Browse content similar to 07/05/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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It's Sunday morning and this is the Sunday Politics. | :00:39. | :00:41. | |
The local election results made grim reading for Labour. | :00:42. | :00:44. | |
With just a month to go until the general election, | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
will promising to rule out tax rises for all but the well off help | :00:50. | :00:52. | |
The Conservatives have their own announcement on mental health, | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
as they strain every sinew to insist they don't think they've got | :00:58. | :01:00. | |
But is there still really all to play for? | :01:01. | :01:07. | |
And tonight we will find out who is the next | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
President of France - Emmanuel Macron or Marine Le Pen - | :01:12. | :01:15. | |
after an unpredictable campaign that ended with a hack attack | :01:16. | :01:21. | |
Here in the East, UKIP wiped out in the county council elections. | :01:22. | :01:24. | |
The Tories celebrate a victory across the board. | :01:25. | :01:27. | |
elections but we are looking at the potential impact in marginals next | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
month. If Ukip support continues to evaporate... | :01:33. | :01:39. | |
And joining me for all of that, three journalists ready | :01:40. | :01:42. | |
to analyse the week's politics with all the forensic | :01:43. | :01:45. | |
focus of Diane Abbott preparing for an interview, | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
and all the relaxed, slogan-free banter of Theresa May | :01:50. | :01:51. | |
It's Janan Ganesh, Isabel Oakeshott and Steve Richards. | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
So, the Conservatives are promising, if re-elected, to change mental | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
health laws in England and Wales to tackle discrimination, | :02:04. | :02:06. | |
and they're promising 10,000 more staff working in NHS mental health | :02:07. | :02:12. | |
treatment in England by 2020 - although how that's to be | :02:13. | :02:15. | |
Here's Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt speaking | :02:16. | :02:18. | |
There is a lot of new money going into it. | :02:19. | :02:25. | |
In January, we said we were going to put an extra ?1 billion | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
Does this come from other parts of the NHS, or is it | :02:30. | :02:32. | |
No, it is new money going into the NHS | :02:33. | :02:36. | |
It's not just of course money, it's having the people | :02:37. | :02:43. | |
who deliver these jobs, which is why we need | :02:44. | :02:45. | |
Well, we're joined now from Norwich by the Liberal Democrat health | :02:46. | :02:50. | |
This weekend, they've launched their own health announcement, | :02:51. | :02:53. | |
promising a 1% rise on every income tax band to fund the NHS. | :02:54. | :03:02. | |
Do you welcome the Conservatives putting mental health onto the | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
campaign agenda in the way that they have? I welcome it being on the | :03:08. | :03:12. | |
campaign agenda but I do fear that the announcement is built on thin | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
air. You raised the issue at the start about the 10,000 extra staff, | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
and questions surrounding how it would be paid for. There is no | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
additional money on what they have already announced for the NHS. We | :03:27. | :03:33. | |
know it falls massively short on the expectation of the funding gap | :03:34. | :03:37. | |
which, by 2020, is likely to be about 30 billion. That is not | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
disputed now. Anyone outside of the government, wherever you are on the | :03:42. | :03:44. | |
political spectrum, knows the money going in is simply not enough. So, | :03:45. | :03:53. | |
rather like the claim that they would add 5000 GPs to the workforce | :03:54. | :03:59. | |
by 2020, that is not on target. Latest figures show a fall in the | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
number of GPs. They make these claims, but I'm afraid they are | :04:05. | :04:07. | |
without substance, unless they are prepared to put money behind it. | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
Your party's solution to the money problem is to put a 1% percentage | :04:13. | :04:22. | |
point on all of the bands of income tax to raise more money 20-45. Is | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
that unfair? Most pensioners who consume 40% of NHS spending, but | :04:29. | :04:36. | |
over 65s only pay about 20% of income tax. Are you penalising the | :04:37. | :04:39. | |
younger generations for the health care of an older generation? It is | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
the first step in what we are describing as a 5-point recovery | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
plan for the NHS and care system. So, for what is available to us now, | :04:51. | :04:56. | |
it seems to be the fairest way of bringing in extra resources, income | :04:57. | :05:00. | |
tax is progressive, and is based on your ability to pay for your average | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
British worker. It would be ?3 per week which is the cost of less than | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
two cups of coffee per week. In the longer run, we say that by the end | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
of the next Parliament, we would be able to introduce a dedicated NHS | :05:16. | :05:21. | |
and care tax. Based, probably, around a reformed national insurance | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
system, so it becomes a dedicated NHS and care tax. Interestingly, the | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
former permanent secretary of the Treasury, Nick MacPherson, said | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
clearly that this idea merits further consideration which is the | :05:37. | :05:39. | |
first time anyone for the Treasury has bought into the idea of this. | :05:40. | :05:46. | |
Let me ask you this. You say it is a small amount of tax that people on | :05:47. | :05:49. | |
average incomes will have to pay extra. We are talking about people | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
who have seen no real increases to their income since 2007. They have | :05:55. | :06:01. | |
been struggling to stand still in terms of their own pay, but you are | :06:02. | :06:05. | |
going to add to their tax, and as I said earlier, most of the health | :06:06. | :06:09. | |
care money will then go to pensioners whose incomes have risen | :06:10. | :06:16. | |
by 15%. I'm interested in the fairness of this redistribution? | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
Bearing in mind first of all, Andrew, that the raising of the tax | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
threshold that the Liberal Democrats pushed through in the coalition | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
increased the effective pay in your pocket for basic rate taxpayers by | :06:31. | :06:36. | |
about ?1000. We are talking about a tiny fraction of that. I suppose | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
that you do have to ask, all of us in this country need to ask | :06:42. | :06:45. | |
ourselves this question... Are we prepared to pay, in terms of the | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
average worker, about ?3 extra per week to give us a guarantee that | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
when our loved ones need that care, in their hour of need, perhaps | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
suspected cancer, that care will be available for them? I have heard two | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
cases recently brought my attention. An elderly couple, the wife has a | :07:06. | :07:09. | |
very bad hip. They could not allow the weight to continue. She was told | :07:10. | :07:14. | |
that she would need to wait 26 weeks, she was in acute pain. They | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
then deduct paying ?20,000 for private treatment to circumvent | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
waiting time. They hated doing it, because they did not want to jump | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
the queue. But that is what is increasingly happening. Sorry to | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
interrupt, Norman Lamb comedy make very good points but we are short on | :07:32. | :07:38. | |
time today. One final question, it looks like you might have the chance | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
to do any of this, I'm told the best you can hope to do internally is to | :07:43. | :07:46. | |
double the number of seats you have, which would only take you to 18. Do | :07:47. | :07:52. | |
you think that promising to raise people's income tax, even those on | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
average earnings, is a vote winner? I think the people in this country | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
are crying out for politicians to be straight and tenet as it is. At the | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
moment we heading towards a Conservative landslide... -- tell it | :08:07. | :08:13. | |
as it is. But do we want a 1-party state? We are electing a government | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
not only to deal with the crucial Brexit negotiations, but oversee the | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
stewardship of the NHS and funding of our schools, all of these | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
critical issues. We need an effective opposition and with the | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
Labour Party having taken itself off stage, the Liberal Democrats need to | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
provide an effective opposition. Norman Lamb, thank you for joining | :08:34. | :08:34. | |
us this morning. Thank you. Labour and Tories are anxious | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
to stress the general election result is not a foregone conclusion, | :08:40. | :08:42. | |
whatever the polls say. Order you just heard Norman Lamb say | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
there that he thought the Conservatives were heading for a | :08:47. | :08:48. | |
landslide... But did Thursday's dramatic set | :08:49. | :08:52. | |
of local election results in England, Scotland and Wales give | :08:53. | :08:54. | |
us a better idea of how the country Here's Emma Vardy with | :08:55. | :08:57. | |
a behind-the-scenes look at how Good morning, it's seven o'clock | :08:58. | :09:01. | |
on Friday, May 5th... The dawn of another results day. | :09:02. | :09:04. | |
Anticipation hung in the air. Early results from the local | :09:05. | :09:10. | |
elections in England suggest there's been a substantial swing | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
from Labour to the Conservatives. While the pros did their thing, | :09:15. | :09:17. | |
I needed breakfast. Don't tell anyone, but I'm | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
going to pinch a sausage. The overnight counts had delivered | :09:22. | :09:23. | |
successes for the Tories. But with most councils | :09:24. | :09:25. | |
only getting started, there was plenty of action | :09:26. | :09:27. | |
still to come. It's not quite the night | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
of Labour's nightmares. There's enough mixed news | :09:34. | :09:35. | |
in Wales, for example - looks like they're about to hold | :09:36. | :09:37. | |
Cardiff - that they'll try and put But in really simple terms, | :09:38. | :09:40. | |
four weeks from a general election, the Tories are going forward | :09:41. | :09:47. | |
and Labour are going backwards. How does it compare being | :09:48. | :09:49. | |
in here to doing the telly? Huw, how do you prepare yourself | :09:50. | :09:54. | |
for a long day of results, then? We're not even on air yet, | :09:55. | :10:01. | |
as you can see, and already in Tory HQ this morning, | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
there's a kind of, "Oh, I'm scared this will make people | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
think the election's just I think leave it | :10:11. | :10:12. | |
like that - perfect. I want the Laura look. | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
This is really good, isn't it? Usually, we're in here | :10:17. | :10:19. | |
for the Daily Politics. But it's been transformed | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
for the Election Results programme. But hours went by without Ukip | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
winning a single seat. The joke going around | :10:29. | :10:40. | |
Lincolnshire County Council today from the Conservatives | :10:41. | :10:46. | |
is that the Tories have eaten We will rebrand | :10:47. | :10:48. | |
and come back strong. Morale, I think, is inevitably | :10:49. | :10:52. | |
going to take a bit of a tumble. Particularly if Theresa May starts | :10:53. | :10:57. | |
backsliding on Brexit. And then I think we will be | :10:58. | :11:00. | |
totally reinvigorated. There are a lot of good people | :11:01. | :11:03. | |
in Ukip and I wouldn't want to say anything unkind, | :11:04. | :11:06. | |
but we all know it's over. Ukip press officer. | :11:07. | :11:09. | |
Difficult job. Ukip weren't the only ones | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
putting a brave face on it. Labour were experiencing | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
their own disaster day too, losing hundreds of seats | :11:18. | :11:20. | |
and seven councils. If the result is what these | :11:21. | :11:24. | |
results appear to indicate, Can we have a quick word | :11:25. | :11:28. | |
for the Sunday Politics? A quick question for Sunday Politics | :11:29. | :11:33. | |
- how are you feeling? Downhearted or fired up for June? | :11:34. | :11:41. | |
Fired up, absolutely fired up. He's fired up. | :11:42. | :11:45. | |
We're going to go out there... We cannot go on with another | :11:46. | :11:47. | |
five years of this. How's it been for you today? | :11:48. | :11:50. | |
Tiring. It always is, but I love elections, | :11:51. | :11:53. | |
I really enjoy them. Yes, you know, obviously we're | :11:54. | :11:55. | |
disappointed at some of the results, it's been a mixed bag, | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
but some opinion polls and commentators predicted we'd be | :12:01. | :12:02. | |
wiped out - we haven't. As for the Lib Dems, | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
not the resurgence they hoped for, After a dead heat in Northumberland, | :12:08. | :12:10. | |
the control of a whole council came The section of England | :12:11. | :12:18. | |
in which we had elections yesterday was the section of England | :12:19. | :12:27. | |
that was most likely to vote Leave. When you go to sleep at night, | :12:28. | :12:31. | |
do you just have election results The answer is if that's still | :12:32. | :12:34. | |
happening, I don't get to sleep. There we go. | :12:35. | :12:40. | |
Maybe practice some yoga... Thank you very much | :12:41. | :12:42. | |
but I have one here. With the introduction | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
of six regional mayors, Labour's Andy Burnham | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
became Mr Manchester. But by the time Corbyn came | :12:51. | :12:53. | |
to celebrate, the new mayor We want you to stay for a second | :12:54. | :12:56. | |
because I've got some I used to present news, | :12:57. | :13:02. | |
as you probably know. I used to present BBC | :13:03. | :13:05. | |
Breakfast in the morning. The SNP had notable successes, | :13:06. | :13:07. | |
ending 40 years of Labour What did you prefer - | :13:08. | :13:09. | |
presenting or politics? And it certainly had been a hard day | :13:10. | :13:16. | |
at the office for some. Ukip's foothold in local government | :13:17. | :13:22. | |
was all but wiped out, leaving the Conservatives | :13:23. | :13:27. | |
with their best local So another election results | :13:28. | :13:29. | |
day draws to a close. But don't worry, we'll be doing it | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
all again in five weeks' time. For now, though, that's your lot. | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
Now let's look at some of Thursday's results in a little more detail, | :13:40. | :13:52. | |
and what they might mean for the wider fortunes | :13:53. | :13:54. | |
In England, there were elections for 34 councils. | :13:55. | :14:06. | |
The Conservatives took control of ten of them, | :14:07. | :14:08. | |
gaining over 300 seats, while Labour sustained | :14:09. | :14:10. | |
While the Lib Dems lost 28 seats, Ukip came close to extinction, | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
and can now boast of only one councillor in the whole of England. | :14:16. | :14:21. | |
In Scotland, the big story was Labour losing | :14:22. | :14:23. | |
a third of their seats, and control of three councils - | :14:24. | :14:25. | |
while the Tories more than doubled their number of councillors. | :14:26. | :14:28. | |
In Wales, both the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru made gains, | :14:29. | :14:32. | |
There was some encouraging news for Jeremy Corbyn's party | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
after Liverpool and Manchester both elected Labour mayors, | :14:39. | :14:39. | |
although the Tories narrowly won the West Midlands mayoral race. | :14:40. | :14:47. | |
We're joined now by who else but elections expert John Curtice. | :14:48. | :14:50. | |
You saw him in Emma's film, he's now back in Glasgow. | :14:51. | :14:54. | |
In broad terms, what do these local election results tell us about the | :14:55. | :15:07. | |
general election result? First we have to remember what Theresa May | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
wants to achieve in the general election is a landslide, and winning | :15:13. | :15:15. | |
a landslide means you have to win big in terms of votes. The local | :15:16. | :15:19. | |
election results certainly suggest Theresa May is well on course to win | :15:20. | :15:23. | |
the general election, at least with four weeks to go, and of course | :15:24. | :15:27. | |
people could change their minds. We all agree the Conservatives were | :15:28. | :15:31. | |
double-digit figures ahead of Labour in these elections. However, whereas | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
the opinion polls on average at the moment suggest there is a 17 point | :15:37. | :15:43. | |
Conservative lead, and that definitely would deliver a | :15:44. | :15:45. | |
landslide, it seems the local election figures, at least in | :15:46. | :15:47. | |
England, are pointing to something close to an 11 point Conservative | :15:48. | :15:52. | |
lead. That increase would not necessarily deliver a landslide that | :15:53. | :15:58. | |
she wants. The truth is, the next four weeks are probably not about | :15:59. | :16:02. | |
who wins this election unless something dramatic changes, but | :16:03. | :16:06. | |
there is still a battle as to whether or not Theresa May achieves | :16:07. | :16:09. | |
her objective of winning a landslide. She has to win big. The | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
local elections as she is not sure to be there, and therefore she is | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
going to have to campaign hard. Equally, while Labour did have most | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
prospect of winning, they still at least at the goal of trying to keep | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
the conservative majority relatively low, and therefore the Parliamentary | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
Labour Party are alive and kicking. Interesting that the local election | :16:32. | :16:35. | |
results don't produce a landslide if replicated on June 8th, but when I | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
looked at when local elections had taken place a month before the | :16:40. | :16:45. | |
general election, it was in 1983 and 1987. The Tories did well in both | :16:46. | :16:50. | |
local elections in these years, but come the general election, they | :16:51. | :16:53. | |
added five points to their share of the vote. No reason it should happen | :16:54. | :16:58. | |
again, but if it did, that would take them into landslide territory. | :16:59. | :17:02. | |
Absolutely right, if they do five points better than the local | :17:03. | :17:05. | |
elections, they are in landslide territory. We have to remember, in | :17:06. | :17:12. | |
1983, the Labour Party ran an inept campaign and their support ballet. | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
In 1987, David Owen and David Steele could not keep to the same lines. -- | :17:17. | :17:22. | |
their support fell away. That underlines how well the opposition | :17:23. | :17:26. | |
campaign in the next four weeks does potentially matter in terms of | :17:27. | :17:29. | |
Theresa May's ability to achieve their objective. It is worth | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
noticing in the opinion polls, two things have happened, first, Ukip | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
voters, a significant slice going to the Conservatives, which helped to | :17:39. | :17:42. | |
increase the Conservative leader in the bowels. But in the last week, | :17:43. | :17:45. | |
the Labour vote seems to have recovered. -- in the polls. So the | :17:46. | :17:51. | |
party is not that far short of what Ed Miliband got in 2015, so the | :17:52. | :17:57. | |
Conservative leader is back down to 16 or 17, as we started. So we | :17:58. | :18:01. | |
should not necessarily presume Labour are going to go backwards in | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
the way they did in 1983. I want to finish by asking if there are deeper | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
forces at work? Whether the referendum in this country is | :18:12. | :18:14. | |
producing a realignment in British politics. The Scottish referendum | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
has produced a kind of realignment in Scotland. And in a different way, | :18:19. | :18:23. | |
the Brexit referendum has produced a realignment in England and Wales. Do | :18:24. | :18:30. | |
you agree? You are quite right. Referendums are potentially | :18:31. | :18:34. | |
disruptive in Scotland, they helped to ensure the constitutional | :18:35. | :18:37. | |
question became the central issue, and the 45% who voted yes our been | :18:38. | :18:42. | |
faithful to the SNP since. Although the SNP put in a relatively | :18:43. | :18:45. | |
disappointing performance in Scotland on Thursday. Equally, south | :18:46. | :18:51. | |
of the border, on the leave side, in the past 12 months and particularly | :18:52. | :18:54. | |
the last few weeks, the Conservatives have corralled the | :18:55. | :18:59. | |
leave vote, about two thirds of those who voted leave now say they | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
will vote Conservative. Last summer, the figure was only 50%. On the | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
remain side, the vote is still fragmented. The reason why Theresa | :19:09. | :19:18. | |
May is in the strong position she is is not simply because the leave vote | :19:19. | :19:22. | |
has been realigned, but the remain vote has not. Thank you for joining | :19:23. | :19:30. | |
us. You can go through polls and wonder who is up and down, but I | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
wonder whether the Scottish and Brexit referendums have produced | :19:35. | :19:39. | |
fundamental changes. In Scotland, the real division now is between the | :19:40. | :19:46. | |
centre-left Nationalist party and the centre-right Unionist party. | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
That has had the consequence of squeezing out Labour in the | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
argument, never mind the Greens and the Lib Dems. In London, England, | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
Wales, the Brexit referendum seems to have produced a realignment of | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
the right to the Tories' advantage, and some trouble for the Labour blue | :20:06. | :20:14. | |
vote -- blue-collar vote. It works for the pro Brexit end of the | :20:15. | :20:21. | |
spectrum but not the other half. In the last century, we had people like | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
Roy Jenkins dreaming of and writing about the realignment of British | :20:26. | :20:27. | |
politics as though it could be consciously engineered, and in fact | :20:28. | :20:31. | |
what made it happen was just the calling of a referendum. It's not | :20:32. | :20:37. | |
something you can put about as a politician, it flows from below, | :20:38. | :20:40. | |
when the public begin to think of politics in terms of single issues, | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
dominant issues, such as leaving the European Union. Rather than a broad | :20:46. | :20:49. | |
spectrum designed by a political class. I wonder whether now Remain | :20:50. | :20:55. | |
have it in them to coalesce behind a single party. It doesn't look like | :20:56. | :20:59. | |
they can do it behind Labour. The Liberal Democrats are frankly too | :21:00. | :21:02. | |
small in Parliament to constitute that kind of force. The closest | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
thing to a powerful Remain party is the SNP which by definition has | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
limited appeal south of the border. It is hard. The realignment. We | :21:12. | :21:18. | |
don't know if it is permanent or how dramatic it will be, but there is | :21:19. | :21:21. | |
some kind of realignment going on. At the moment, it seems to be a | :21:22. | :21:25. | |
realignment that by and large is to the benefit of the Conservatives. | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
Without a doubt, and that can be directly attributed to the | :21:32. | :21:34. | |
disappearance of Ukip from the political landscape. I have been | :21:35. | :21:37. | |
saying since the referendum that I thought Ukip was finished. They | :21:38. | :21:41. | |
still seem to be staggering on under the illusion... Some people may have | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
picked up on Nigel Farage this morning saying that Ukip still had a | :21:46. | :21:49. | |
strong role to play until Brexit actually happens. But I think it's | :21:50. | :21:54. | |
very, very hard to convince the voters of that, because they feel | :21:55. | :21:58. | |
that, with the result of the referendum, that was Ukip's job | :21:59. | :22:01. | |
done. And those votes are not going to delay the party -- to the Labour | :22:02. | :22:06. | |
Party because of the flaws with Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, they are | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
shifting to the Tories. I agree. The key issue was the referendum. It has | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
produced a fundamental change that few predicted at the time it was | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
called. Most fundamental of all, it has brought about a unity in the | :22:22. | :22:25. | |
Conservative Party. With some exceptions, but they are now off | :22:26. | :22:28. | |
editing the Evening Standard and other things! This is now a party | :22:29. | :22:34. | |
united around Brexit. Since 1992, the Tories have been split over | :22:35. | :22:40. | |
Europe, at times fatally so. The referendum, in ways that David | :22:41. | :22:43. | |
Cameron did not anticipate, has brought about a united front for | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
this election. In a way, this is a sequel to the referendum, because | :22:49. | :22:52. | |
it's about Brexit but we still don't know what form Brexit is going to | :22:53. | :22:55. | |
take. By calling it early, Theresa May has in effect got another go at | :22:56. | :23:01. | |
a kind of Brexit referendum without knowing what Brexit is, with a | :23:02. | :23:05. | |
united Tory party behind her. We shall see if it is a blip or a | :23:06. | :23:07. | |
long-term trend in British politics. Now let's turn to Labour's big | :23:08. | :23:11. | |
campaign announcement today, and that was the promise of no | :23:12. | :23:13. | |
income tax rise for those earning less than ?80,000 - | :23:14. | :23:16. | |
which of course means those earning more than that could | :23:17. | :23:19. | |
face an increase. Here's Shadow Chancellor John | :23:20. | :23:20. | |
McDonell on the BBC earlier. What we are saying today, anyone | :23:21. | :23:30. | |
earning below ?80,000, we will guarantee you will not have an | :23:31. | :23:34. | |
increase in income tax, VAT or national insurance contributions. | :23:35. | :23:37. | |
For those above 80,000, we are asking them to pay a modest bit more | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
to fund our public services. A modest bit. You will see it will be | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
a modest increase. Talking about modest increases, so we can have a | :23:47. | :23:53. | |
society which we believe everyone shares the benefits of. | :23:54. | :23:56. | |
We're joined now by Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon, in Leeds. | :23:57. | :24:01. | |
Mr McDonnell stressed that for those earning over 80,000, they would be | :24:02. | :24:08. | |
paying more but it would be modest. He used the word modest 45 times. | :24:09. | :24:12. | |
But there is only 1.2 million of them. -- 4-5 times. So that would | :24:13. | :24:19. | |
not raise much money. This is about the key part of this tax policy for | :24:20. | :24:25. | |
the many, not the few. We are saying that low earners and middle earners | :24:26. | :24:29. | |
won't be paying more tax under a Labour government, which is not a | :24:30. | :24:33. | |
policy the Conservatives have committed to yet. As John McDonnell | :24:34. | :24:37. | |
also said in his interview earlier, if there is a tax rise on the top 5% | :24:38. | :24:44. | |
of earners, earning over ?80,000, it would be a modest rise. I am trying | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
to work out what that would mean in terms of money. If it is too modest, | :24:50. | :24:56. | |
you don't raise much. What will happen is the Labour Party's | :24:57. | :24:58. | |
manifesto, published in the next couple of weeks, wilfully set out | :24:59. | :25:04. | |
and cost it. I can't make an announcement now. -- will fully set | :25:05. | :25:13. | |
out and cost it. Moving on to the local elections, Mr Corbyn says he | :25:14. | :25:16. | |
is closing the gap with the Tories. What evidence is there? John Curtis | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
just said there was an 11% gap in the results, Labour 11% behind. The | :25:23. | :25:28. | |
polls before that suggested Labour were anything up to 20% behind. Was | :25:29. | :25:33. | |
it a great day for Labour? Certainly not. Is there a lot to do between | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
now and June? Sure, but we are relishing every moment of that. | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
Comparing equivalent elections in 2013, the Tories increased their | :25:45. | :25:48. | |
share of the vote by 13%. You lost 2%. That's a net of 15%. In what way | :25:49. | :25:58. | |
is that closing the gap? We have gone down to 11 points behind. Am I | :25:59. | :26:05. | |
satisfied? Certainly not. Is Labour satisfied? Certainly not. A week is | :26:06. | :26:09. | |
a long time in politics, 4-5 weeks is even longer. The local elections | :26:10. | :26:13. | |
are over, the general election campaign is starting, and we want to | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
put out there the policies that will improve the lives of low and middle | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
income earners. And also many people looking to be well off as well. You | :26:23. | :26:28. | |
lost 133 seats in Scotland. Are you closing the gap in Scotland? The | :26:29. | :26:34. | |
journey back for Labour in Scotland, I always thought, wouldn't be an | :26:35. | :26:37. | |
easy one. Since the council election results and Scotland that we are | :26:38. | :26:42. | |
comparing this to, there has been an independence referendum and the | :26:43. | :26:46. | |
terrible results for Labour in the 2015 general election. So it is a | :26:47. | :26:50. | |
challenge, but one hundreds of thousands of Labour members are | :26:51. | :26:54. | |
determined to meet. That is why we're talking about bread and butter | :26:55. | :26:57. | |
policies to make people's lives better. These local elections took | :26:58. | :27:04. | |
place midtown. Normally mid-term was the worst time for a government. -- | :27:05. | :27:10. | |
took place midterm. And the best for an opposition. That is a feature of | :27:11. | :27:16. | |
British politics. So why did you lose 382 councillors in a midterm | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
election? As Andy Burnham said when he gave his acceptance speech after | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
his terrific first ballot result win in Manchester, it was an evening of | :27:27. | :27:32. | |
mixed results for Labour. Generally bad, wasn't it? Why did you lose all | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
of these councillors midterm? It is not a welcome result for Labour, I | :27:37. | :27:41. | |
am not going to be deluded. But what I and the Labour Party are focused | :27:42. | :27:45. | |
on is the next four weeks. And how we are going to put across policies | :27:46. | :27:50. | |
like free school meals for primary school children, ?10 an hour minimum | :27:51. | :27:55. | |
wage, the pledge not to increase tax for low and middle earners, 95% of | :27:56. | :28:01. | |
earners in this country. And saving the NHS from privatisation and | :28:02. | :28:04. | |
funding it properly. These are just some of the policies, including by | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
the way a boost in carers' allowance, that will make the lives | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
of people in Britain better off. Labour are for the many, not for the | :28:14. | :28:20. | |
few. But people like from political parties aspiring to government is to | :28:21. | :28:24. | |
be united and to be singing from the same song sheet among the leaders. | :28:25. | :28:28. | |
You mentioned Andy Burnham. Why did he not join Mr Corbyn when Jeremy | :28:29. | :28:32. | |
Corbyn went to the rally in Manchester on Friday to celebrate | :28:33. | :28:38. | |
his victory? First of all, Andy Burnham did a radio interview | :28:39. | :28:41. | |
straight after his great victory in which he said Jeremy Corbyn helped | :28:42. | :28:45. | |
him to win votes in that election. Why didn't he turn up? As to the | :28:46. | :28:52. | |
reason Andy Burnham wasn't there at the meeting Jeremy was doing in | :28:53. | :28:57. | |
Manchester, it was because, I understand, Andy was booked into | :28:58. | :29:00. | |
celebrate his victory with his family that night. I don't begrudge | :29:01. | :29:05. | |
him that and hopefully you don't. The leader has made the effort to | :29:06. | :29:08. | |
travel to Manchester to celebrate one of the few victories you enjoyed | :29:09. | :29:12. | |
on Thursday, surely you would join the leader and celebrate together? | :29:13. | :29:17. | |
Well, I don't regard, and I am sure you don't, Andy Burnham a nice time | :29:18. | :29:22. | |
with his family... -- I don't begrudge. He made it clear Jeremy | :29:23. | :29:28. | |
Corbyn assisted him. I can see you are not convinced yourself. I am | :29:29. | :29:36. | |
convinced. The outgoing Labour leader in Derbyshire lost his seat | :29:37. | :29:41. | |
on Thursday, you lost Derbyshire, which was a surprise in itself... He | :29:42. | :29:46. | |
said that genuine party supporters said they were not voting Labour | :29:47. | :29:50. | |
while you have Jeremy Corbyn as leader. Are you hearing that on the | :29:51. | :29:57. | |
doorstep too? I have been knocking on hundreds of doors this week in my | :29:58. | :30:01. | |
constituency and elsewhere. And of course, you never get every single | :30:02. | :30:05. | |
voter thinking the leader of any political party is the greatest | :30:06. | :30:11. | |
thing since sliced bread. But it's only on a minority of doorsteps that | :30:12. | :30:15. | |
people are criticising the Labour leader. Most people aren't even | :30:16. | :30:20. | |
talking about these questions. Most people are talking about Jeremy | :30:21. | :30:24. | |
Corbyn's policies, free primary school meals, ?10 an hour minimum | :30:25. | :30:31. | |
wage. Also policies such as paternity pay, maternity pay and | :30:32. | :30:34. | |
sickness pay for the self-employed, that have been hard-pressed under | :30:35. | :30:38. | |
this government. So I don't recognise that pitch of despondency, | :30:39. | :30:41. | |
but I understand that in different areas, in local elections, | :30:42. | :30:46. | |
perspectives are different. That was Derbyshire. The outgoing Labour | :30:47. | :30:51. | |
leader of Nottinghamshire County Council said there was concern on | :30:52. | :30:53. | |
the doorstep about whether Jeremy Corbyn was the right person to lead | :30:54. | :30:59. | |
the Labour Party, and even Rotherham, loyal to Mr Corbyn, won | :31:00. | :31:03. | |
the mail contest in Liverpool, he said that the Labour leader was more | :31:04. | :31:10. | |
might on the doorstep. -- the mayor contest. Does that explain some of | :31:11. | :31:14. | |
the performance on Thursday? I am confident that in the next four | :31:15. | :31:18. | |
weeks, when we get into coverage on television, that people will see | :31:19. | :31:23. | |
further the kind of open leadership Jeremy provides. In contrast to | :31:24. | :31:27. | |
Theresa May's refusal to meet ordinary people. She came to my | :31:28. | :31:31. | |
constituency and I don't think that a single person who lives here. And | :31:32. | :31:35. | |
also she is ducking the chance to debate with Jeremy Corbyn on TV. She | :31:36. | :31:38. | |
should do it and let the people decide. I don't know why she won't. | :31:39. | :31:45. | |
Finally, the Labour mantra is that you are the party of the ordinary | :31:46. | :31:50. | |
people, why is it the case that among what advertisers call C2s, D | :31:51. | :32:03. | |
and E', how can you on the pulse of that social group, how can you do | :32:04. | :32:09. | |
that? Our policy is to assist, protect and improve the living | :32:10. | :32:13. | |
standards of people in those groups and our policy is to protect the | :32:14. | :32:16. | |
living standards of the majority... They do not seem to be convinced? We | :32:17. | :32:20. | |
have four weeks to convince them and I believe that we will. Thank you | :32:21. | :32:22. | |
for coming onto the programme. But the wooden spoon from Thursday's | :32:23. | :32:25. | |
elections undoubtedly went to Ukip. Four years ago the party | :32:26. | :32:31. | |
won its best ever local government performance, | :32:32. | :32:34. | |
but this time its support just Ukip's share of the vote | :32:35. | :32:36. | |
plunging by as much as 18 points, most obviously | :32:37. | :32:39. | |
benefiting the Conservatives. So is it all over for | :32:40. | :32:43. | |
the self-styled people's army? Well we're joined now | :32:44. | :32:45. | |
by the party's leader in the Welsh Assembly, | :32:46. | :32:47. | |
Neil Hamilton, he's in Cardiff. Neil Hamilton, welcome. Ukip | :32:48. | :32:58. | |
finished local elections gaining the same number of councillors as the | :32:59. | :33:02. | |
Rubbish Party, one. That sums up your prospects, doesn't | :33:03. | :33:08. | |
it? Rubbish? We have been around a long time and seemed that I'd go | :33:09. | :33:14. | |
out, go in again, we will keep calm and carry on. We are in a phoney | :33:15. | :33:18. | |
war, negotiations on Brexit have not started but what we know from | :33:19. | :33:22. | |
Theresa May is that in seven years, as Home Secretary and Prime | :33:23. | :33:26. | |
Minister, she has completely failed to control immigration which was one | :33:27. | :33:30. | |
of the great driving forces behind the Brexit result. I'm not really | :33:31. | :33:36. | |
looking for any great success in immigration from the Tories, and a | :33:37. | :33:39. | |
lot of people who have previously voted for Ukip will be back in our | :33:40. | :33:44. | |
part of the field again. They don't seem to care about that at the | :33:45. | :33:49. | |
moment, your party lost 147 council seats. You gain one. It is time to | :33:50. | :33:55. | |
shut up shop, isn't it? You are right, the voters are not focusing | :33:56. | :33:59. | |
on other domestic issues at the moment. They have made up their | :34:00. | :34:02. | |
minds going into these negotiations in Brussels, Theresa May, as Prime | :34:03. | :34:07. | |
Minister, needs as much support as she can get. I think they are wrong | :34:08. | :34:12. | |
in this respect, it would be better to have a cohort of Ukip MPs to back | :34:13. | :34:18. | |
her up. She was greatly helped by the intervention of Mr Juncker last | :34:19. | :34:24. | |
week as well, the stupidity in how the European Commission has tried to | :34:25. | :34:27. | |
bully the British government, in those circumstances the British | :34:28. | :34:30. | |
people will react in one way going the opposite way to what the | :34:31. | :34:36. | |
Brussels establishment one. She has been fortunate as an acute tactician | :34:37. | :34:39. | |
in having the election now. I struggle to see the way back for | :34:40. | :34:43. | |
your party. You aren't a threat to the Tories in the south. Ukip voters | :34:44. | :34:48. | |
are flocking to the Tories in the south. You don't threaten Labour in | :34:49. | :34:53. | |
the north. It is the Tories who threaten Labour now in the north. | :34:54. | :34:56. | |
There is no room to progress, is there? The reality will be is that | :34:57. | :35:02. | |
once we are back on the domestic agenda again, and the Brexit | :35:03. | :35:06. | |
negotiations are concluded, we will know what the outcome is. And the | :35:07. | :35:12. | |
focus will be on bread and butter issues. We have all sorts of | :35:13. | :35:15. | |
policies in our programme which other parties cannot match us on. | :35:16. | :35:21. | |
The talk is putting up taxes to help the health service, we would scrap | :35:22. | :35:25. | |
the foreign aid budget and put another ?8 billion in the health | :35:26. | :35:28. | |
service, no other party says that. These policies would be popular with | :35:29. | :35:34. | |
the ordinary working person. Is Paul Nuttall to blame on the meltdown of | :35:35. | :35:39. | |
what happened, no matter who is leader? These are cosmic forces | :35:40. | :35:42. | |
beyond the control of any individual at the moment, it is certainly not | :35:43. | :35:46. | |
Paul Nuttall's .com he's been in the job for six months and in half that | :35:47. | :35:52. | |
time he was fighting a by-election -- certainly not Paul Nuttall's | :35:53. | :35:57. | |
fault. We have two become more professional than we have been | :35:58. | :36:00. | |
recently. It has not been a brilliant year for Ukip one way or | :36:01. | :36:06. | |
another, as you know, but there are prospects, in future, that are very | :36:07. | :36:09. | |
rosy. I do not believe that the Tories will deliver on other | :36:10. | :36:13. | |
promises that they are now making. The Welsh assembly elections are not | :36:14. | :36:17. | |
until 2021, you are a member of that, but at that point you will not | :36:18. | :36:21. | |
have any MEPs, because we will be out on the timetable. With this | :36:22. | :36:27. | |
current showing he will have no end', you could be Ukip's most | :36:28. | :36:34. | |
senior elected representative. That would be a turnout for the books! -- | :36:35. | :36:42. | |
no elected MPs. The Tories are not promoting the policies that I | :36:43. | :36:45. | |
believe them. You will see that in the Ukip manifesto when it is | :36:46. | :36:51. | |
shortly publish... Leaders talk mainly about the male genital | :36:52. | :37:01. | |
mutilation and is -- female and burqas. No, when the manifesto | :37:02. | :37:06. | |
launched, we have a lot of policies, I spoke moments ago about it, but | :37:07. | :37:12. | |
also on foreign aid. Scrapping green taxes, to cut people's electricity | :37:13. | :37:17. | |
bills by ?300 per year on average. There are a lot of popular policies | :37:18. | :37:25. | |
that we have. We will hear more from that in the weeks to come. | :37:26. | :37:29. | |
Paul Nuttall said "If the price of written leaving the year is a Tory | :37:30. | :37:34. | |
advance after taking up this patriarch course, it is a price that | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
Ukip is prepared to pay". That sounds like a surrender statement? | :37:40. | :37:43. | |
It is a statement of fact, the main agenda is to get out of the EU and | :37:44. | :37:49. | |
have full Brexit. That is why Ukip came into existence 20 years ago. | :37:50. | :37:55. | |
When it is achieved, we go back to the normal political battle lines. | :37:56. | :37:59. | |
Niall Hamilton in Cardiff, thank you very much for joining us. | :38:00. | :38:03. | |
It's just gone 11.35am, you're watching the Sunday Politics. | :38:04. | :38:05. | |
We say goodbye to viewers in Scotland, who leave us now | :38:06. | :38:08. | |
Coming up here in 20 minutes - we'll be talking about the French | :38:09. | :38:20. | |
Hello and welcome to our Sunday Politics East election special. | :38:21. | :38:24. | |
Let's start with the winners and losers in the county council | :38:25. | :38:28. | |
This is how it looked before this week. | :38:29. | :38:39. | |
Three county councils in no overall control. | :38:40. | :38:40. | |
with the Conservatives in control of all the six counties | :38:41. | :38:46. | |
where elections were held. This is what happened. | :38:47. | :38:49. | |
The Conservatives were already by far the biggest party | :38:50. | :38:51. | |
and Ukip had a significant number of county councillors. | :38:52. | :38:56. | |
But not any more. Ukip lost every seat. | :38:57. | :38:58. | |
And the Conservatives made huge gains. | :38:59. | :39:01. | |
Labour are down eight across the region. | :39:02. | :39:06. | |
Ukip down by 48 and the Green Party lost half its seats, down by four. | :39:07. | :39:15. | |
But it is the share of the vote that throws up some differences. | :39:16. | :39:18. | |
In 2013, the last time these seats were fought, | :39:19. | :39:21. | |
Labour and UKIP were almost neck and neck. | :39:22. | :39:24. | |
This time, Labour held on to its share. | :39:25. | :39:27. | |
Ukip fell by 16% and the Conservatives went up by 12%. | :39:28. | :39:30. | |
Their share of the vote went up by 5%, | :39:31. | :39:38. | |
Here is the story of what happened at the polls. | :39:39. | :39:52. | |
The response we have had from the public in coming out | :39:53. | :40:07. | |
of their houses is yesterday and through postal votes, to vote | :40:08. | :40:10. | |
The Prime Minister and the Conservative Party | :40:11. | :40:13. | |
are doing a brilliant job on Brexit Brexit and | :40:14. | :40:15. | |
I think the people of Britain are behind that. | :40:16. | :40:18. | |
Theresa May has got a trust factor, which I have not seen, | :40:19. | :40:21. | |
for a Conservative Prime Minister, in my political lifetime. | :40:22. | :40:26. | |
The difference has been the European Referendum | :40:27. | :40:27. | |
on the demise of Ukip, no doubt about that. | :40:28. | :40:30. | |
And the Conservative voters have come home. | :40:31. | :40:33. | |
This is a bad night for Ukip and I cannot deny it. | :40:34. | :40:46. | |
I think, within Ukip, we are seeing this as the | :40:47. | :40:49. | |
Theresa May effect and it is reverberating around England. | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
We came in on a tsunami and we are going out on one. | :40:55. | :40:58. | |
Something has seriously gone wrong with the leadership. | :40:59. | :41:00. | |
We have not managed to get our policies across. | :41:01. | :41:04. | |
Ukip gave the public an alternative to vote for. | :41:05. | :41:06. | |
I've really enjoyed the experience and I hope | :41:07. | :41:10. | |
to fight on for Ukip and I think we can probably come back later on. | :41:11. | :41:29. | |
We went out to talk about what we believe are local issues | :41:30. | :41:43. | |
and who we could make real change in Harlow over these issues. | :41:44. | :41:46. | |
But the electorate have made a choice and made a decision. | :41:47. | :41:52. | |
Brexit is still on the minds of a great number of people, | :41:53. | :41:55. | |
This is not an election about Brexit. | :41:56. | :41:59. | |
All the MPs and members are getting behind Jeremy Corbyn. | :42:00. | :42:08. | |
They are seeing some really good policies coming out now. | :42:09. | :42:11. | |
I am speaking to people who do recognise that. | :42:12. | :42:18. | |
It shows that we are the ones the public recognise | :42:19. | :42:30. | |
I had a number of conversations on the doorstep with Labour voters | :42:31. | :42:35. | |
in the ward I now represent and they were saying | :42:36. | :42:37. | |
that they had been Labour voters for years but are now voting | :42:38. | :42:40. | |
That is only going to increase as we run into the general election. | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
They know that they can trust us with the economy. | :42:46. | :42:52. | |
I'm not going to say, put things right, but change | :42:53. | :42:56. | |
things for the better, because we have really important job | :42:57. | :43:01. | |
At the moment, the Tory Party just seems to be a rolling train. | :43:02. | :43:05. | |
And someone needs to hold them to account or there will be too | :43:06. | :43:08. | |
much power for one party, which is never good. | :43:09. | :43:15. | |
Here with me are Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrats' Health | :43:16. | :43:21. | |
Spokesman, Councillor Lisa Duffy for UKIP, Councillor George Nobbs, | :43:22. | :43:24. | |
Labour leader of the opposition on Norfolk Council and David Finch, | :43:25. | :43:27. | |
the Conservative Leader of Essex County Council. | :43:28. | :43:44. | |
Very difficult and I wasn't for you? We knew it was going to be | :43:45. | :43:51. | |
difficult. We did not expect to lose all the seats, but we will have to | :43:52. | :43:57. | |
build on it. We still have 300 district councillors they and they | :43:58. | :44:00. | |
are still delivering for local people. But you said they were | :44:01. | :44:11. | |
fighting on local issues. We wear. We are a come from as an example, | :44:12. | :44:24. | |
what NEP got honoured in the New Year 's list because of his local | :44:25. | :44:29. | |
work. But I think it was all to do with the Prime Minister. I think it | :44:30. | :44:42. | |
was her please only election. Norman, it has been said that the | :44:43. | :44:46. | |
Liberal Democrats do very well in by-elections and therefore they were | :44:47. | :44:51. | |
expecting a good result? I think the calling of the general election and | :44:52. | :44:56. | |
a big defeat. I think people have been thinking in national terms | :44:57. | :45:00. | |
rather than electing a local councillor. Despite that, we are | :45:01. | :45:07. | |
about 5% across the region. There are areas we did very well. In | :45:08. | :45:12. | |
Cambridge, we have another chance of leading the seat. In North Norfolk, | :45:13. | :45:24. | |
we need to James. We know hold seven out of the ten county council seats | :45:25. | :45:28. | |
in North Norfolk. Poor people in North Norfolk. Poor people | :45:29. | :45:34. | |
actually talking about on the doorstep? National issues as opposed | :45:35. | :45:41. | |
to local issues? Absolutely. People do not differentiate between them, | :45:42. | :45:43. | |
they simply talk about what is concerning them at the same. The | :45:44. | :45:50. | |
reality is we are heading for a landslide conservative majority. Do | :45:51. | :45:51. | |
we want a 1-party state or do we we want a 1-party state or do we | :45:52. | :45:57. | |
want an effective opposition? We will stick with local issues, you | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
said it was about national issues, but nobody mentioned Brexit or your | :46:02. | :46:12. | |
leader? I did not say that at all! I said very much the same as Norman. | :46:13. | :46:19. | |
This was a local election until the general election was cold. Up until | :46:20. | :46:23. | |
then, people had been talking about local issues. In Norfolk, it is the | :46:24. | :46:37. | |
only Labour group in the creative weary in case our seats. That was | :46:38. | :46:42. | |
about local issues. But if you go back one year, when you had this | :46:43. | :46:50. | |
rainbow coalition preview release of the council. That is not going to | :46:51. | :46:56. | |
happen. That is because one party has collapsed. That is what has | :46:57. | :47:02. | |
happened. I think equal elision is still popular impossible. I think | :47:03. | :47:12. | |
local people liked what we did. If the election continued to have been | :47:13. | :47:17. | |
fought on local issues, I think we would have done well. Is that true? | :47:18. | :47:22. | |
I think both Norman and George are I think both Norman and George are | :47:23. | :47:28. | |
missing your point. The election for Essex is a real endorsement of | :47:29. | :47:31. | |
conservative policies of low taxation. The point they both must, | :47:32. | :47:40. | |
if only me, is that we have a very strong leader. She has been very | :47:41. | :47:47. | |
clear about Brexit the policies of the party. Both the opposition | :47:48. | :47:55. | |
parties have field in that way. People are being taken for granted. | :47:56. | :48:07. | |
If there is a blue sweep across the region, people will just take it for | :48:08. | :48:14. | |
granted. But local government is strapped for cash. Clearly she is | :48:15. | :48:19. | |
playing her part in that? In Essex and all the other shire counties, | :48:20. | :48:25. | |
they are dealing with that. They are innovating and looking at the week | :48:26. | :48:33. | |
we deliver services. Come on. Give me a minute and then you can have | :48:34. | :48:39. | |
your say. We have taken ?600 million note. You have had to do things you | :48:40. | :48:44. | |
did not do. We have frozen council tax for five years. That has into | :48:45. | :48:52. | |
the pockets of the residents. But you have had to act on social care | :48:53. | :48:58. | |
and had to do things you did not want to do. Let me finish! I will | :48:59. | :49:12. | |
not interrupt you! We are the party with the knowledge and ability to | :49:13. | :49:18. | |
reduce taxation and to divide -- provide excellent services. You know | :49:19. | :49:25. | |
that is not true. Nobody has protested more, to your credit, the | :49:26. | :49:29. | |
lack of funding in social services. You know very well in that in your | :49:30. | :49:37. | |
heart. To sit there and see we have saved money is simply not true. I | :49:38. | :49:47. | |
have saved 600 million and frozen council tax for five years. But you | :49:48. | :49:51. | |
did write to David Cameron to complain? I did. Do you think adult | :49:52. | :50:06. | |
social care has adequately funded by the government? I think they have | :50:07. | :50:13. | |
given an extra ?2 billion. David and I agree on the need to work across | :50:14. | :50:19. | |
the parties that it is unusual for the NHS and the social care system. | :50:20. | :50:26. | |
My you feel as if the Conservatives are elected with the huge majority | :50:27. | :50:30. | |
without an effective opposition they will take things clearly more for | :50:31. | :50:34. | |
granted. That is why you need an effective opposition. Can I say, | :50:35. | :50:43. | |
with Norman on that, in Cambridgeshire, the Conservatives | :50:44. | :50:46. | |
have cost the county, the district, the town, they have put up taxes to | :50:47. | :50:53. | |
the maximum. I think there is not enough money for adult social care. | :50:54. | :50:59. | |
As is a party when to call for the foreign aid budget to be trucked to | :51:00. | :51:04. | |
give some flexibility on money to spend at home on the likes mental | :51:05. | :51:16. | |
ill services. Having a one party state is very bad going forward. I | :51:17. | :51:22. | |
think this idea that it would be a 1-party state is overly exaggerated. | :51:23. | :51:30. | |
It tizzy skier story. All this power corrupts. It would not be absolute | :51:31. | :51:39. | |
power. Is it not the fault of the opposition parties that the | :51:40. | :51:47. | |
Conservatives are doing so well? We have to make our case why it would | :51:48. | :51:53. | |
be dangerous for the Conservatives to win with the huge majority. This | :51:54. | :52:02. | |
reduction of the foreign aid budget. Would you go a long with that? I | :52:03. | :52:06. | |
think you could look after the coolest people in the world and have | :52:07. | :52:13. | |
an effective and efficient NHS. The two are not mutually exclusive. | :52:14. | :52:20. | |
There is insufficient money and four in need. That is not the answer. -- | :52:21. | :52:31. | |
foreign aid. I think we need an increase of 10% in all our budgets. | :52:32. | :52:40. | |
We are talking about local elections. I am trying to get that | :52:41. | :52:44. | |
in! And it was not just the county | :52:45. | :52:48. | |
councils where they had elections. This week, history was made, | :52:49. | :52:51. | |
when people in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough voted | :52:52. | :52:53. | |
to elect a mayor. The Conservative | :52:54. | :52:54. | |
candidate was elected, seeing off a strong | :52:55. | :52:56. | |
challenge from the LibDems. The new mayor will have extra powers | :52:57. | :52:58. | |
over transport and housing and will take control of a budget | :52:59. | :53:00. | |
of million of pounds. I think I can work initially | :53:01. | :53:06. | |
on those pinchpoints I have spoken to the distrct | :53:07. | :53:09. | |
and county leaders, the city leader of Peterborough and have asked them | :53:10. | :53:12. | |
to bring forward projects to me. And we will get on with | :53:13. | :53:15. | |
them straight away. But I have also been very bold | :53:16. | :53:17. | |
in saying that this county needs upgraded infrastructure | :53:18. | :53:21. | |
from the north to the south and I will be putting together | :53:22. | :53:22. | |
business plans to sell, and to get investment | :53:23. | :53:25. | |
into, this county. So, it has been a busy week, | :53:26. | :53:32. | |
with two important elections. Five weeks from now | :53:33. | :53:35. | |
we will do it all again, this time in a general | :53:36. | :53:37. | |
election, on June 8. We asked our political | :53:38. | :53:39. | |
reporters across the region what the results of the county | :53:40. | :53:41. | |
council elections might The Conservatives have just smashed | :53:42. | :53:43. | |
the Essex County Council elections. June's general election | :53:44. | :53:49. | |
is possibly their best-ever chance Ukip came second four | :53:50. | :53:51. | |
years ago, but now do not have a single county councillor | :53:52. | :53:57. | |
and their vote collapsed in Clacton, where they had won their only | :53:58. | :54:00. | |
Westminster seat. The town is one of their best | :54:01. | :54:04. | |
chances of getting A Liberal Democrat | :54:05. | :54:10. | |
comeback in Colchester, with former MP Sir Bob Russell | :54:11. | :54:16. | |
standing, is a possibility. But on Thursday, they went backwards | :54:17. | :54:19. | |
in their old backyard. Here in Suffolk, all seven seats | :54:20. | :54:27. | |
are held by the Conservatives. But we can really only | :54:28. | :54:29. | |
expected a real fight That is here in Ipswich, | :54:30. | :54:32. | |
where cabinet minister Ben Gummer will be defending his seat | :54:33. | :54:35. | |
and Labour will be hoping that their candidate Sandy Martin | :54:36. | :54:38. | |
can turn over the 3,733 majority. Labour will also be | :54:39. | :54:48. | |
targeting the seat just up the coast in Waveney, | :54:49. | :54:50. | |
coast, where just 2,000 votes In other parts of Suffolk, | :54:51. | :54:52. | |
there would have to be a major swing if any of the other parties | :54:53. | :54:59. | |
are to get a look-in. In Norfolk, one of the major | :55:00. | :55:04. | |
battlegrounds will be It was a Remain-voting constituency, | :55:05. | :55:06. | |
but was once held by the Liberal It was won last time | :55:07. | :55:10. | |
by Labour's Clive Lewis. All the parties, including | :55:11. | :55:13. | |
the Greens, see this Up the coast, in North Norfolk, the | :55:14. | :55:15. | |
Tories are getting ready for a big battle with the Liberal | :55:16. | :55:20. | |
Democrat MP, Norman Lamb. Last time round, he had the majority | :55:21. | :55:36. | |
of 4000. A thousand people voted for Ukip. Here in Cambridgeshire, it is | :55:37. | :55:45. | |
Cambridge which will play host to a bitter battle between the Labour | :55:46. | :55:54. | |
Party and the Liberal Democrats. In Peterborough, Stuart Jackson is | :55:55. | :56:00. | |
likely to increase his majority. Ukip Arbat came the Brexit here | :56:01. | :56:03. | |
Tory. The Conservatives are likely to | :56:04. | :56:12. | |
retain their seats, but the real drama will be in Cambridge. In | :56:13. | :56:17. | |
Northamptonshire, it is often said you need to win Corby to be in | :56:18. | :56:26. | |
government. With a majority of around 200 -- 2000, it is the | :56:27. | :56:37. | |
closest contest here. Ukip Team second-tier Lizzie did another local | :56:38. | :56:45. | |
marginal. A lot of the attention he will be based on the M1 corridor. A | :56:46. | :56:51. | |
lot of seats will see clashes between Conservatives and Labour | :56:52. | :56:56. | |
parties. The likes of Milton Keynes in Bedford. It is the same picture | :56:57. | :57:02. | |
in Stevenage. Labour will be trying to reading this seats it once held. | :57:03. | :57:20. | |
It also holds two seats in Luton. This decapitation campaign by the | :57:21. | :57:23. | |
Conservatives seem to work last time. Are you concerned? Having been | :57:24. | :57:30. | |
in coalition with the Conservatives, they pretty much destroyed us. Who | :57:31. | :57:35. | |
knows what happens? I know I will have a battle on my hands. I will go | :57:36. | :57:46. | |
on my record of what I have done in the constituency and the commitment | :57:47. | :57:50. | |
I have always short. I think that is the need for other voices in | :57:51. | :57:56. | |
Parliament. I think this 1-party state is very dangerous. Focusing on | :57:57. | :58:02. | |
certain opposition groups, the Labour Party have focused on a lot | :58:03. | :58:08. | |
of green seats, certainly in the local elections. Will that happen | :58:09. | :58:13. | |
this time? We have never focused on that. You parked tanks on the front | :58:14. | :58:30. | |
garden! We did take the from the Greens. Worst year of the vote in | :58:31. | :58:39. | |
Norfolk held up. I think it is looking good in Norfolk and Suffolk | :58:40. | :58:43. | |
and Cambridgeshire. I am quite optimistic. I think, in the Eastern | :58:44. | :58:51. | |
counties, the labour share of the vote held up. But surely you should | :58:52. | :58:56. | |
be doing much better at this time? This election is not normal, it has | :58:57. | :59:08. | |
been polled over one thing, Brexit. I am going to talk to Lisa, if you | :59:09. | :59:15. | |
do not mind! I think the general election is very different. It is | :59:16. | :59:24. | |
all about Brexit. Do we believe the Prime Minister when she gets this | :59:25. | :59:28. | |
big majority at anything different role happen? I am not so sure. I do | :59:29. | :59:36. | |
not think she will. Looking at our track record in the Home Office. But | :59:37. | :59:43. | |
we are not standing in certain seats, such as Peterborough, because | :59:44. | :59:48. | |
we want good voices back into Parliament. It is very strategic. In | :59:49. | :59:57. | |
the eastern counties, we will be focusing on certain constituencies. | :59:58. | :00:03. | |
I think we will see some significant votes coming back to as during the | :00:04. | :00:09. | |
election. This 1-party thing is a problem. Doesn't not worry you that | :00:10. | :00:12. | |
maybe if there is no strong opposition that things for the | :00:13. | :00:18. | |
Conservative Party could be moved to a place you do not want? The reason | :00:19. | :00:25. | |
the talk is about 1-party state is because the opposition parties want | :00:26. | :00:29. | |
to scare mongering freight in people. The reality, if Amy, as they | :00:30. | :00:35. | |
do not have good policies or policies people do not want to | :00:36. | :00:38. | |
support. These two parties are Remainers. We did not | :00:39. | :00:59. | |
elect the Prime Minister, we elect MPs. This is about funding for our | :01:00. | :01:07. | |
hospitals and schools. I need to wind you a lot? Allah, I need to | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
wind up! housing associations and investment, | :01:12. | :01:16. | |
but we have run out of time, thank you. Andrew. | :01:17. | :01:26. | |
Four weeks to go until polling day on the 8th of June, what will the | :01:27. | :01:33. | |
party strategies be for the remaining four weeks? Let's begin | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
with the Conservatives. Do they just try to continue to play it safe for | :01:38. | :01:43. | |
four weeks? Yes, with this important qualification. Theresa May Corp this | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
election to get her own personal mandate partly, partly because she | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
thought she would win big but to get her own personal mandate. Therefore, | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
she needs to define it. In her own interests and to do with | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
accountability to the country. So clearly, they will not take risks | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
when they are so far ahead in the polls. What they do say in the | :02:07. | :02:07. | |
manifesto matters in terms of the space that she has in | :02:08. | :02:14. | |
the coming years to define her leadership against David Cameron 's. | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
She is a free figure, partly on the basis of what she says as to how big | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
she wins. They cannot just play it safe and repeat their mantra of | :02:24. | :02:34. | |
strong and stable leadership, if she is going to claim her own mandate, | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
they need the top policy? Yes, and what is unusual about this is that | :02:40. | :02:42. | |
the manifesto matters far more because of what they need to do with | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
it afterwards, than in terms of whether it is going to win anybody | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
over now. Clearly, the strategy is yes, we do have two layout out a few | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
things, there are interesting debates as to whether, for example, | :02:56. | :02:59. | |
they will still commit to this ambition of reducing immigration to | :03:00. | :03:02. | |
the tens of thousands, we do not know the answer yet. It is a | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
question on whether she is setting herself up for difficulties later | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
on. It will be a short manifesto, I would venture to guess? It is in her | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
interests to be as noncommittal as possible, that argues for a short | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
manifesto but what does strike me about the Conservative campaign, | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
aside from the ambiguity on policy, is how personal it is. I think | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
Theresa May, in her most recent speech, referred to "My local | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
candidates", rather than Parliamentary candidates, very much | :03:37. | :03:39. | |
framing it as a presidential candidate in France or the USA. Not | :03:40. | :03:46. | |
a rational on her part. Everything I hear from the MPs on the ground and | :03:47. | :03:51. | |
the focus groups being done by the parties, is that a big chunk of the | :03:52. | :03:54. | |
population personally identify with her. If you can wrap up Middle | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
England into a physical object and embody it in a person, it would be | :03:59. | :04:03. | |
her. Although Jeremy Corbyn's unpopularity accounts for a big | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
slice of her popularity, she has done a good job of bonding with the | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
public. We never saw that coming! But you may well be right. That is | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
happening now. Labour say it wants the Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
to play a more prominent role in the Labour campaign, he was on The | :04:21. | :04:23. | |
Andrew Marr Show this morning and he was asked if he was a Marxist, he | :04:24. | :04:26. | |
denied that he was. It surprised me as I had seen tape from before | :04:27. | :04:32. | |
saying that he was proud of it. Let's look now and then. Are you a | :04:33. | :04:40. | |
Marxist? I believe that there is a lot to learn... Yes or no? I believe | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
that there is a lot to learn from reading capital, that is recommended | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
not only by me but measuring economists as well. I also believe | :04:50. | :04:52. | |
that in the long tradition of the Labour Party... We need to demand | :04:53. | :05:01. | |
systemic change. I am a Marxist. This is a classic crisis of the | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
economy. A capitalist crisis. I've been waiting for this for a | :05:06. | :05:11. | |
generation! That was from about four years ago. No, I'm not a Marxist, | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
yes, I am a Marxist... I've been waiting for the Marxist revolution | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
my whole life... Does this kind of thing matter? Yes, but in fairness, | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
I think he is a really good interviewee. The Shadow Cabinet have | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
untested figures in a national campaign. None have ever been | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
exposed at any level to a national media campaign that they are about | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
to experience. He is the best interviewee. In fairness to him, | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
when he gave that clip four years ago, I bet he never dream that he | :05:44. | :05:49. | |
would be in a senior front bench position. But the background is | :05:50. | :05:53. | |
clear. They are of the left, and I think they would all have described | :05:54. | :05:56. | |
it. Jeremy Corbyn would have done, he is close to being like Tony Benn. | :05:57. | :06:03. | |
There are about four Labour campaign is being fought in this election. | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
Their campaign, the old Shadow Cabinet, campaigning in | :06:09. | :06:11. | |
constituencies, but not identifying with that campaign. There is the | :06:12. | :06:17. | |
former Labour leader Tony Blair. Is it damaging? I think so, if they | :06:18. | :06:22. | |
could be damaged any further, I could see all of the Labour MPs with | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
their heads in their hands. What I am hearing from Labour MPs is that | :06:28. | :06:30. | |
there is not one of them who do not feel that they have a horrendous | :06:31. | :06:34. | |
battle on their hands. These will be very individual local campaigns, | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
where local MPs are winning despite the party leadership and not because | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
of it. Already, talk is turning to what happens next. Is there anyway | :06:43. | :06:49. | |
that Jeremy Corbyn, giving a horrendous set of general election | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
results as many anticipate, may stay on all the same? It is not clear | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
that even if the polls are right, that Mr Corbyn will go? John | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
McDonnell implied it might not be the case but previously, he said it | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
would be. What do you make of reports that the Labour strategy is | :07:10. | :07:14. | |
not, I cannot quite believe I am saying this, not to win seats but | :07:15. | :07:17. | |
maximise a share of the vote. If they do better than Ed Miliband with | :07:18. | :07:23. | |
30.5% of the vote, they believe they live to fight another day? Yes, it | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
reminded me of Tony Benn's speech after the 1983 election where they | :07:29. | :07:31. | |
said as bad as the Parliamentary defeat was there were 8 million | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
votes for socialism. A big section of public opinion voted for that | :07:37. | :07:44. | |
manifesto. I wonder whether that is Corbyn's supporters best chance of | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
holding onto power. Whether they can say that those votes are a platform | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
on which we can build. That said, even moderate Labour MPs and | :07:55. | :07:57. | |
desperate for a quick leadership contest. I hear a lot of them say | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
that they would like to leave it for one year. Maybe have Tom Watson as | :08:03. | :08:06. | |
an acting Labour leader. He would still have a mandate. Give the top | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
party a chance to regroup and get rid of some of its problems and | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
decide where it stands on policy. Most importantly, for potential | :08:15. | :08:18. | |
candidates to show what they are made of, rather than lurching | :08:19. | :08:21. | |
straight into an Yvette Cooper Coronation. 30 seconds on the | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
Liberal Democrats, their strategy was to mop up the Remain vote. | :08:27. | :08:33. | |
Uncertain about the Brexit party in demise. Ukip. The remain as have a | :08:34. | :08:41. | |
dilemma, the little Democrats are not a strong enough vessel with 89 | :08:42. | :08:47. | |
MPs to risk all ongoing for them -- the Liberal Democrats. Labour do not | :08:48. | :08:52. | |
know where they stand on Brexit. There is not a robust alternative | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
vessel for what is now a pro-Brexit Conservative Party. At the moment. | :08:58. | :09:05. | |
Four weeks to go, but not for France... | :09:06. | :09:07. | |
France has been voting since early this morning, and we should get | :09:08. | :09:10. | |
a first estimate of who will be the country's next President | :09:11. | :09:13. | |
Just to warn you there are some flashing images coming up. | :09:14. | :09:16. | |
The choice in France is between a centre-left liberal | :09:17. | :09:19. | |
reformer Emmanuel Macron and a right-wing nationalist | :09:20. | :09:20. | |
Marine Le Pen - both have been casting their votes this morning. | :09:21. | :09:23. | |
The two candidates topped a field of 11 presidential | :09:24. | :09:25. | |
hopefuls in the first round of elections last month. | :09:26. | :09:27. | |
The campaign has been marked by its unpredictability, | :09:28. | :09:30. | |
and in a final twist on Friday evening, just before | :09:31. | :09:36. | |
campaigning officially ended, Mr Macron's En Marche! group said | :09:37. | :09:38. | |
it had been the victim of a "massive" hack, | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
with a trove of documents released online. | :09:44. | :09:46. | |
The Macron team said real documents were mixed up with fake ones, | :09:47. | :09:49. | |
and electoral authorities warned media and the public that spreading | :09:50. | :09:51. | |
details of the leaks would breach strict election rules. | :09:52. | :10:01. | |
I'm joined now from Paris by the journalist | :10:02. | :10:03. | |
As I left Paris recently, everybody told me that there was the consensus | :10:04. | :10:16. | |
that Mr Macron would win, and win pretty comfortable you. Is there any | :10:17. | :10:22. | |
reason to doubt that? -- pretty comfortably. I don't think so, there | :10:23. | :10:26. | |
have been so many people left and right, former candidates who have | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
decided that it was more important to vote for Macron, even if it was | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
agreed with him, then run the risk of having Marine Le Pen as | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
president. I think the spread is now 20 points, 60% to Macron, 40% to Le | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
Pen. So outside of the margin of error that it would take something | :10:47. | :10:52. | |
huge for this to be observed. If the polls are right and Mr Macron wins, | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
he has to put together a government, and in May there is a Coronation, | :10:57. | :11:02. | |
then he faces parliamentary elections in June and could face a | :11:03. | :11:08. | |
fractured parliament where he does not have a clear majority for his | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
reforms. He could then faced difficulties in getting his | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
programme through? I think that right now, with how things are | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
looking, considering you have one half of the Republican party, the | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
Conservative Party, they are making clear sides, not only that they want | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
to support Macron but are supporting him actively. It means looking at | :11:34. | :11:39. | |
the equivalent of the German party, the great coalition. Depending on | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
how many seats established parties keep in the house committee may very | :11:44. | :11:46. | |
well have a Republican Prime Minister, rather than having an | :11:47. | :11:59. | |
adversarial MP, he may have someone who is relatively unknown outside of | :12:00. | :12:06. | |
France, and a young woman. Contended that lost the Parez mayorship three | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
years ago. She is a scientist and has been secretary of state. She | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
would be an interesting coalition Prime Minister. Finally, Marine Le | :12:18. | :12:24. | |
Pen, if she goes down to defeat a night, does she have the stomach and | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
ambition, and the energy, to try it all again in 2022? She has all of | :12:30. | :12:36. | |
that. The question is, would they let her? How badly would she lose? | :12:37. | :12:44. | |
Her niece, now 27, a hard-working and steady person, unlike Marine Le | :12:45. | :12:51. | |
Pen, who flunked her do paid -- debate, her niece may decide that | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
2022 is her turn. Yet another Le Pen! All right, we will see. Just | :12:56. | :13:03. | |
five years to wait, but only a few hours until the results of the | :13:04. | :13:05. | |
election tonight. And we will get the exit polls here | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
on the BBC. Given the exit polls will give as a pretty fair | :13:11. | :13:13. | |
indication of what the result is going to be tonight. That will be on | :13:14. | :13:16. | |
BBC news. That's all for today. The Daily Politics will cover every | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
turn of this election campaign, And we're back here on BBC One | :13:21. | :13:22. | |
at our usual time Next Sunday. Remember - if it's Sunday, | :13:23. | :13:27. | |
it's the Sunday Politics. Our crack team of experts | :13:28. | :13:29. | |
use pioneering research ..to how to help your pet | :13:30. | :14:13. | |
lose weight. She's got right dangly earrings | :14:14. | :14:26. | |
with sausages on them. Celebrate one of Britain's | :14:27. | :14:28. | |
greatest comedy heroes with Oh, what a lovely thing to say! | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
I'm filling up again now. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! | :14:34. | :14:44. | |
Ooh, in't she wonderful? If you're not careful, you'll end up | :14:45. | :14:45. | |
playing this sexy little blonde | :14:46. | :14:46. |