.has moved from complaining there is is gross but living standards are
:10:47. > :10:51.not rising. If the economy grows by nearly 3% next year, even the bank
:10:52. > :10:56.is saying it will grow by 2.8%, living standards could start to
:10:57. > :10:59.rise. It does but everybody in a difficult position politically if
:11:00. > :11:03.the economy starts growing, ironically. We need to remind
:11:04. > :11:08.ourselves that economy, the natural direction of an economy is to grow.
:11:09. > :11:13.Unless the politicians screw up Unless you have some idiot in
:11:14. > :11:17.charge! It is not a cause for the Morris dance that they seem to be
:11:18. > :11:21.doing, certainly on the Tory side. Osborne is put in a difficult
:11:22. > :11:27.position goes he will have to stop giving stuff away, he cannot push
:11:28. > :11:33.the austerity line at the same time as jangling his magical growth - he
:11:34. > :11:39.will have to start giving stuff away. It puts Labour in a difficult
:11:40. > :11:46.position, it is very unlikely that living standards will match GDP Not
:11:47. > :11:52.since 2003, GDP has been a great indicator. Wages have stagnated for
:11:53. > :11:56.ten years, food has gone up 17% energy has gone up 24%. That is a
:11:57. > :12:02.decade in which everybody has got poorer. The real sweet spot comes
:12:03. > :12:07.when wages start to outstrip inflation. It is a sweet spot and
:12:08. > :12:11.will be a huge challenge for Ed Miliband. As ever on the economy
:12:12. > :12:15.with a sweet spot, you have a danger moment because that is when the
:12:16. > :12:18.governor of the Bank of England will have to look at interest rates.
:12:19. > :12:22.Everything he was saying last week was when we move toward 7%
:12:23. > :12:26.unemployment come that is not the trigger for raising interest rates,
:12:27. > :12:31.it is the moment when we look at it. Everything was saying he did not
:12:32. > :12:33.want to do that. When do you anticipate wages outstripping
:12:34. > :12:40.inflation? It hasn't happened for so long. The second half of next year.
:12:41. > :12:43.Wages and prices are not the sole measure of living standards, there
:12:44. > :12:46.are broader measures which no one seems willing to use.
:12:47. > :12:50.That's all for today. The Daily Politics will be back at tomorrow at
:12:51. > :12:53.midday on BBC Two and I will back here on BBC One at 11:00am next
:12:54. > :12:58.week. Remember if it's Sunday, it's the Sunday Politics.