Browse content similar to 17/11/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics. | :00:36. | :00:39. | |
Downing Street announces an inquiry into allegations of hardball tactics | :00:40. | :00:42. | |
and intimidation by unions in industrial disputes. That's our top | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
story. Thousands dead. Hundreds of | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
thousands without homes. Millions affected. What is Britain doing to | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
help the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan? We'll ask | :00:57. | :00:58. | |
International Development Secretary Justine Greening. | :00:59. | :01:03. | |
Winter is coming and so, it seems, is another crisis in England's | :01:04. | :01:06. | |
hospitals. I'll be asking the Shadow Health Secretary how he'd put a stop | :01:07. | :01:07. | |
to Here in the East, an organisation | :01:08. | :01:14. | |
from Cambridge leading the fight to clean up the internet. | :01:15. | :01:17. | |
And claims that council cuts could lead to crime as youth services | :01:18. | :01:18. | |
And claims that council cuts could fatalities on the capital's streets, | :01:19. | :01:23. | |
and renewed calls to get lorries off the roads in peak hours. | :01:24. | :01:31. | |
With me, the best and brightest political panel that money can buy. | :01:32. | :01:38. | |
Janan Ganesh, Nick Watt and this week, Zoe Williams, who'll be | :01:39. | :01:40. | |
tweeting their thoughts throughout the programme. | :01:41. | :01:46. | |
The Government has announced a review to investigate what the Prime | :01:47. | :01:48. | |
Minister has called "industrial intimidation" by trade union | :01:49. | :02:00. | |
activists. Bruce Carr QC will chair a panel to examine allegations of | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
the kind of tactics that came to light during the Grangemouth | :02:05. | :02:06. | |
dispute, when the Unite union took their protests - replete with a | :02:07. | :02:09. | |
giant rat - outside the family homes of the firms' bosses. Earlier this | :02:10. | :02:15. | |
morning the Cabinet office minister, Francis Maude spoke to the BBC and | :02:16. | :02:22. | |
this is what he had to say. To look at whether the law currently works | :02:23. | :02:25. | |
and see if it is ineffective in preventing the kind of intimidatory | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
activity that was alleged to have taken place around range mouth | :02:31. | :02:40. | |
during the previous disputes -- Grangemouth. We make no presumptions | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
at the beginning of this. I do think it is a responsible thing for the | :02:46. | :02:48. | |
government to establish what happened and really do a proper | :02:49. | :02:52. | |
review into whether the law is adequate to meet the needs. That was | :02:53. | :03:00. | |
Francis Maude. This is a purely political move, isn't it? Unite did | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
this a couple of times, it is hardly happening all over the country but | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
the government want to say, we are prepared to investigate Unite | :03:10. | :03:15. | |
properly, Labour isn't. This seemed a lot worse when I thought it was a | :03:16. | :03:19. | |
real rat. I thought it was a giant dead rat. I am not sure if you know | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
much about rats but real rats are not this big, even the ones in | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
London. The thing is, obviously it is naked politics but I think it is | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
more intelligent than it looks. They are trying to taint Miliband as a | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
week union puppet and that doesn't really wash. They hammer away with | :03:41. | :03:45. | |
it and it might wash for some people. But it really castrates | :03:46. | :03:51. | |
Miliband in the important issues he has to tackle. Zero hours, living | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
wage, all of those things in which he needs to be in concert with the | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
unions, and to use their expertise. He is making them absolutely toxic | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
to go anywhere near. It keeps the Unite story alive, have to kill -- | :04:08. | :04:18. | |
particularly since Mr Miller band is under pressure to reopen the | :04:19. | :04:26. | |
investigation into what Unite are up to -- Mr Miliband. They are | :04:27. | :04:36. | |
frustrated, not only at the BBC but the media generally at what they | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
think is a lack of coverage. I see the political rationale from that | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
respect. There is a risk. There are union members who either vote Tory | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
or are open to the idea of voting Tory. All Lib Dem. If the party | :04:50. | :04:56. | |
comes across as too zealous in as -- its antipathy, there is an electoral | :04:57. | :05:10. | |
consequence. Ed Miliband has been careful to keep a distance. Yes | :05:11. | :05:14. | |
they depend on vast amounts of money. When Len McCluskey had a real | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
go at the Blairites, Ed Miliband was straight out there with a very | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
strong statement. Essentially Len McCluskey wanted Blairites in the | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
shadow cabinet sacked and Ed Miliband was keen to distance | :05:28. | :05:30. | |
himself or for that is why it is not quite sticking. Another story in the | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
Sunday papers this morning, the Mail on Sunday got hold of some e-mails. | :05:37. | :05:42. | |
When I saw the headline I thought it was a huge cache of e-mails, it | :05:43. | :05:47. | |
turns out to be a couple. They peel away the cover on the relationship | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
between Ed Miliband and Ed Balls, with some of Ed Miliband's cohorts | :05:52. | :05:58. | |
describing what Mr balls is trying to do as a nightmare. How bad are | :05:59. | :06:06. | |
the relations? They are pretty bad and these e-mails confirm the | :06:07. | :06:09. | |
biggest open signal in Westminster, which is that relations are pretty | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
tense, -- open secret. That Ed Miliband doesn't feel that Ed Balls | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
is acknowledging the economy has grown that Labour needs to admit to | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
past mistakes. The sort of great open signal is confirmed. On a scale | :06:24. | :06:31. | |
of 1-10, assuming that Blair-Brown was ten. I think it is between six | :06:32. | :06:38. | |
and seven. They occupy this joint suite of offices that George Cameron | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
and -- David Cameron and George Osborne had. It is not just on the | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
economy that there were tensions, there were clearly tensions over | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
HS2, Ed Balls put a huge question over it at his conference. There | :06:54. | :06:59. | |
will be more tensions when it comes to the third runway because my | :07:00. | :07:01. | |
information is that Mr balls wants to do it and Ed Miliband almost | :07:02. | :07:07. | |
resigned over it when he was in government. I don't think Ed | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
Miliband is thinking very politically because he has tried | :07:13. | :07:15. | |
live without Ed Balls and that is not tenable either. -- life without. | :07:16. | :07:21. | |
He has defined a way of making it work. That is where Tony Blair had | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
the edge on any modern politician. He didn't want to make Ed Balls his | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
Shadow Chancellor, he had to. Somebody said to him, if you make Ed | :07:31. | :07:34. | |
Balls Shadow Chancellor, that will be the last decision you take as | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
leader of the Labour Party. Is it as bad? I was surprised at how tame the | :07:39. | :07:56. | |
e-mails were. At the FT it is compulsory, one French word per | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
sentence! To call him a nightmare, compared to what they are willing to | :08:01. | :08:06. | |
say in briefings, conversations bits of frustrations they express | :08:07. | :08:08. | |
verbally come what is documented in the e-mails is actually pretty | :08:09. | :08:14. | |
light. It has been a grim week for the people of the Philippines as | :08:15. | :08:17. | |
they count the cost of the devastation wrought by Typhoon | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
Haiyan. HMS Daring has just arrived near the worst hit areas - part of | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
Britain's contribution to bring aid to the country. | :08:26. | :08:31. | |
It has been one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the | :08:32. | :08:34. | |
Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan hit the country nine days ago, leaving | :08:35. | :08:37. | |
devastation in its wake. The numbers involved are shocking. The official | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
death toll is over 3600 people, with many thousands more unaccounted for. | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
More than half a million people have lost their homes and the UN | :08:49. | :08:51. | |
estimates 11 million have been affected. David Cameron announced on | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
Friday that the UK government is to give an extra ?30 million in aid, | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
taking the total British figure ?250 million. An RAF Sea 17 aircraft | :09:01. | :09:06. | |
landed yesterday with equipment to help aid workers get too hard to | :09:07. | :09:12. | |
reach areas. HMS Illustrious is on its way and due to arrive next | :09:13. | :09:15. | |
weekend. The British public have once again dipped into their pockets | :09:16. | :09:23. | |
and given generously. They have given more than ?30 million to the | :09:24. | :09:27. | |
Disasters Emergency Committee. The International Development | :09:28. | :09:29. | |
Secretary, Justine Greening, joins me now for the Sunday Interview | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
Good morning, Secretary of State. How much of the ?50 million that the | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
government has allocated has got through so far? All of it has landed | :09:38. | :09:43. | |
on the ground now. HMS Daring has turned up, that will be able to | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
start getting help out to some of those more outlying islands that | :09:48. | :09:51. | |
have been hard to reach. We have seen Save the Children and Oxfam | :09:52. | :09:56. | |
really being able to get aid out on the ground. We have a plane taking | :09:57. | :10:01. | |
off today that will not read just carrying out more equipment to help | :10:02. | :10:05. | |
clear the roads but will also have their staff on board, too. We have | :10:06. | :10:11. | |
?50 million of aid actually on the ground? We instantly chartered | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
flights directly from Dubai where we have preprepared human Terry and | :10:18. | :10:24. | |
supplies, and started humanity work -- humanitarian supplies. | :10:25. | :10:31. | |
A lot of it has now arrived. I think we have done a huge amount so far. | :10:32. | :10:38. | |
We have gone beyond just providing humanitarian supplies, to getting | :10:39. | :10:43. | |
the Royal Air Force involved. They have helped us to get equipment out | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
there quickly. We have HMS Illustrious sailing over there now. | :10:48. | :10:52. | |
Why has that taken so long? It was based in the Gulf and is not going | :10:53. | :10:55. | |
to get there until two weeks after the storm first hit and that is the | :10:56. | :10:59. | |
one ship we have with lots of helicopters. The first decision we | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
took was to make sure we could get the fastest vessel out there that | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
was able to help HMS Daring. HMS Illustrious was just finishing an | :11:10. | :11:12. | |
exercise and planning to start to head back towards the UK. We have | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
said to not do that, and diverted it. Shouldn't it have happened more | :11:17. | :11:22. | |
quickly? We took the decisions as fast as we were able to, you can't | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
just turn a big warship around like the HMS Illustrious. We made sure we | :11:27. | :11:31. | |
took those decisions and that is while it will be taking over from | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
HMS Daring come and that is why HMS Daring is ready there. It will be | :11:36. | :11:41. | |
able to provide key support and expertise that has not been there so | :11:42. | :11:45. | |
far. The US Navy is doing the heavy lifting here. The US Navy had the | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
USS Washington, there is an aircraft carrier, 80 planes, 5000 personnel | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
and they have the fleet, they are doing the real work. We obviously | :11:57. | :11:58. | |
helping but the Americans are taking the lead. It is a big international | :11:59. | :12:03. | |
effort. Countries like the US and the UK, that have a broader ability | :12:04. | :12:08. | |
to support that goes beyond simply call humanitarian supplies -- have | :12:09. | :12:16. | |
made sure we have brought our logistics knowledge, we have sent | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
out our naval vessels. It shows we are working across government to | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
respond to this crisis. Why does only just over 4% of your aid budget | :12:27. | :12:33. | |
go on emergency disaster and response? A lot depends on what | :12:34. | :12:38. | |
crises hit in any given year. We have done a huge amount, responding | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
to the crisis in Syria, the conflict there and the fact we have 2 million | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
refugees who have fled the country. We are part of an international | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
effort in supporting them. Shouldn't we beginning more money to that | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
rather than some of the other programmes where it is harder to see | :12:57. | :13:00. | |
the results question of if we were to give more money to the refugees, | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
it would be a visible result. We could see an improvement in the | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
lives of children, men and women. What we need to do is alongside that | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
is stop those situations from happening in the first place. A lot | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
of our development spend is helping countries to stay stable. Look at | :13:21. | :13:23. | |
some of the work we are doing in Somalia, much more sensible. Not | :13:24. | :13:29. | |
just from an immigration but there is a threat perspective. There is a | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
lot of terrorism coming from Somalia. You only have to look at | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
Kenya recently to see that. Which is why you talk about what we do with | :13:40. | :13:45. | |
the rest of the spend. It is why it is responsible to work with the | :13:46. | :13:48. | |
government of Somalia. Should we give more, bigger part of the budget | :13:49. | :13:55. | |
to disaster relief or not? I think we get it about right, we have to be | :13:56. | :14:00. | |
flexible and we are. This Philippine relief is on top of the work in | :14:01. | :14:06. | |
Syria. Where can you show me a correlation between us giving aid to | :14:07. | :14:09. | |
some failed nation, or nearly failed nation, and that cutting down on | :14:10. | :14:15. | |
terrorism? If you look at the work we have done in Pakistan, a huge | :14:16. | :14:18. | |
amount of work. Some of it short-term. It is written by | :14:19. | :14:25. | |
terrorism. That is -- ridden by terrorism. That is not going to fix | :14:26. | :14:32. | |
it self in a sense. Look at the work that we do in investing in | :14:33. | :14:41. | |
education. The things that little girls like Malala talk about as | :14:42. | :14:49. | |
being absolutely key. We are ramping up our aid to Pakistan, it will be | :14:50. | :14:55. | |
close to half ?1 billion by the time of the election. Why should British | :14:56. | :15:00. | |
taxpayers be giving half ?1 billion to a country where only 0.5% of | :15:01. | :15:08. | |
people in Pakistan pay income tax, and 70% of their own MPs don't pay | :15:09. | :15:16. | |
income tax. It is a good point and that is why we have been working | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
with their tax revenue authority to help them increase that and push | :15:22. | :15:31. | |
forward the tax reform. You are right, and I have setup a team that | :15:32. | :15:37. | |
will go out and work with many of these countries so they can raise | :15:38. | :15:41. | |
their own revenues. You really think you will raise the amount of tax by | :15:42. | :15:55. | |
sending out the British HRM see How many troops I we sending out to | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
protect them? They don't need troops. We make sure that we have a | :16:01. | :16:07. | |
duty of care alongside our staff, but we have to respond to any crisis | :16:08. | :16:18. | |
like the Philippines, and alongside other countries we have two work | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
alongside them so that they can reinvest in their own public | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
services. If they can create their own taxes, will we stop paying aid? | :16:29. | :16:34. | |
We need to look at that but the new Pakistan Government has been very | :16:35. | :16:40. | |
clear it is a priority and we will be helping them in pursuing that. | :16:41. | :16:48. | |
Let me show you a picture. Who are these young women? I don't know I'm | :16:49. | :16:55. | |
sure you are about to tell me. They are the Ethiopian Spice Girls and | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
I'm surprised you don't know because they have only managed to become so | :17:00. | :17:06. | |
famous because your department has financed them to the tune of ?4 | :17:07. | :17:12. | |
million. All of the work we do with women on the ground, making sure | :17:13. | :17:15. | |
they have a voice in their local communities, making sure they have | :17:16. | :17:22. | |
some control over what happens to their own bodies in terms of | :17:23. | :17:30. | |
tackling FGM, female genital mutilation... Did you know your | :17:31. | :17:36. | |
department has spent ?4 million on the Ethiopian Spice Girls? Yes, I | :17:37. | :17:44. | |
do, and we have to work with girls and show them there is a life ahead | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
of them with opportunity and potential that goes beyond what many | :17:50. | :17:52. | |
of them will experience, which includes early and forced marriage. | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
It is part of the work we do with local communities to change | :17:59. | :18:09. | |
attitudes everything you have just said is immeasurable, and they | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
broadcast on a radio station that doesn't reach most of the country so | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
it cannot have the impact. It only reaches 20 million people and the | :18:19. | :18:26. | |
project has been condemned saying there were serious inefficiencies. | :18:27. | :18:33. | |
That aid report was done a while ago now, and it was talking about the | :18:34. | :18:37. | |
project when it first got going and a lot of improvements have happened | :18:38. | :18:42. | |
since. I would go back to the point that we are working in very | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
difficult environments where we are trying to get longer term change on | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
the ground and that means working directly with communities but also | :18:51. | :18:54. | |
investing for the long-term, investing in some of these girls | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
start changing attitudes in them and their communities. Why does the | :19:01. | :19:06. | |
British taxpayers spend ?5 million on a Bangladesh version of Question | :19:07. | :19:18. | |
Time? We work with the BBC to make sure we can get accountabilities... | :19:19. | :19:24. | |
That is bigger then the BBC Question Time Normal -- budget. That includes | :19:25. | :19:45. | |
the cost of David Dimbleby's tattoo! We are working to improve | :19:46. | :19:51. | |
people's prospects but also we are working to improve their ability to | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
hold their governments to account so that when they are not getting | :19:56. | :19:58. | |
services on the ground, they have ways they can raise those concerns | :19:59. | :20:02. | |
with the people who are there to deliver services for them. In your | :20:03. | :20:09. | |
own personal view, should the next Conservative Government, if there is | :20:10. | :20:16. | |
one, should you continue to ring fence spending on foreign aid? But | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
it is critical that if we are going to spend 7.7% of our national | :20:21. | :20:26. | |
income, we should make sure it is in our national interest and that means | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
having a clear approach to humanitarian responses, in keeping | :20:32. | :20:35. | |
the country safe, and a clearer approach on helping drive economic | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
development and jobs so there is a long-term end of the dependency Do | :20:41. | :20:47. | |
you believe in an shrine in the percentage of our GDP that goes on | :20:48. | :20:54. | |
foreign aid in law? Yes, and that is a coalition agreement. There have | :20:55. | :21:01. | |
been a lot of agreements that you are sceptical about ring fencing. We | :21:02. | :21:06. | |
are focused on shaking up the economy and improving our public | :21:07. | :21:16. | |
finances. Why haven't you done that? At the end of the day we will be | :21:17. | :21:25. | |
accountable but we are committed to doing that. You are running out of | :21:26. | :21:32. | |
time, will you do it? I hope we can find the Parliamentary time, but | :21:33. | :21:37. | |
even if we don't, we have acted as if that law is in place and we have | :21:38. | :21:45. | |
already met 0.7% commitment. If you are British voter that doesn't | :21:46. | :21:48. | |
believe that we should enshrine that in by law, which means that with a | :21:49. | :21:55. | |
growing economy foreign aid will rise by definition, and if you think | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
we should be spending less money on the Ethiopian Spice Girls, for whom | :22:01. | :22:04. | |
should you wrote in the next election? I think we have a very | :22:05. | :22:11. | |
sensible approach. I don't know what the various party manifestoes.. The | :22:12. | :22:18. | |
only party who thinks we shouldn't be doing this is UKIP. I think you | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
have to look at the response to both the Philippines crisis and Children | :22:24. | :22:37. | |
In Need. Of all the steps we are taking to get the country back on | :22:38. | :22:41. | |
track, it shows the British people will respond to need when they need | :22:42. | :22:47. | |
it and it is one of the things that makes Britain's special. | :22:48. | :22:54. | |
Thank you. "It's always winter but never Christmas" - that's how | :22:55. | :22:56. | |
doctors describe life inside accident and emergency. The College | :22:57. | :22:58. | |
of Emergency Medicine have warned that this year could bring the | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
"worst crisis on record". If that dire prediction comes, expect a | :23:04. | :23:05. | |
spring of political recriminations, but how prepared are the NHS in | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
England? And what do they make of this autumnal speculation? Giles has | :23:11. | :23:17. | |
been to Leeds to find out. This winter has already come to our | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
hospitals. It had an official start date, November the 3rd. That is when | :23:22. | :23:31. | |
weekly updates are delivered to the NHS's most senior planners, alerting | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
them to any sudden changes in patient numbers coming in. Where do | :23:36. | :23:43. | |
they numbers register most then A They are the barometer for what | :23:44. | :23:49. | |
is going on everywhere else, and they are the pressure point, so if | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
the system is beginning to struggle then it is in the A department | :23:55. | :23:59. | |
that we see the problems. It is not that the problems are the A | :24:00. | :24:06. | |
departments, but they are the place where it all comes together. Plans | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
to tackle those problems start being drawn up in May and they look at | :24:13. | :24:17. | |
trends, even taking notice of any flu epidemics in New Zealand. They | :24:18. | :24:30. | |
also look at the amount of bets But the weather, economic realities | :24:31. | :24:34. | |
structural reforms, and changes to the general health of the | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
population, are all factors they have to consider. We get huge | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
amounts of information through the winter in order to help the NHS be | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
the best it can be, but we had to redouble our efforts this year | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
because we expected to be a difficult winter. We know the NHS is | :24:54. | :24:59. | |
stretched so we are working hard to be as good as we can be. That means | :25:00. | :25:05. | |
they are looking at winter staffing levels, plans to ask for help from | :25:06. | :25:12. | |
neighbouring hospitals, and dovetailing help with GP surgeries, | :25:13. | :25:16. | |
and still having the ability to move up an extra gear, a rehearsed | :25:17. | :25:23. | |
emergency plan if the NHS had to face a major disease pandemic. You | :25:24. | :25:29. | |
spend any time in any of our hospitals and you realise the NHS | :25:30. | :25:33. | |
knows that winter is coming and they are making plans, but you also get a | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
palpable feeling amongst health workers across the entire system | :25:38. | :25:42. | |
that they do get fed up of being used as a political football. | :25:43. | :25:48. | |
Doctors and all health care professionals are frustrated about | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
the politics that surrounds the NHS in health care. They go to work to | :25:53. | :25:57. | |
treat patients as best as they can, and the political knock-about does | :25:58. | :26:03. | |
not help anyone. I find it frustrating when there is a | :26:04. | :26:07. | |
commentary that suggests the NHS does not planned, when it is | :26:08. | :26:13. | |
surprised by winter, and wherever that comes from it is hard to take, | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
knowing how much we do nationally and how much our hard working front | :26:18. | :26:28. | |
line staff are doing. When the Coalition have recently tried to | :26:29. | :26:35. | |
open up the NHS to be a more independent body, it is clear the | :26:36. | :26:41. | |
NHS feel they have had an unhealthy dose of political wrangling between | :26:42. | :26:47. | |
parties on policy. The NHS is not infallible or making any guarantees, | :26:48. | :26:52. | |
but they seem confident that they and their patients can survive the | :26:53. | :26:54. | |
winter. Joining me now from Salford in the | :26:55. | :26:57. | |
Shadow Health Secretary, Andy Burnham. Tell me this, if you were | :26:58. | :27:08. | |
health secretary now, you just took over in an emergency election, what | :27:09. | :27:15. | |
would you do to avoid another winter crisis? I would immediately halt the | :27:16. | :27:22. | |
closure of NHS walk-in centres. We heard this week that around one in | :27:23. | :27:28. | |
four walk-in centres are closed so it makes no sense whatsoever for the | :27:29. | :27:32. | |
Government to allow the continued closure of them. I would put nurses | :27:33. | :27:38. | |
back on the end of phones and restore an NHS direct style service. | :27:39. | :27:44. | |
The new 111 service is not in a position to provide help to people | :27:45. | :27:51. | |
this winter. I think the time has come to rethink how the NHS care is | :27:52. | :27:56. | |
particularly for older people so I propose the full integration of | :27:57. | :28:00. | |
health and social care. It cannot make any sense any more to have this | :28:01. | :28:06. | |
approach where we cut social care and let elderly people drift to | :28:07. | :28:10. | |
hospitals in greater numbers. We have two rethink it as a whole | :28:11. | :28:19. | |
service. So you would repeal some of the Tory reforms and move | :28:20. | :28:23. | |
commissioning to local authorities so the NHS should brace itself for | :28:24. | :28:29. | |
another major top-down health reorganisation? No, unlike Andrew | :28:30. | :28:34. | |
Lansley I will work with the organisations ie inherit. He could | :28:35. | :28:45. | |
work with primary care trusts but he turned it upside down when it needed | :28:46. | :28:50. | |
stability. I will not do that but I will repeal the health and social | :28:51. | :29:04. | |
care act because last week we heard that hospitals and health services | :29:05. | :29:08. | |
cannot get on and make sensible merger collaborations because of | :29:09. | :29:12. | |
this nonsense now that the NHS is bound by competition law. Let me get | :29:13. | :29:18. | |
your views on a number of ideas that have been floated either by the | :29:19. | :29:22. | |
press or the Coalition. We haven't got much time. Do you welcome the | :29:23. | :29:32. | |
plan to bring back named GPs for over 75s? Yes, but it has got harder | :29:33. | :29:40. | |
to get the GP appointment under this Government because David Cameron | :29:41. | :29:43. | |
scrapped the 48-hour guarantee that Tony Blair brought in. He was | :29:44. | :29:49. | |
challenged in the 2005 election about the difficulty of getting a GP | :29:50. | :29:54. | |
appointment, and Tony Blair brought in the commitment that people should | :29:55. | :29:58. | |
be able to get that within 48 hours. That has now been scrapped. | :29:59. | :30:05. | |
Do you welcome the idea of allowing everyone to choose their own GP | :30:06. | :30:09. | |
surgery even if it is not in our traditional catchment area? I | :30:10. | :30:15. | |
proposed that just before the last election, so yes. Do you welcome the | :30:16. | :30:21. | |
idea of how a practice is being rated being a matter of public | :30:22. | :30:26. | |
record, and of us knowing how much, at least from the NHS, our GP earns? | :30:27. | :30:32. | |
Of course, every political party supports transparency in the NHS. | :30:33. | :30:36. | |
More information for the public of that kind is a good thing. Do you | :30:37. | :30:41. | |
welcome this plan to make it will form the collect in an NHS hospital | :30:42. | :30:48. | |
-- make wilful neglect a criminal offence. It is important to say you | :30:49. | :30:53. | |
can't pick and mix these recommendations, you can't say we | :30:54. | :30:57. | |
will have that one and not the others. It was a balanced package | :30:58. | :31:01. | |
that Sir Robert Francis put forward. My message is that it must be | :31:02. | :31:05. | |
permitted in full. If we are to learn the lessons, the whole package | :31:06. | :31:10. | |
must be addressed, and that includes safe staffing levels across the NHS. | :31:11. | :31:14. | |
Staff have a responsible to two patients at the government also has | :31:15. | :31:19. | |
responsible at T2 NHS staff and it should not let them work in | :31:20. | :31:26. | |
understaffed, unsafe conditions -- a responsibility to NHS staff. Is | :31:27. | :31:42. | |
there a part of the 2004 agreements that you regret and should be | :31:43. | :31:47. | |
undone? A lot of myths have been built up about the contract. When it | :31:48. | :31:51. | |
came in, there was a huge shortage of GPs across the country. Some | :31:52. | :31:57. | |
communities struggle to recruit This myth that the government have | :31:58. | :32:02. | |
built, that the 2004 GP contract is responsible for the AM decries is, | :32:03. | :32:08. | |
it is spin of the worst possible kind -- the A crisis. You would | :32:09. | :32:16. | |
redo that contract? It was redone under our time in government and | :32:17. | :32:20. | |
change to make it better value for money. GPs should be focused on | :32:21. | :32:23. | |
improving the health of their patients and that is a very good | :32:24. | :32:28. | |
principle. Not so great if you can't get 24-hour access. I agree with | :32:29. | :32:34. | |
that. We brought in evening and weekend opening for GPs. That is | :32:35. | :32:39. | |
another thing that has gone in reverse under Mr Cameron. It is much | :32:40. | :32:43. | |
harder to get a GP appointment under him and that is one of the reasons | :32:44. | :32:49. | |
why A is an oppressor. -- under pressure. What do you make of the | :32:50. | :32:56. | |
review into intimidatory tactics by unions? If there has been | :32:57. | :33:02. | |
intimidation, it is unacceptable, and that should apply to unions as | :33:03. | :33:09. | |
well as employers. Was Unite wrong to turn up and demonstrate? I don't | :33:10. | :33:14. | |
know the details, this review will look into that presumably. I need | :33:15. | :33:18. | |
reassurance that this is not a pretty cool call by Mr Cameron on | :33:19. | :33:22. | |
the designed to appear near the election -- that this is not a | :33:23. | :33:28. | |
political call. Are you sponsored by unite? No. Do you get any money from | :33:29. | :33:41. | |
Unite? No. What have you done wrong? It seems others are getting money | :33:42. | :33:49. | |
from Unite. Can I tell you what I think is the scandal of British | :33:50. | :33:53. | |
party political funding, two health care companies have given ?1.5 | :33:54. | :33:57. | |
million in donations to the Tory party, they have ?1.5 billion in NHS | :33:58. | :34:04. | |
contracts. I wonder why you don t spend much time talking about that | :34:05. | :34:10. | |
and obsess over trade union funding. We are happy to talk about that We | :34:11. | :34:17. | |
see from e-mails that Mr Miliband's closest advisers regard Mr Ed Balls | :34:18. | :34:22. | |
as a bit of a nightmare, do you see a bit of a nightmare about him as | :34:23. | :34:27. | |
well? I don't at all, he is a very good friend. I can't believe that | :34:28. | :34:31. | |
you are talking about those e-mails on a national political programme. | :34:32. | :34:35. | |
My goodness, you obviously scraping the barrel today. I have been in | :34:36. | :34:40. | |
front-line labour politics for 0 years. I can't remember the front | :34:41. | :34:44. | |
bench and the wider party being as united as it is today and it is a | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
great credit to Ed Miliband and Ed Balls. We are going into a general | :34:49. | :34:52. | |
election and we are going to get rid of a pretty disastrous coalition | :34:53. | :34:57. | |
government. It was worth spending a few seconds to establish your not | :34:58. | :35:00. | |
having nightmares. Thank you for joining me. | :35:01. | :35:03. | |
It's just gone 11:30am. You're watching the Sunday Politics. Coming | :35:04. | :35:06. | |
up in just over 20 minutes, I'll be talking to the MP accused of using | :35:07. | :35:17. | |
Hello and welcome to the local part of the programme, I'm Etholle | :35:18. | :35:22. | |
George. Coming up: Mis`spent youth ` what's the cost of cutting local | :35:23. | :35:30. | |
services for teenagers? I don't know what is going to happen, the latest | :35:31. | :35:35. | |
crib `` the rate of criminality is so much higher. | :35:36. | :35:38. | |
Getting tough online. Calls for MPs to do more to stop internet abuse. | :35:39. | :35:44. | |
The social and moral framework of the digital world does not exist | :35:45. | :35:48. | |
yet, so there is quite an important role for legislators to play. | :35:49. | :35:52. | |
And the EU has ?60 billion up for grabs for science and technology ` | :35:53. | :35:56. | |
with the East leading the way. But first, our guests for this week, | :35:57. | :35:59. | |
George Freeman the Conservative MP for Mid Norfolk answer Bob Russell | :36:00. | :36:02. | |
the Liberal Democrat MP for Colchester. And I'd like to start in | :36:03. | :36:06. | |
Colchester again this week where the General Hospital has now officially | :36:07. | :36:09. | |
been placed in special measures over allegations that staff were | :36:10. | :36:11. | |
"bullied" into falsifying details about cancer waiting times. In a | :36:12. | :36:18. | |
public meeting this week the hospital tried to reassure patients. | :36:19. | :36:25. | |
My Gran had a long time before receiving treatment, too long, that | :36:26. | :36:31. | |
they should have done a lot better, it should not have been three | :36:32. | :36:34. | |
months, it should have been the two weeks when she was first told, not | :36:35. | :36:38. | |
three months later. And now it is becoming inoperable and incurable. | :36:39. | :36:48. | |
Sir Bob Russell, you keep saying this is a good hospital, they used | :36:49. | :36:54. | |
all stand by that? It is not acceptable what has gone on, it is | :36:55. | :36:59. | |
devastating, there is no excuses. The commission should have put the | :37:00. | :37:01. | |
hospital into special measures on day one, they should not have | :37:02. | :37:09. | |
waited, prolonging it. The hospital, write across`the`board, people can | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
have confidence in. We need to come across where the problem is. The | :37:15. | :37:18. | |
Care Quality Commission has identified... When the hospital was | :37:19. | :37:24. | |
in trouble over mortality rates, you came out very strongly saying, you | :37:25. | :37:30. | |
stood by the hospital. Should you not now be joining the call for | :37:31. | :37:36. | |
resignations? No, I am not quick to join that sort of call. Trying to | :37:37. | :37:42. | |
link the two is not helpful, and the hospital did not go into special | :37:43. | :37:46. | |
measures, it was looked at, it was not put in special measures. As a | :37:47. | :37:50. | |
result of the review, the whistle`blower, we should thank him | :37:51. | :37:55. | |
or her, identified this. We mustn't blacken the whole hospital. Briefly, | :37:56. | :38:07. | |
does it so good hospital to you? I think there is a general point here, | :38:08. | :38:10. | |
the public are beginning to want to see public services working for | :38:11. | :38:17. | |
them. The data release, we are changing the culture here. The | :38:18. | :38:21. | |
public are starting to look at the NHS and seeing it as our NHS, we | :38:22. | :38:26. | |
fund, and I think that is a good thing. Thank you. We've all seen | :38:27. | :38:37. | |
them hanging around outside shops, young people with nowhere to go. | :38:38. | :38:40. | |
Well, their number is likely to grow now there are plans to close even | :38:41. | :38:44. | |
more youth clubs as budgets are slashed. In the East, according to | :38:45. | :38:47. | |
figures from the House of Commons, between 2010 and 2012 the whole of | :38:48. | :38:51. | |
youth service budgets have been reduced by nearly ?20 million. All | :38:52. | :38:54. | |
but two of our councils have made cuts ` with Norfolk losing ?8.5 | :38:55. | :38:57. | |
million. And Cambridgeshire has already made savings of ?1.8 million | :38:58. | :39:00. | |
and has just agreed another ?350,000 cut. Now Essex is conducting a | :39:01. | :39:08. | |
consultation on part of its youth services to make another ?3 million | :39:09. | :39:13. | |
of savings over the next two years. Here's Tom Barton. | :39:14. | :39:22. | |
This youth club has only been open for three years, and already it is | :39:23. | :39:26. | |
facing closure, used as a youth club by local youngsters, it also houses | :39:27. | :39:32. | |
a sexual health clinic, support services and a group of teenage | :39:33. | :39:37. | |
parents. Harlow has loads of trouble with young people, and the youth | :39:38. | :39:42. | |
support will just go away, and I do not know what is going to happen, | :39:43. | :39:45. | |
the rate of criminality will increase so much in Harlow. It is | :39:46. | :39:51. | |
going to have a really massive negative impact. Local authorities | :39:52. | :39:59. | |
are required by law to deliver recreational and educational leisure | :40:00. | :40:01. | |
time activities for young people. But there is a caveat. The only have | :40:02. | :40:07. | |
to do so as far as is reasonably practicable. Three years ago, Essex | :40:08. | :40:13. | |
county council use that caveat to cut its youth service budget from | :40:14. | :40:18. | |
?12 million to ?5 million. If these cuts go ahead, the new budget will | :40:19. | :40:25. | |
be just ?2 million. All of the county's youth services are under | :40:26. | :40:30. | |
threat, including 36 youth clubs, used by 5000 young people each | :40:31. | :40:35. | |
month. Alternative education and support for young carers could also | :40:36. | :40:40. | |
be cut, as well as the Essex dance Theatre and the council's provision | :40:41. | :40:45. | |
of the Princes trust. And the Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme. Across | :40:46. | :40:54. | |
Essex, 4000 young people take part in the Duke of Edinburgh's award, | :40:55. | :41:01. | |
like these youngsters who have just completed their expeditions. It is | :41:02. | :41:07. | |
incredibly valuable. They get to build relationships and the | :41:08. | :41:11. | |
community, they take part in physical activity, they learn new | :41:12. | :41:15. | |
skills and best of all they go out on expedition and team build. It is | :41:16. | :41:23. | |
just an amazing experience for them. The Conservative run council has | :41:24. | :41:26. | |
faced criticism from its own party in parliament. They do remarkable | :41:27. | :41:33. | |
work, and I cannot believe their future is uncertain because of Essex | :41:34. | :41:40. | |
county council. The Police and Crime Commissioner has his own concerns. I | :41:41. | :41:44. | |
am anxious about the fact that provision for youth might be cut, | :41:45. | :41:49. | |
because I regard it as very important to keep those young people | :41:50. | :41:53. | |
who might be on that journey towards crime, to keep them diverted from | :41:54. | :41:57. | |
that. Youth services make quite a difference in that respect. The | :41:58. | :42:04. | |
plans led to protests at County Hall in Chelmsford. Young people asking | :42:05. | :42:10. | |
whether anything meaningful can be achieved on a budget that would have | :42:11. | :42:13. | |
been cut by more than 80% in three years. | :42:14. | :42:17. | |
Well, joining me now from Chelmsford is the leader of Essex County | :42:18. | :42:21. | |
Council, David Finch. The budget used to be ?20 million, it's going | :42:22. | :42:25. | |
down to ?2million after this latest round of cuts. Don't you care about | :42:26. | :42:30. | |
youth service provision? Absolutely do care about youth services and | :42:31. | :42:36. | |
provision, but actually we are in a very difficult position. You well | :42:37. | :42:43. | |
know that we are faced with a ?235 million savings target over the next | :42:44. | :42:49. | |
three years, in addition to that I have got to find 93 of that 235 next | :42:50. | :42:56. | |
year. I have also got to look after 36,000 elderly people, either in | :42:57. | :42:58. | |
residential homes or domiciliary care. I have got a thousand young | :42:59. | :43:04. | |
children who are in need of our care and protection. There are huge | :43:05. | :43:07. | |
pressures on our cost base, and it isn't just an Essex, it is across | :43:08. | :43:11. | |
the entire country, there are pressures on our costs. If I could | :43:12. | :43:15. | |
find a way of protecting youth service, I would do so. | :43:16. | :43:21. | |
We heard in the film that you are required by law to provide | :43:22. | :43:23. | |
recreational and leisure activities for young people, so you're feeling | :43:24. | :43:26. | |
in your duty of your going to cut your services by so much? It's very | :43:27. | :43:32. | |
easy to say we are failing in our duty. I would argue that we are not | :43:33. | :43:38. | |
failing. We are doing many things that are ground`breaking in terms of | :43:39. | :43:41. | |
looking after young people with poor social impact bond. I would argue `` | :43:42. | :43:49. | |
our social impact bond. We are helping them learn the skills that | :43:50. | :43:52. | |
would make them employable in the future. We have a scheme which is | :43:53. | :43:57. | |
better than even the government's own scheme. The choice is very | :43:58. | :44:04. | |
simple. I have a limited budget, I need to spend that budget in the | :44:05. | :44:09. | |
best way possible for the greater benefit of Essex residents. You | :44:10. | :44:15. | |
heard in the film, a young person in Harlow saying that this will lead to | :44:16. | :44:18. | |
an increase in crime in the town, and the PCC agrees. What do you say | :44:19. | :44:27. | |
to that? You're robbing Peter to pay all? I understand the emotion behind | :44:28. | :44:36. | |
the Harlow young people, and I understand the concern by the Police | :44:37. | :44:40. | |
and Crime Commissioner. We have to find savings across. We are out to | :44:41. | :44:48. | |
consultation, that consultation does not finish until the end of this | :44:49. | :44:52. | |
month, the 20th of this month, on the basis of the feedback that we | :44:53. | :44:55. | |
get we will look at how we can model the services for the use of this | :44:56. | :45:02. | |
county. But the consultation in itself is not about whether the | :45:03. | :45:05. | |
services are being cut, it is about what services are being cut, things | :45:06. | :45:09. | |
like the Duke of Edinburgh scheme. Surely that is counter`productive? | :45:10. | :45:15. | |
We are not cutting anything at this point in time. What we are seeking | :45:16. | :45:19. | |
through the consultation process is establishing exactly what it is that | :45:20. | :45:24. | |
the use of the county values, and then how can we provide that service | :45:25. | :45:27. | |
to the youth within a very different budget profile. RTE sending a | :45:28. | :45:33. | |
message to young people that the book `` that they don't matter? The | :45:34. | :45:40. | |
amount of effort and focus that we are putting into the young of Essex | :45:41. | :45:48. | |
is paralleled around the country. I think we are absolutely concerned | :45:49. | :45:51. | |
about the youth of Essex, that they get the best possible chances, and | :45:52. | :45:56. | |
we put significant money into helping young people with emotional | :45:57. | :46:00. | |
problems, on the edge of care. Young people who want to find jobs, how | :46:01. | :46:06. | |
we're helping them train. I would not agree at all but we are doing | :46:07. | :46:11. | |
anything which is to harm the youth of our cut `` the youth of our | :46:12. | :46:18. | |
country. We are going to have to leave it there. Thank you very much | :46:19. | :46:22. | |
for joining us. Sir Bob Russell, what message do you think the sense | :46:23. | :46:28. | |
to young people? A deplorable message. Essex county council has | :46:29. | :46:34. | |
millions of pounds in reserves, it is all a question of political will | :46:35. | :46:39. | |
and political leadership. Essex county council once had a proud | :46:40. | :46:42. | |
record. It is abandoning young people. You are in a position as an | :46:43. | :46:49. | |
Essex MP to join with other MPs. Are you going to do that? Absolutely. We | :46:50. | :46:59. | |
must value our young people. Fancy attacking your own government. Even | :47:00. | :47:06. | |
attacking royal sponsored and backed schemes. This is quite remarkable. | :47:07. | :47:13. | |
It reinforces my view that we should abolish Essex county council. George | :47:14. | :47:22. | |
Freeman, what about in Norfolk? Norfolk has been subject to strong | :47:23. | :47:26. | |
cuts as well. It is a real problem. Youngsters growing up in isolated, | :47:27. | :47:33. | |
cut off towns, they are coming out with big debts, facing out the # | :47:34. | :47:39. | |
facing an economy coming out from a traumatic crisis. Nobody wants to | :47:40. | :47:45. | |
make cuts, we are all paying the price for a decade of Labour | :47:46. | :47:50. | |
profligacy. Are you comfortable with these cuts? No. Eric Pickles has led | :47:51. | :47:57. | |
the way with huge back`office savings. I want to see our councils | :47:58. | :48:08. | |
drive forward, more so. Why are we still running eight chief executive | :48:09. | :48:12. | |
's? We should not be cutting on the front line, the most vulnerable in | :48:13. | :48:16. | |
society. What about the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, not the most | :48:17. | :48:23. | |
vulnerable in society? It gives a lot of young people and experience | :48:24. | :48:29. | |
of life which sets them up for life. When I took part in the Duke of | :48:30. | :48:34. | |
Edinburgh award scheme, I did get the gold award, it works better for | :48:35. | :48:40. | |
me when I went for a job interview than my academic qualifications. | :48:41. | :48:47. | |
Once the economy recovers, will they ever get the services back? Yes. | :48:48. | :48:56. | |
Here in Norfolk county council, the Conservative administration was | :48:57. | :48:58. | |
setting up a really bold programme so we could protect front line | :48:59. | :49:02. | |
services. The question now is what are they going to do to manage the | :49:03. | :49:08. | |
budget? Can they actually manage ?1 billion a year of funding? They have | :49:09. | :49:16. | |
already cut them to this low level. The to try to get them back towards | :49:17. | :49:20. | |
what they used to be. Thank you very much. Now, internet safety, cyber | :49:21. | :49:26. | |
bullying and online child pornography, all issues giving rise | :49:27. | :49:29. | |
to increasing concern, and politicians are under increasing | :49:30. | :49:31. | |
pressure to do something about them. Tomorrow a summit will be held at | :49:32. | :49:35. | |
Downing Street to discuss what's the best way of cleaning up the | :49:36. | :49:38. | |
internet. Playing a major role at the conference will be an | :49:39. | :49:40. | |
organisation from Cambridgeshire. Andrew Sinclair reports. | :49:41. | :49:47. | |
In an office on a Cambridge research Park, four people are analysing | :49:48. | :49:51. | |
images from the World Wide Web. This is the Internet Watch Foundation, | :49:52. | :49:56. | |
which receives 40,000 complaints a year about pictures of alleged child | :49:57. | :50:02. | |
abuse. So graphic as the content, the staff have to have regular | :50:03. | :50:06. | |
counselling. They also do not want their faces shown on television. I | :50:07. | :50:11. | |
see horrific things on a day`to`day basis. It can be disheartening to | :50:12. | :50:15. | |
know how much content there is out there. I have got two choices, I can | :50:16. | :50:21. | |
either be part of the solution or I can be pretending it is not there. | :50:22. | :50:27. | |
And I know it is there, I know there is a fair amount of it out there, | :50:28. | :50:33. | |
and I want to help. If they find a UK website hosting illegal images it | :50:34. | :50:36. | |
can be closed down within the hour. If it is overseas, they can block it | :50:37. | :50:40. | |
in this country, but getting the image removed can take much longer. | :50:41. | :50:45. | |
Last year we removed just over 10,000 URLs. It is a global issue, | :50:46. | :50:50. | |
and of people did what we did, there would be nowhere for this to hide. | :50:51. | :50:55. | |
Our other countries taking it seriously as we are? It depends from | :50:56. | :51:00. | |
country to country. In some countries it is just not on the | :51:01. | :51:07. | |
agenda. I always say, it is not just a drop in the ocean, that is no | :51:08. | :51:14. | |
reason not to do anything. Tackling child pornography will be just one | :51:15. | :51:17. | |
of the items on the agenda for tomorrow's summit. But two other | :51:18. | :51:22. | |
difficult issues will also feature. First of all, how do you restrict | :51:23. | :51:25. | |
what children view on the Internet? MPs who studied this issue are | :51:26. | :51:29. | |
clear, it is up to the industry to put in proper filters, and parents. | :51:30. | :51:35. | |
It is a question about educating people about the measures which can | :51:36. | :51:39. | |
be taken. And then giving them a choice so they have to make the | :51:40. | :51:44. | |
deliberate decision. You have to accept that the material we are | :51:45. | :51:47. | |
talking about in this case is illegal. But obviously children | :51:48. | :51:54. | |
should be protected from it, and ultimately that would bear | :51:55. | :51:59. | |
responsibility for parents. Then there is the worrying rise in cyber | :52:00. | :52:03. | |
bullying among young people. The industry says it is doing all it can | :52:04. | :52:06. | |
but it is also looking for politicians for guidance. The social | :52:07. | :52:13. | |
and moral framework for the digital world does not exist yet. There is | :52:14. | :52:18. | |
quite an important role for legislators to play in thinking | :52:19. | :52:22. | |
through where are the absolute black and white rules that we need to put | :52:23. | :52:26. | |
in place. I wish I could say that there was a magic bullet, there | :52:27. | :52:32. | |
really isn't. We are the generation that has to think through each of | :52:33. | :52:35. | |
these issues. The summit will announce extra funding to help this | :52:36. | :52:43. | |
group continue its work. That is an easy way to make the Internet safer. | :52:44. | :52:47. | |
Dealing with other aspects of this issue are far more complicated. | :52:48. | :52:53. | |
George Freeman, you are a member of the Internet Watch Foundation, in | :52:54. | :52:57. | |
general terms do you not think that politicians are not helping enough, | :52:58. | :53:01. | |
they are behind the curve, and instead of volleying `` following | :53:02. | :53:09. | |
they are `` instead of following `` instead of leading the following? My | :53:10. | :53:15. | |
colleagues have led the way in the past year, and we have set in place | :53:16. | :53:20. | |
a scheme agreeing with industry or protection of children within the | :53:21. | :53:26. | |
homes, so that every device in the home can be covered by an opt out. | :53:27. | :53:31. | |
This is leadership. No one wants is to get heavy`handed, to try and | :53:32. | :53:37. | |
overly regulate a clamp`down. We have to protect children in a family | :53:38. | :53:41. | |
environment from material on the Internet is that we don't want to | :53:42. | :53:44. | |
see. I have children, I want them to be on the Internet and learning and | :53:45. | :53:48. | |
engaging. But I want to know that they are being protected. Sir Bob | :53:49. | :53:53. | |
Russell, how much of this should be down to the parents? Should it be | :53:54. | :53:59. | |
down to the Internet providers? I think it is down to the Internet | :54:00. | :54:03. | |
providers. I agree with the point is that George is making, this is | :54:04. | :54:06. | |
technology that is way beyond my knowledge. I have the comprehension | :54:07. | :54:14. | |
of the awfulness going on, but I value MPs like George who are ahead | :54:15. | :54:19. | |
of the game in one sense, politically ahead of the game. But | :54:20. | :54:22. | |
as somebody who doesn't understand the modern technology, and I put my | :54:23. | :54:27. | |
hands up, I don't, and oldest Twitter bullying `` all of this | :54:28. | :54:35. | |
Twitter bullying, we have to clamp`down on it, to my mind it is | :54:36. | :54:42. | |
worse than bullying in the street. This is difficult to do any | :54:43. | :54:46. | |
unilateral way, though. We can do everything we can, but it just goes | :54:47. | :54:51. | |
abroad? That's true. You want to know that children can logon and do | :54:52. | :54:55. | |
their homework, and they are safe from all of this. How do we cope | :54:56. | :55:00. | |
with this globalisation of content online? My instinct would be, be | :55:01. | :55:04. | |
open with children and have the conversation. I went to a school in | :55:05. | :55:09. | |
my constituency yesterday where their policy is bringing your | :55:10. | :55:11. | |
devices, there is Internet in the school, they can switch off all | :55:12. | :55:17. | |
Internet access at a switch. We have to leave it there. Thank you. Well, | :55:18. | :55:22. | |
they're back in the jungle tonight but the fall out from last year's | :55:23. | :55:25. | |
escapade continues. All in Deborah McGurran's 60 second round up of the | :55:26. | :55:32. | |
week. Plans for an East`West rail link | :55:33. | :55:38. | |
have been confirmed now that funding has been confirmed. More funding | :55:39. | :55:47. | |
from the EU, expected to improve ?60 billion for science and to research | :55:48. | :55:51. | |
next week. MPs say a lot of the money is likely to come to a region. | :55:52. | :55:59. | |
It is a huge amount of money, a lot of that comes into the East of | :56:00. | :56:04. | |
England. The Conservative MP Nadine Dorries delivered a speedy apology | :56:05. | :56:07. | |
to the House of Commons after failing to register how much money | :56:08. | :56:11. | |
she made from her appearance on a reality TV show. I wish to apologise | :56:12. | :56:17. | |
to the house filly and unreservedly for what was a genuinely inadvertent | :56:18. | :56:25. | |
breach of the rules. At two of Colchester offered on eBay had no | :56:26. | :56:37. | |
takers. `` at tour. What about this huge boost for | :56:38. | :56:42. | |
science funding? It is great news. My message has been, East Anglia has | :56:43. | :56:48. | |
always been treated as a rule backwater, give us the tools and we | :56:49. | :56:54. | |
will give you the growth. This investment can unlock huge growth | :56:55. | :56:59. | |
here. Is the space race the right thing to be spending it on? | :57:00. | :57:07. | |
Stevenage is ahead quarters `` at headquarters of space technology. We | :57:08. | :57:15. | |
can really create new jobs for the next 20, 30, 40 years. This spending | :57:16. | :57:23. | |
is hugely exciting. Your wok has now taken off, there have been some | :57:24. | :57:30. | |
takers. Yes, seven now. It is hilarious. I am not complaining. One | :57:31. | :57:40. | |
of my political rivals gave it out, absolute ridicule, but it is | :57:41. | :57:51. | |
brilliant. All the Roman history and the house where twinkle twinkle | :57:52. | :57:54. | |
Little Star was written. What a bargain. It is up to ?100. We will | :57:55. | :58:03. | |
have to leave it there. Thank you very much. | :58:04. | :58:05. | |
That's all from us. We're back next week at our usual time but for now | :58:06. | :58:08. | |
it's back week at our usual time but for now | :58:09. | :58:09. | |
receiving it. We will return to this if we hear more. Thank you. Andrew, | :58:10. | :58:11. | |
it is back to you. Who'd be an MP? It's a good | :58:12. | :58:29. | |
question. Certainly something Mark Pritchard must have asked himself | :58:30. | :58:32. | |
when his picture graced the front page of the Daily Telegraph, with | :58:33. | :58:34. | |
allegations that he had offered to set up business deals overseas in | :58:35. | :58:38. | |
return for hundreds of thousands of pounds. Mr Pritchard dismissed the | :58:39. | :58:40. | |
claims as hurtful and wrong. He referred himself to the | :58:41. | :58:42. | |
Parliamentary Standards Commissioner who has now said there is | :58:43. | :58:44. | |
insufficient evidence to investigate. In a moment we'll talk | :58:45. | :58:47. | |
to Mr Pritchard, but first let's take a look back at how the story | :58:48. | :58:50. | |
unfurled. A Conservative MP has denied allegations that he used his | :58:51. | :58:55. | |
Parliamentary contacts for financial gain... The daily Telegraph says | :58:56. | :58:59. | |
Mark Pritchard offered to broker investments overseas. In a statement | :59:00. | :59:05. | |
he said the allegations made by the Telegraph are false. Mr Pritchard | :59:06. | :59:14. | |
was secretly filmed... What do you make of these allegations? He has | :59:15. | :59:18. | |
referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for | :59:19. | :59:21. | |
standards to clear his name and I suspect this story will reopen the | :59:22. | :59:30. | |
debate about what MPs should be allowed, having business interests | :59:31. | :59:38. | |
elsewhere. Is it not clear that you did ask for money in consultancy | :59:39. | :59:49. | |
services? First of all I would like to apologise for the sunglasses I | :59:50. | :59:53. | |
have had a lot of comments about that. On a serious point, these | :59:54. | :00:01. | |
claims by the Telegraph of false. You didn't ask for ?3000? They are | :00:02. | :00:08. | |
false, hurtful and malicious. It is known widely that I have sued the | :00:09. | :00:12. | |
Telegraph previously. I have also been critical of their coverage of | :00:13. | :00:18. | |
the plebgate affair, their reporting of that. I have been supportive of | :00:19. | :00:22. | |
the cross-party Royal Charter and I know that some people in the media | :00:23. | :00:26. | |
don't like my position on that. That is why it is malicious. I believe in | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
a free press. That free press also has a responsibility to be fair | :00:32. | :00:39. | |
accurate and lawful. In discussions with this business who turned out to | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
be a Telegraph reporter, it is true that you ask for ?3000 a month | :00:44. | :00:49. | |
consultancy fee. The point is.. That is the point. No. That video | :00:50. | :00:56. | |
has been cut and pasted to serve the Telegraph's story. The story was | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
that we want to get Mark Bridger, for whatever reason, at any cost. -- | :01:02. | :01:07. | |
Mark Bridger hard. I would not go down the line they were hoping I | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
would go down. Everything I own outside of Parliament is openly | :01:12. | :01:18. | |
declared. We are allowed to have outside witness interests. The | :01:19. | :01:20. | |
Telegraph need to say clearly whether they accept that or they | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
don't. I think you need to say clearly whether you asked for the | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
money or not. You then went on to ask for ?300,000 if it was a 10 | :01:31. | :01:33. | |
million deal, you asked for 3% commission. Let me be clear, if I | :01:34. | :01:41. | |
was asking for income in return for lobbying, or raising issues in | :01:42. | :01:44. | |
Parliament, or setting up Parliamentary groups, or going to | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
ministers, writing to ministers that would be completely | :01:50. | :01:55. | |
inappropriate. I was approached by somebody to advise them on business. | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
It is entirely proper and entirely within the rules for members of | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
Parliament to have outside consultancies and interests. Did you | :02:05. | :02:10. | |
or didn't you? I am answering the question in the way that I want to | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
answer it, not in the way that fits a particular narrative. The | :02:15. | :02:17. | |
narrative, unfortunately, of some parts of the Telegraph and to be | :02:18. | :02:21. | |
fair, there are some very good journalists, I know there is a | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
dispute about the direction of that paper at senior parts. Do they want | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
to return to being a Catholic, objective newspaper or do they want | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
to slip into the slippery slope of being an agnostic rag, looking for | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
sensationalist headlines? Part of this has come from your membership | :02:41. | :02:43. | |
of these all-party Parliamentary groups. You were in Malta when you | :02:44. | :02:51. | |
are first approached, I think you were on a trip there, Hungary is | :02:52. | :02:56. | |
another one, there is an uncomfortable overlap between your | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
political and business interests. I have no business interests in any of | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
those countries. Some of the country is the Telegraph mentioned, let me | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
be clear, I have not even visited. You were boasting that you knew the | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
Albanian Prime Minister and the Mayor of Teheran and the previous | :03:16. | :03:21. | |
prime minister. I make no apology for making foreign trips. I think it | :03:22. | :03:24. | |
is unfortunate we have a narrative developing in some parts of the | :03:25. | :03:29. | |
press that if a politician goes abroad at the taxpayers expense it | :03:30. | :03:33. | |
is wrong. If they go abroad at a host government's expense it is | :03:34. | :03:36. | |
wrong. If they go abroad with a charity, NGO and private company, | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
even if it is declared, it is wrong. We want people with an international | :03:42. | :03:46. | |
perspective in Parliament. Look at this map. You are a member of 5 | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
country groups. I don't know what Canada has done not to deserve you, | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
or Australia. 54 groups, you are a part of. You're like... This is the | :03:57. | :04:03. | |
Mark Pritchard British Empire. That is very kind. If I had global | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
interests that white I would not be in Parliament. No, no, no. That is | :04:08. | :04:15. | |
the point... It is the suspicion, that you used these groups to drum | :04:16. | :04:19. | |
up business for your consultants. Prove it, that is the trouble. These | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
sorts of headlines, create suspicion. I am suing the | :04:24. | :04:31. | |
Telegraph... Have you issued a writ? I expect an apology. Have you issued | :04:32. | :04:38. | |
a writ? I have just answered your question. It is yes or no, have you | :04:39. | :04:46. | |
issued a writ? I am in final legal discussions tomorrow about issuing a | :04:47. | :04:49. | |
writ. You have raised something for top the fact is that is inaccurate. | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
I am a member of 40-something Parliamentary groups, of which I | :04:55. | :05:01. | |
make no apology. We have got 54 Let me answer the question if I may It | :05:02. | :05:07. | |
would be very useful. There are 196 countries around the world, it is | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
less than a quarter of the country groups on my figures. I make no | :05:13. | :05:21. | |
apology. One of my regrets is not having visited Syria, I don't know | :05:22. | :05:24. | |
if I am a member of the Syria group, part I should become a member, I | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
make no apology. -- perhaps I should become. When it came to the Syria | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
vote, I was blind sided foot of yes, we have excellent briefings. I had | :05:34. | :05:40. | |
to make a judgement based on part knowledge with nothing beats being | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
on the ground, as even BBC journalists recognised this week. | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
Nothing beats being on the ground. You posted about your connections in | :05:51. | :05:52. | |
Albania to getting a business contract. You meet these people | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
through these all Parliamentary groups. That is where there is an | :05:57. | :06:02. | |
unhealthy overlap. That is what the Telegraph said, let's wait and see. | :06:03. | :06:08. | |
Look... You are a newspaperman, you know lots of people in the newspaper | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
industry, as well as being a respected broadcaster. I am not | :06:13. | :06:16. | |
going to prejudice my legal proceedings against the Telegraph. I | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
make no apology. A good politician has to be local am a national and | :06:21. | :06:26. | |
international. Hang on hang on - has to be local, national and | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
international. We need politicians who get out of the Westminster | :06:33. | :06:35. | |
bubble, who have a business hinterland, who keep their foot in | :06:36. | :06:38. | |
the real world and have an international perspective. And ask | :06:39. | :06:45. | |
for 3% commission? I have answered the question. It was a cut and | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
pasted video, photo shopped to suit the agenda of the Telegraph. They | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
need to get back to serious news reporting and I wish those well at | :06:54. | :06:56. | |
the senior part of the Telegraph who want to get to those days. We look | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
forward to the writ. Thank you. Now - there's been more good news on | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
the economy for George Osborne this week - inflation's down, growth | :07:05. | :07:07. | |
forecasts have been revised up and unemployment has fallen again. On | :07:08. | :07:09. | |
Friday the former Bullingdon boy donned a head torch and went down't | :07:10. | :07:12. | |
pit for just one of many photo opportunities ahead of the Autumn | :07:13. | :07:15. | |
Statement, which he'll deliver in the Commons on fifth December. And, | :07:16. | :07:18. | |
who knows, he might even take his hard hat off for that. | :07:19. | :07:25. | |
# Going underground. # Let the boys all saying and let | :07:26. | :07:35. | |
the boys all shout for tomorrow # Lah, lah, love, love. | :07:36. | :07:41. | |
# I talk and talk until my head explodes. | :07:42. | :07:50. | |
# Make this boy shout, make this boy scream. | :07:51. | :07:53. | |
# Going underground. # Going underground. | :07:54. | :08:03. | |
# I'm going underground. # I'm going underground. | :08:04. | :08:10. | |
George Osborne in his heart out he probably sleeps with it on. This | :08:11. | :08:17. | |
Autumn Statement is becoming a more important part of the political | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
calendar for the coalition. It looks like this is where they are finally | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
going to come up with some kind of response to Ed Miliband's game | :08:26. | :08:32. | |
changing electricity price freeze. The idea which is mooted is they | :08:33. | :08:36. | |
will move people's green tax on two general bills which is not an answer | :08:37. | :08:40. | |
but cosmetically it could have apolitical impact. George Osborne is | :08:41. | :08:44. | |
receiving a lot of representations from lobby groups, business, MPs on | :08:45. | :08:50. | |
his own side, for tax cuts and extra bits spending and he has to spend | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
the next two weeks reminding people of something that has been skewered | :08:55. | :08:57. | |
by the economic recovery. This country has a fiscal deficit which | :08:58. | :09:06. | |
is twice that of France, supposedly the crisis economy in western Europe | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
or if you accept it will take another parliament again to | :09:11. | :09:12. | |
eliminate this deficit, we are not even halfway through the age of | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
austerity. He is in no position to give anything away. He has to hold | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
the line. Danny Alexander has been useful but this is his real | :09:21. | :09:24. | |
challenge. He is going to give stuff away. When the Autumn Statement | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
comes away, 15 months from an election, Nick Clegg has been | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
talking about raising the tax allowance threshold even further, | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
talk of moving green levies of the electricity bills, he is going to | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
give stuff away. We will get funding for free school meals that Nick | :09:44. | :09:45. | |
Clegg mentioned in his party conference. The significance of the | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
Autumn Statement is twice a year, a Chancellor stands up and we all look | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
at the state of the economy. If you talk to members of the Chancellor's | :09:55. | :09:57. | |
circle, it is interesting how nervous they are. They say, don t | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
assume we are going to have this wonderful growth for ever, don't | :10:02. | :10:04. | |
assume everything is fine in the eurozone. I think what would help | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
the Chancellor is if somebody was able to see some of that humility in | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
public. It is recognised that he was far too triumphalist | :10:16. | :10:15. | |
speech he made on the 9th of September, when he said to Ed Balls, | :10:16. | :10:22. | |
we have one and you cannot make an economic policy on the cost of | :10:23. | :10:23. | |
living -- we have... Won. economic policy on the cost of | :10:24. | :10:36. | |
people don't seem to learn from Norman Lamont's green shoots. Labour | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
has moved from complaining there is no growth, now there is, to say | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
has moved from complaining there is is gross but living standards are | :10:47. | :10:46. | |
not rising. If the economy grows by nearly 3% next year, even the bank | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
is saying it will grow by 2.8%, living standards could start to | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
rise. It does but everybody in a difficult position politically if | :10:57. | :10:59. | |
the economy starts growing, ironically. We need to remind | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
ourselves that economy, the natural direction of an economy is to grow. | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
Unless the politicians screw up Unless you have some idiot in | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
charge! It is not a cause for the Morris dance that they seem to be | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
doing, certainly on the Tory side. Osborne is put in a difficult | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
position goes he will have to stop giving stuff away, he cannot push | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
the austerity line at the same time as jangling his magical growth - he | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
will have to start giving stuff away. It puts Labour in a difficult | :11:34. | :11:39. | |
position, it is very unlikely that living standards will match GDP Not | :11:40. | :11:46. | |
since 2003, GDP has been a great indicator. Wages have stagnated for | :11:47. | :11:52. | |
ten years, food has gone up 17% energy has gone up 24%. That is a | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
decade in which everybody has got poorer. The real sweet spot comes | :11:57. | :12:02. | |
when wages start to outstrip inflation. It is a sweet spot and | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
will be a huge challenge for Ed Miliband. As ever on the economy | :12:08. | :12:11. | |
with a sweet spot, you have a danger moment because that is when the | :12:12. | :12:15. | |
governor of the Bank of England will have to look at interest rates. | :12:16. | :12:18. | |
Everything he was saying last week was when we move toward 7% | :12:19. | :12:22. | |
unemployment come that is not the trigger for raising interest rates, | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
it is the moment when we look at it. Everything was saying he did not | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
want to do that. When do you anticipate wages outstripping | :12:32. | :12:33. | |
inflation? It hasn't happened for so long. The second half of next year. | :12:34. | :12:40. | |
Wages and prices are not the sole measure of living standards, there | :12:41. | :12:43. | |
are broader measures which no one seems willing to use. | :12:44. | :12:46. | |
That's all for today. The Daily Politics will be back at tomorrow at | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
midday on BBC Two and I will back here on BBC One at 11:00am next | :12:51. | :12:53. | |
week. Remember if it's Sunday, it's the Sunday Politics. | :12:54. | :12:58. |