Browse content similar to 08/12/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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The morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics. First, some Sunday | :00:39. | :00:44. | |
morning cheer, if you are an MP, that is. You are set to get an 11% | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
pay rise. The Chancellor has gone from zero to hero for some, who | :00:50. | :00:55. | |
credit him for turning the economy around. We will be taking a fine | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
tooth comb to his Autumn Statement. Should this man get a pay rise? | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
Complete denial about the central facts... And 11% pay rise for Ed | :01:06. | :01:12. | |
Balls? He was certainly working hard to be heard last Thursday. We will | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
be reviewing his performance. What about this man? We will be joined by | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
England's Chief Inspector of schools. He has been writing his | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
annual report this week. Will the government achieve and a star? In | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
London, with the death of Nelson Mandela, we look at the influence he | :01:29. | :01:32. | |
had on the capital, its politics and those who met him. | :01:33. | :01:43. | |
With me, three scruffy eternal students. They would celebrate if | :01:44. | :01:49. | |
they achieved a C+. But they are all we could afford and there will be no | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
pay rise for them. They will be glued to an electronic device | :01:54. | :01:56. | |
throughout the programme and if we are lucky they might stop there | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
internet shopping and tweet something intelligent. But don't | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
hold your breath. Janan Ganesh, Helen Lewis and Nick Watt. Last | :02:07. | :02:10. | |
week, storms were battering Britain, the East Coast was hit by the worst | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
tidal surge in more than a century, thousands of people had to be | :02:15. | :02:17. | |
evacuated and Nelson Mandela died. The downed the news agenda was the | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
small matter of George Osborne's Autumn Statement. His giveaways, his | :02:23. | :02:28. | |
takeaways and his first opportunity to announce some economic cheer. | :02:29. | :02:37. | |
It might be winter outside, but in the studios it is awesome. Autumn | :02:38. | :02:48. | |
Statement time. -- autumn. This is a moment of TV history. Normally when | :02:49. | :02:51. | |
the Chancellor delivers these statements, he has to say the | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
economy is actually a lot worse than everyone predicted. This time, he | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
can stand up and say the economy is better than everybody predicted. A | :03:01. | :03:01. | |
lot better. Britain is currently growing faster | :03:02. | :03:09. | |
than any other major advanced economy. Faster than France, which | :03:10. | :03:17. | |
is contracting, faster than Germany, faster even than America. At this | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
Autumn Statement last year, there were repeated predictions that | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
borrowing would go up. Instead, borrowing is down, and down | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
significantly more than forecast. But George Osborne said the good | :03:32. | :03:34. | |
numbers still mean more tough decisions. We will not give up in | :03:35. | :03:40. | |
giving in our country's debts. We will not spend the money from lower | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
borrowing. We will not squander the harder and games of the British | :03:45. | :03:52. | |
people. -- hard earned gains. In other news, further cuts to | :03:53. | :03:55. | |
government departments. The state pension age will increase in the | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
2040s, affecting people in their 40s now. There were some goodies, like | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
discounted business rates for small businesses, free school meals for | :04:07. | :04:10. | |
infants, favoured by the Lib Dems, and those marriage tax breaks below | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
that by the Tories. But, as with all big fiscal events, it takes a while | :04:16. | :04:17. | |
for the details to sink in. The marriage tax allowance is a | :04:18. | :04:25. | |
long-standing commitment that he could not abandon. It does help | :04:26. | :04:28. | |
those families were only one goes out to work. It does not go to | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
higher rate taxpayers, I don't think. Perhaps it does, I can't | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
remember. It makes me feel guilty, I am taking them very seriously, | :04:39. | :04:44. | |
but... Shall I give you them? There is the Autumn Statement. Have that, | :04:45. | :04:47. | |
a free gift from the Sunday Politics. Is there no limit to the | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
generosity of the BBC? In the meantime, Twitter was awash | :04:52. | :05:01. | |
with unflattering pictures of a red-faced Ed Balls giving his | :05:02. | :05:04. | |
response. Some pictures were more than flattering than others. Is Ed | :05:05. | :05:11. | |
Balls OK? Should we be worrying about him? He looks very stressed. | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
There is nothing to worry about in terms of Ed balls and his analysis. | :05:16. | :05:19. | |
He and Ed Miliband have been setting the pace in terms of the focus on | :05:20. | :05:27. | |
the living standards crisis. It was very telling that there was not a | :05:28. | :05:30. | |
mention of living standards last time, we got 12 mentions this time. | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
Never mind what he was saying, by now everybody has a copy of the | :05:36. | :05:41. | |
all-important paperwork. Time to hand over to number cruncher | :05:42. | :05:44. | |
extraordinaire Paul Johnson from the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Of | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
course it means that things are significantly better this year and | :05:50. | :05:52. | |
next than we thought they would be just nine months ago. That has got | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
to be good news. But it is also worth looking at the growth figures | :05:57. | :06:00. | |
a few years out. They have been revised down a little bit. The | :06:01. | :06:08. | |
reason is, the view of the office of budget response ability is that the | :06:09. | :06:11. | |
long run has not really changed very much. We are getting a bit more | :06:12. | :06:14. | |
growth now, but their view is that it is at the cost of a little bit of | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
the growth we will expect in the years after the next general | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
election. As the day draws to a close, the one place there has | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
definitely been no growth is the graphics budget of my colleague, | :06:28. | :06:35. | |
Robert Preston. It's as good as it gets these days, I don't think the | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
viewers will mind. It's very Sunday Politics, if I might say. That is | :06:40. | :06:47. | |
very worrying. Was this a watershed for George | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
Osborne? Was it a watershed for Ed Balls? We can all make the case that | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
it is the wrong sort of recovery, a consumer led recovery. People are | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
spending money they don't have. At the end of the day, it for George | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
Osborne, it is growth, the first time he has been able to talk about | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
growth. It allows him to control the baseline, the fiscal debate for the | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
next generation. For Ed Balls, nearly not a good performance. But | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
don't write this man off. Judging by Twitter, Iain Dale, no friend of it | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
all is, said he did a good interview this morning on a rival TV channel. | :07:22. | :07:30. | |
I feel the fact that the Tories hate Ed Balls so passionately is probably | :07:31. | :07:33. | |
a good reason that they should hang onto him, in that Labour sends his | :07:34. | :07:40. | |
effectiveness. May be the Tories hope that they hold on to him as | :07:41. | :07:46. | |
well? A lot of people shouting at someone and mocking their speech | :07:47. | :07:49. | |
impediment, that is politics that doesn't make me want to engage. The | :07:50. | :07:52. | |
takeaway will be lots of people thinking that none of these people | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
are people they like. Who is the main heckler on the Labour front | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
bench West remarked I suppose he can't cast any stones. It would be | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
easier to sympathise with him, if it were not that David Cameron went | :08:07. | :08:09. | |
through a similar situation and John Bercow did not step in to stop the | :08:10. | :08:15. | |
wall of noise. It was guaranteed a good happen to a Labour politician. | :08:16. | :08:23. | |
It's painful to remove him because he had a Parliamentary following and | :08:24. | :08:30. | |
he will kick up a fuss. I think he's much more pragmatic on issues like | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
business than Ed Miliband. I'm told he wasn't keen on the energy price | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
freeze. The problem with Ed Balls, to have the first words that you | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
say, the Chancellor is in denial, after he is presiding over growth, | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
it means nobody is listening to you. Who would replace him? Certainly not | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
Alistair Darling, the side of the referendum and even afterwards. Ed | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
Balls did get a roasting in the press and on Twitter. He seemed to | :08:59. | :09:01. | |
disappear from public view following the Autumn Statement. But a little | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
bird tells me he managed one interview this morning before he | :09:06. | :09:08. | |
went off to an all-important piano recital this afternoon. Watch out, | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
Jools Holland, he could be after your job. How bad was his | :09:14. | :09:16. | |
performance on Thursday? Here is the Shadow Chancellor in action. The | :09:17. | :09:22. | |
Chancellor is incomplete denial about the central facts that are | :09:23. | :09:28. | |
defining this government in office. He used to say he would balance the | :09:29. | :09:38. | |
books in 2015. Now he wants us to congratulate him for saying he will | :09:39. | :09:44. | |
do it in 2019, Mr Speaker. With this government, it is clearly not just | :09:45. | :09:51. | |
the badgers that move the goalposts. No mention of the universal credit | :09:52. | :09:58. | |
in the statement. IDS, in deep shambles, Mr Speaker. Chris Leslie | :09:59. | :10:07. | |
is the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. He is Ed Balls's deputy, | :10:08. | :10:14. | |
in other words. Why do more and more of your Labour colleagues think that | :10:15. | :10:20. | |
your boss is below the water line? I'm not sure I accept the premise of | :10:21. | :10:23. | |
your suggestion. I don't think my colleagues believe that George | :10:24. | :10:29. | |
Osborne has a superior argument. I think Ed Balls will certainly trying | :10:30. | :10:32. | |
his best, loud and clear, to make the case there is a cost of living | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
crisis in this country and the Chancellor doesn't understand this. | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
That was essentially the heat of the debate on the Autumn Statement day. | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
One leading Labour MPs said to me that Ed Balls is always looking | :10:45. | :10:47. | |
back, fixated with the rear-view mirror, that was the exact quote. A | :10:48. | :10:53. | |
Labour MP told Sky News, Labour has a strong argument to make, | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
unfortunately it was not made well in the chamber today. Quoting the | :10:58. | :11:06. | |
Daily Mail, this is two poor performances. A quote that I can't | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
use because it uses too many four letter words. Baroness Armstrong, | :11:12. | :11:16. | |
speaking at Progress, a former Labour Cabinet minister, we are not | :11:17. | :11:20. | |
sufficiently concerned about public spending, how we would pay for what | :11:21. | :11:24. | |
we are talking about. Quite a battering? There were two sets of | :11:25. | :11:28. | |
quotes you were giving. The couple were about the strategy for tackling | :11:29. | :11:34. | |
public expenditure. I think it's fair that we talk about that. The | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
rest were pretty unattributed, nameless sources. You have never | :11:40. | :11:50. | |
given and of the record briefing? We have conversations off camera, but I | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
don't think you have a wealth of evidence to say that somehow Ed | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
Balls's arguments were wrong. He was making the point that, ultimately, | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
it is a government that does not have its finger on the pulse about | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
what most of your viewers are concerned about, that wages are | :12:10. | :12:12. | |
being squeezed and prices are getting higher and higher. You have | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
had time to study the Autumn Statement. What part of it does | :12:17. | :12:23. | |
Labour disagree with? It is a very big question. I think the overall | :12:24. | :12:29. | |
strategy the Autumn Statement is setting out does not deal with the | :12:30. | :12:32. | |
fundamental problems in the economy. What measures do you disagree with? | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
A lot of it is the absence of measures we would have put in if we | :12:38. | :12:40. | |
were doing the Autumn Statement. If you are going to deal with the cost | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
of living crisis, you have got to get productivity levels up in our | :12:45. | :12:47. | |
society. One of the best ways of doing that is on infrastructure. We | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
believe in bringing forward 's investment and housing, getting some | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
of the fundamentals right in our economy. By planting, the business | :12:57. | :13:04. | |
lending we have to do. We have seen a lamentable failing. There are big | :13:05. | :13:13. | |
structural reforms that we need. Ultimately, the public are concerned | :13:14. | :13:16. | |
about the cost of living crisis. That has got to be childcare help, a | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
10p starting rate of tax. Above all, and energy price freeze, which | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
still this government are refusing to do. On Friday, you told me you | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
supported the principle of a welfare cap. But you change bling claim the | :13:31. | :13:36. | |
Chancellor's cap included pensions. You have now seen the figures, and | :13:37. | :13:40. | |
it does not include pensions, correct? We do want a welfare cap. | :13:41. | :13:45. | |
The government have said they are going to put more detail on this in | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
the March budget. But it does not include pensions? We think they have | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
a short term approach to the welfare cap. They put in some pension | :13:56. | :14:01. | |
benefits. The state pension is not in the short-term plan because, as | :14:02. | :14:04. | |
we believe, a triple lock is a good idea. In the longer term, if you are | :14:05. | :14:10. | |
talking about structural welfare issues, you do have to think about | :14:11. | :14:13. | |
pensions because they have to be sustainable if we are living | :14:14. | :14:15. | |
longer. I think that is about the careful management. Let me show you | :14:16. | :14:20. | |
what Ed Balls said on this programme at the start of the summer. As for | :14:21. | :14:27. | |
pensioners, I think this is a real question. George Osborne is going to | :14:28. | :14:30. | |
announce his cap in two weeks time. I don't know if he will exclude | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
pension spending or including. Our plan is to include it. Pension | :14:35. | :14:38. | |
spending would be included in the welfare cap? That is our plan, | :14:39. | :14:44. | |
exactly what I just said. Over the long-term, if you have a serious | :14:45. | :14:47. | |
welfare cap structural welfare issues, over 20, 30, 40 year | :14:48. | :14:53. | |
period, you can't say that we will not work and pensions as part of | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
that. Pensions would be part of the Labour cap? In the longer term. What | :14:58. | :15:05. | |
is the longer term? If you win 2015? We want to stick with the triple | :15:06. | :15:11. | |
lock on the pension, that is the Government approach to their | :15:12. | :15:14. | |
short-term welfare cap. In the longer term, for example, on the | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
winter fuel allowance, we should not necessarily be... There are lots of | :15:19. | :15:25. | |
benefits... I understand that, I am talking about the basic state | :15:26. | :15:28. | |
pension, is that part of your welfare cap or not? In a 20, 30, 40 | :15:29. | :15:35. | |
year frame... Even you will not be around in government, then. You are | :15:36. | :15:45. | |
writing me off already. You have to focus on welfare changes, pensions | :15:46. | :15:48. | |
have to be affordable as part of that. It's dangerous to say, well, | :15:49. | :15:52. | |
if you are going to have a serious welfare cap, we should not look at | :15:53. | :15:55. | |
pensions cost. It would be irresponsible. Will pensions be part | :15:56. | :16:03. | |
of the cap from 2015 until 2020 if Labour is in power? In our long-term | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
cap we have to make sure... I'm talking about 2015-16. We haven't | :16:08. | :16:15. | |
seen the proposition the Government has put before us. | :16:16. | :16:21. | |
You claim people of ?1600 worse off under the coalition. That is true | :16:22. | :16:32. | |
when you compare to pay and prices. Can you confirm that calculation | :16:33. | :16:36. | |
does not include the ?700 tax cut from raising the income tax | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
threshold, huge savings on mortgages because of low interest or the | :16:42. | :16:46. | |
freezing of council tax? It doesn't include the tax and benefit | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
changes. If you do want to look at those, last year, the ISS said they | :16:51. | :16:56. | |
could be making people worse off. It might not include those factors. The | :16:57. | :17:04. | |
VAT increase, tax credit cuts, child benefit cuts, they all add up. My | :17:05. | :17:10. | |
understanding is that the ISS figures have said people are ?891 | :17:11. | :17:16. | |
worse off if you look at the tax and benefit changes since 2010. You have | :17:17. | :17:23. | |
to look at wages and prices. The ISS confirmed our approach was broadly | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
the right way of assessing what is happening. The Chancellor was | :17:28. | :17:33. | |
saying, real household disposable incomes are rising. He is completely | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
out of touch. Can you sum up the macro economic policy for Labour? | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
Invest in the future, make sure we have the right approach for the | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
long-term politicking. Tackle the cost of living crisis people are | :17:49. | :17:51. | |
facing. Now, let's talk to the Financial | :17:52. | :17:54. | |
Secretary to the Treasury, Sajid Javid. | :17:55. | :18:02. | |
Discovery, underpinned by rising house prices, increasing personal | :18:03. | :18:08. | |
debt, do you accept that is unsustainable? | :18:09. | :18:13. | |
I accept the OBE are also said the reason why this country is facing | :18:14. | :18:19. | |
more these challenges -- OBR. That is because we went through a | :18:20. | :18:25. | |
Labour recession, the worst we have seen in 100 years. But do you accept | :18:26. | :18:33. | |
that a recovery underpinned by these things I have just read out isn't | :18:34. | :18:39. | |
sustainable? We set out a long-term plan for recovery, and again this | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
week. We have shown with the tough decisions we have made already, the | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
country can enjoy a recovery. There are still a lot of difficult | :18:50. | :18:54. | |
decisions. The biggest risk are Labour's plans. The March | :18:55. | :19:05. | |
projections work at for those -- for both business investment and | :19:06. | :19:09. | |
exports. Suddenly it is expected to rise 5% next year, a 10% turnaround | :19:10. | :19:16. | |
in investment. How is it credible? I have been in business before | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
politics. Any business person listening will know, when you have | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
gone through a recession, the deepest in 100 years, it will hit | :19:25. | :19:30. | |
investment, profits, you can't make plans again until you have | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
confidence in the economy. That is what this country is seeing now | :19:35. | :19:42. | |
under this government. This is an assumption made independently. The | :19:43. | :19:49. | |
fall in business investment is because of the recession. The | :19:50. | :19:55. | |
forecast increases, 5% next year, and so on, it is based on the | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
independent forecast. Based on fact. If you look at the investment plans | :20:02. | :20:07. | |
of companies, this week, the Chancellor went to JCB, Jaguar Land | :20:08. | :20:15. | |
Rover has plans to create more jobs, these investment plans are | :20:16. | :20:18. | |
coming through now because of the confidence generated by this | :20:19. | :20:22. | |
government, such as the cut in corporation tax which Labour would | :20:23. | :20:28. | |
increase. Are the export forecasts more credible? The 15 years, our | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
share of world trade decline. Suddenly starting next year, it | :20:34. | :20:41. | |
stops falling. That's not credible. I worked in finance the 20 years. I | :20:42. | :20:46. | |
have yet to find any forecast which is fully right. Under Labour, we | :20:47. | :20:54. | |
would have forecasts made by Gordon Brown who would announce he would | :20:55. | :21:00. | |
hit all his targets. Now we have an independent system. | :21:01. | :21:05. | |
Do you accept, if exports or business investment do not pick up, | :21:06. | :21:11. | |
then a purely consumer led recovery is not sustainable? We need more | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
than a consumer led recovery. We need consumer investment to go up. | :21:16. | :21:23. | |
On Xbox, it is noticeable that experts are primarily down because | :21:24. | :21:26. | |
the markets we trade with, the eurozone markets, are depressed. | :21:27. | :21:31. | |
Many have just come out of recession. Or they are still in | :21:32. | :21:37. | |
recession. If you look at exports to non-EU countries, they are up 30%. | :21:38. | :21:47. | |
120% to China. 100% to Russia. Will you keep the triple lock for | :21:48. | :21:53. | |
the state pension beyond 2015? Yes, long term. That's why it is not part | :21:54. | :21:59. | |
of our welfare cap. Chris Leslie cannot answer that question. It is | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
straightforward. House prices are now rising ten | :22:04. | :22:11. | |
times faster than average earnings. That's not good. House prices are | :22:12. | :22:19. | |
rising, partly reflecting recovery. Ten times faster than average | :22:20. | :22:23. | |
earnings, how can people afford to buy homes if it carries on? What you | :22:24. | :22:28. | |
would hope, this is the evidence, if you look at the plans of the month | :22:29. | :22:32. | |
companies, they are planning new homes which will mean that, as this | :22:33. | :22:39. | |
demand spurs that investment, more homes will come about. We need to | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
give people the means to buy those homes. We have introduced the help | :22:44. | :23:27. | |
to buy scheme. I accept the OBR says it will start rising again but as | :23:28. | :23:38. | |
household debt rises again Petr Cech reduces, -- as household debt | :23:39. | :23:51. | |
reduces, we need to make sure there are checks in place. Wages have not | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
been rising in real terms for quite some time. Over the next five years, | :23:57. | :24:05. | |
even as the economy grows, by about 15% according the OBR to the OBR -- | :24:06. | :24:17. | |
but people will not benefit. These hard-working families will not share | :24:18. | :24:22. | |
in the recovery. What is the best way to help those families? The | :24:23. | :24:28. | |
government doesn't set wages. What we can do is influence the overall | :24:29. | :24:33. | |
economy. We don't have a magic lever. Wages have been stagnating | :24:34. | :24:43. | |
for five years. When will people get a proper salary? The best way for | :24:44. | :24:49. | |
wage growth is a growing economy, more jobs. We have more people | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
employed in Britain today than at any time in our history. The biggest | :24:54. | :25:00. | |
risk to recovery is if we let Labour into the Treasury with more spending | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
and more debt. Which got us into this trouble. By whatever measure | :25:06. | :25:09. | |
you care to choose, would people be better off come the 20 15th election | :25:10. | :25:16. | |
than they were in 2010? Yes, they will be. Look at jobs. Already more | :25:17. | :25:23. | |
people employed than at any other time in history. Will they be better | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
off? The best way for anyone to raise their living standards is | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
access to a growing job market. But will they be better off? I believe | :25:33. | :25:40. | |
people will be. Compared to 2010. Yes. In terms of take-home pay. This | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
is a credible measure. Now, what do you think the Education | :25:45. | :25:51. | |
Secretary, Michael Gove, was like at school? Hard-working? Hand always | :25:52. | :25:55. | |
up? Top of the class? Well, if he wasn't passionate about education | :25:56. | :25:58. | |
then, he is now. In fact, since he took office, it seems he hasn't | :25:59. | :26:05. | |
stopped working very hard indeed. When the coalition came to power, | :26:06. | :26:08. | |
Michael Gove evoked Mao, saying they were on a long march to reform | :26:09. | :26:11. | |
education. Just like Mao, they faced a baby boom, so pledged ?5 billion | :26:12. | :26:18. | |
for new school places. They extended Labour's academy programme. There's | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
now about 3,000 in England. But then, they marched even further, | :26:23. | :26:25. | |
creating free schools run by parents, funded by taxpayers. 174 | :26:26. | :26:32. | |
have opened so far. The schools admission code was changed, to give | :26:33. | :26:35. | |
parents more choice. And a pupil premium was introduced, | :26:36. | :26:38. | |
currently, an extra ?900 funding for each disadvantaged child. | :26:39. | :26:41. | |
An overhaul of the national curriculum provoked criticism. | :26:42. | :26:45. | |
Chairman Gove mocked detractors as "bad academia". But exam reforms | :26:46. | :26:53. | |
didn't quite go to plan. Although GCSEs got harder, plans to replace | :26:54. | :26:56. | |
A-levels had to be abandoned. Ultimately, the true test of these | :26:57. | :27:00. | |
reforms will be what happens in the classroom. The person in charge of | :27:01. | :27:05. | |
making sure those classrooms are up to scratch in England is the Chief | :27:06. | :27:08. | |
Inspector Of Schools, head of Ofsted, Michael Wilshaw, who joins | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
me now. Over the past 15 years, we have | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
doubled spending on schools even allowing for inflation. By | :27:19. | :27:22. | |
international standards, we are stagnating, why? I said last year | :27:23. | :27:28. | |
that mediocrity had settled into the system. Too many children were | :27:29. | :27:38. | |
coasting in schools, which is why we changed the grading structure, we | :27:39. | :27:44. | |
removed that awful word, satisfactory. Saying that good is | :27:45. | :27:48. | |
now the only acceptable standard and schools had a limited time in which | :27:49. | :27:52. | |
to get to that. We are seeing gradually, it is difficult to say | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
this in the week we have had the OECD report. Things have gradually | :27:59. | :28:03. | |
improved. I will come onto that in a minute. Explain this. International | :28:04. | :28:08. | |
comparisons show us flat-lining or even falling in some subjects, | :28:09. | :28:14. | |
including science. For 20 years, our domestic exam results just got | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
better and better. Was this a piece of fiction fed to us by the | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
educational establishment, was there a cover-up? There is no question | :28:23. | :28:29. | |
there has grade inflation. I speak as an ex-headteacher who saw that in | :28:30. | :28:35. | |
examinations. Perceptual state is actually doing something about that. | :28:36. | :28:38. | |
Most good heads will say that is about time. We have to be credible. | :28:39. | :28:49. | |
Do politicians and educationalists conspire in this grade inflation? It | :28:50. | :28:52. | |
might suit politicians to say things are going up every year. As a head, | :28:53. | :28:57. | |
I knew a lot of the exams youngsters were sitting were not up to scratch. | :28:58. | :29:06. | |
The latest OECD study places us 36th for maths, 23rd reading, slipping | :29:07. | :29:12. | |
down to 21st in science. Yet, Ofsted, your organisation, | :29:13. | :29:17. | |
designates 80% of schools as good or outstanding. That's another fiction. | :29:18. | :29:22. | |
This year, we have. If we see this level of progress, it has been a | :29:23. | :29:25. | |
remarkable progress over the last years since we changed our grading | :29:26. | :29:32. | |
structure, then... In a year, absolutely. We have better teachers | :29:33. | :29:37. | |
coming into our school system. Better leaders. Better schools. The | :29:38. | :29:41. | |
big challenge for our country is making sure that progress is | :29:42. | :29:44. | |
maintained which will eventually translate into better outcomes. | :29:45. | :29:51. | |
These figures are pretty much up-to-date. Are you saying within a | :29:52. | :29:57. | |
year 80% of the schools are good enough? All of the schools we | :29:58. | :30:02. | |
upgraded have had better grades in GCSE and grade 2. We have to make | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
sure that is maintained. The Government has based its reforms on | :30:08. | :30:11. | |
similar reforms in Sweden. In opposition they were endlessly going | :30:12. | :30:15. | |
to Stockholm to find out how it was done. Swedish schools are doing even | :30:16. | :30:20. | |
worse than ours in the tables. Why are we copying failure? The | :30:21. | :30:26. | |
secretary of state believes, and I actually believe, as somebody who | :30:27. | :30:30. | |
has come from an academy model, that if you hand power and resources, you | :30:31. | :30:35. | |
hand autonomy to the people on the ground, to the people in the | :30:36. | :30:38. | |
classroom, in the corridors, in the playgrounds, things work. If you | :30:39. | :30:45. | |
allow the great monoliths that used to have responsibility for education | :30:46. | :30:49. | |
in the past to take control again, you will see a reverse in standards. | :30:50. | :30:53. | |
You have got to actually empower those people that make the | :30:54. | :30:56. | |
difference. That is why autonomy and freedom is important. We spent a lot | :30:57. | :31:02. | |
of money moving what were local authority schools to become | :31:03. | :31:04. | |
academies and new free school czar being set up as well. When the | :31:05. | :31:08. | |
academies are pretty much the same level of autonomy, the free school | :31:09. | :31:12. | |
is maybe a little bit more, the evidence we have had so far is that | :31:13. | :31:17. | |
they don't really perform any better than local authority schools? | :31:18. | :31:20. | |
Indeed, Encore GCSE subjects, they might even be doing worse? These are | :31:21. | :31:26. | |
early days. We will say more about this on weapons they when we produce | :31:27. | :31:30. | |
the annual report. The sponsored academies that took over the worst | :31:31. | :31:34. | |
schools in the country, in the most difficult circumstances, in the most | :31:35. | :31:37. | |
disadvantaged communities, are doing much better now. What about GCSE? | :31:38. | :31:44. | |
They are doing GCSE equivalents, the lass academic subjects question my | :31:45. | :31:51. | |
cull OK, but they are doing better than previous schools. If you look | :31:52. | :31:54. | |
at the top performing nations in the world, they focus on the quality of | :31:55. | :32:07. | |
teaching. The best graduates coming to education. They professionally | :32:08. | :32:10. | |
develop them. They make sure they spot the brightest talents and get | :32:11. | :32:14. | |
them into positions as soon as possible. We have got to do the same | :32:15. | :32:18. | |
if we are going to catch up with those jurisdictions. This isn't just | :32:19. | :32:25. | |
a British problem. It seems to be a European problem. The East Asian | :32:26. | :32:28. | |
countries now dominate the top of the tables. What's the most | :32:29. | :32:31. | |
important lesson we should learn from East Asia? Attitudes to work. | :32:32. | :32:36. | |
We need to make sure that we invest in good teachers, good leaders. We | :32:37. | :32:43. | |
have to make sure that students have the right attitudes to work. It's no | :32:44. | :32:47. | |
good getting good people into the classroom and then seeing them part | :32:48. | :32:52. | |
of teaching by bad behaviour, disaffected youngsters and poor | :32:53. | :32:58. | |
leadership. We see young teachers doing well for a time and then being | :32:59. | :33:02. | |
put off teaching and leaving from that sort of culture in our schools. | :33:03. | :33:07. | |
Are you a cheerleader for government education policy rather than | :33:08. | :33:11. | |
independent inspectors? I am independent, Ofsted is independent. | :33:12. | :33:15. | |
I believe we are saying the right things on standards. The Association | :33:16. | :33:20. | |
of teachers and lecturers say you are an arm of government. The NUT | :33:21. | :33:24. | |
has called for your resignation. Another wants to abolish or | :33:25. | :33:28. | |
Inspectorate. Have you become a pariah amongst teaching unions? If | :33:29. | :33:34. | |
we are challenging schools to become better, that is our job, we will | :33:35. | :33:40. | |
carry on doing that. I am not going to preside over the status quo. We | :33:41. | :33:43. | |
will challenge the system to do better, we will challenge schools | :33:44. | :33:47. | |
and colleges to do better. We will also challenge government when we | :33:48. | :33:51. | |
think they are going wrong. Many people in the education | :33:52. | :33:53. | |
establishment think your primary purpose is to do the Government's | :33:54. | :33:57. | |
bidding by shepherding schools into becoming academies. Not true at all. | :33:58. | :34:04. | |
You are a big supporter of academies? Yes, I believe the people | :34:05. | :34:09. | |
that do the business in schools are the people that are free to do what | :34:10. | :34:12. | |
is necessary to raise standards. I am a big supporter of autonomy in | :34:13. | :34:16. | |
the school system. But where we see academies Vale, where we see free | :34:17. | :34:26. | |
schools fail, we will say so. The study does not find much evidence | :34:27. | :34:30. | |
that competition and choice raise standards, but it does go with you | :34:31. | :34:36. | |
and say that strong school leadership, coupled with autonomy, | :34:37. | :34:40. | |
can make a difference. Can somebody with no experience in education be | :34:41. | :34:44. | |
in charge of a school? A lot of hot air has been expounded on the issue | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
of whether teachers should be qualified or not. If qualified | :34:49. | :34:51. | |
teacher status was the gold standard, why is it that one in | :34:52. | :35:00. | |
three teachers, one in three lessons that will observe are not good | :35:01. | :35:03. | |
enough. Taught by qualified teachers. I've not yet met a | :35:04. | :35:07. | |
headteacher that has not appointed by qualified staff when they cannot | :35:08. | :35:11. | |
get qualified teachers. Their job is to make sure they get accredited as | :35:12. | :35:15. | |
soon as possible and come up to scratch in the classroom. Do you | :35:16. | :35:18. | |
support the use of unqualified teachers? I do. I have done it. If I | :35:19. | :35:25. | |
could not get a maths, physics or modern languages teacher and I | :35:26. | :35:27. | |
thought somebody straight from university, without qualified | :35:28. | :35:30. | |
teachers start this, that they could communicate well with youngsters, I | :35:31. | :35:34. | |
would get that person into the classroom and get them accredited if | :35:35. | :35:39. | |
they delivered the goods. If we are going to allow schools to have more | :35:40. | :35:42. | |
autonomy and not be accountable to local authorities, free schools | :35:43. | :35:48. | |
academies, don't you have to do... New entrants will be coming into the | :35:49. | :35:52. | |
market, the educational marketplace. Do you not have to act more quickly | :35:53. | :36:00. | |
when it is clear, and there has been examined recently, where it is | :36:01. | :36:03. | |
clearly going badly wrong and children's education at risk? | :36:04. | :36:08. | |
Absolutely. I made a point to the secretary of state and it is | :36:09. | :36:10. | |
something I will talk more about over the coming year. We need to be | :36:11. | :36:14. | |
in school is much more often. If a school fails at the moment, or | :36:15. | :36:18. | |
underperforms, goes into this new category, Her Majesty 's inspectors | :36:19. | :36:24. | |
stay with that institution until it improves. Sometimes we don't see a | :36:25. | :36:28. | |
school for five or seven years. That is wrong. My argument is that Ofsted | :36:29. | :36:32. | |
should pay a much greater part in monitoring the performance of | :36:33. | :36:35. | |
schools between those inspections. Are you enjoying it? It is a tough | :36:36. | :36:43. | |
job. Are you enjoying it? This is a tough job, but I enjoy it. | :36:44. | :36:49. | |
Sometimes. You are watching Sunday Politics. | :36:50. | :36:52. | |
Coming up in just over 20 minutes, Diane Abbott will be joining us. And | :36:53. | :36:56. | |
we will have more from our political panel. Until then, the Sunday | :36:57. | :36:58. | |
Politics across the UK. Hello, welcome to the London part of | :36:59. | :37:19. | |
the show. I am joined by my guest Sadiq Khan, Labour MP for treating, | :37:20. | :37:24. | |
and Nick De Bois, Conservative MP for Enfield North. Also joining us | :37:25. | :37:30. | |
is Trevor Phillips, former chair of the Equalities And Human Rights | :37:31. | :37:33. | |
Commission. Father of a nation, unifier of people, freedom fighter. | :37:34. | :37:38. | |
Nelson Mandela's extraordinary life saw him labelled many things. Now | :37:39. | :37:43. | |
his long walk is over. As the Mayor put it, a great heart is stilled. In | :37:44. | :37:47. | |
a moment we will be asking what he meant to London and those that met | :37:48. | :37:52. | |
him. First, a look at the Capitol. The reaction to his death. | :37:53. | :37:57. | |
Nelson Mandela was no stranger to London. Before the trial that | :37:58. | :38:04. | |
sentenced to 27 years in prison, he toured the capital to drum up | :38:05. | :38:08. | |
support from sympathetic British leaders. Labour politician Denis | :38:09. | :38:14. | |
Healey was his Parliamentary guide. I was asked by a friend of his, | :38:15. | :38:18. | |
called Mary Benson, a nurse during the war, to introduce him to Hugh | :38:19. | :38:25. | |
Gates will. He wanted to meet him, then the leader of the Labour Party. | :38:26. | :38:35. | |
One of his most memorable visits to the capital after his release in | :38:36. | :38:41. | |
1996 is included a trip to Brixton. That is now part of London four -- | :38:42. | :38:50. | |
folklore. It not only turned heads, but, for those that were there, | :38:51. | :38:56. | |
changed minds. It enabled us to start thinking differently. You | :38:57. | :39:00. | |
can't fight your way out of problems every day. You have to think of | :39:01. | :39:03. | |
another strategy. He came and United Britain. Nobody else had achieved | :39:04. | :39:10. | |
that. We are seeing how somebody who has been at the heart of overcoming | :39:11. | :39:15. | |
the biggest atrocities that the human condition can endure, that | :39:16. | :39:21. | |
comes here as an example of the obstacles and difficulties people | :39:22. | :39:24. | |
can overcome, to inspire the communities that are here. There was | :39:25. | :39:31. | |
a rainbow of people, of all different backgrounds, all different | :39:32. | :39:36. | |
generations. They were awaiting this guy's arrival. Just being massively | :39:37. | :39:44. | |
inspired by him. Today I am on a little pilgrimage. I went to | :39:45. | :39:47. | |
Trafalgar Square, I walked there, said a blessing. I walked to the | :39:48. | :39:54. | |
statutory say a blessing. Why? Because he was important. Also for | :39:55. | :40:02. | |
the emerging voice of minorities, championed by Bernie Grant. For the | :40:03. | :40:08. | |
young people, alienate it black and Asian people in Haringey, they had | :40:09. | :40:16. | |
watched the protest and resistance of the masses in South Africa and | :40:17. | :40:19. | |
they have been hugely inspired by what they saw. The current London | :40:20. | :40:26. | |
mayor paid his own tribute to the transformational power of the man | :40:27. | :40:35. | |
his people called Madiba. I am the generation that grew up in awe and | :40:36. | :40:39. | |
admiration of Nelson Mandela. It is unquestionably true that in my | :40:40. | :40:42. | |
party, over the last 50 years or so, there were people that have a | :40:43. | :40:46. | |
different line. I think they would now say they were wrong and that is | :40:47. | :40:53. | |
plain. His enduring legacy, a challenge to us all to uphold the | :40:54. | :40:58. | |
values of equality he espoused. A wonderful man. I think you just have | :40:59. | :41:05. | |
this enormous ability to get on with white people as well as black, which | :41:06. | :41:10. | |
made it possible for him to get freedom. Nelson Mandela's presence | :41:11. | :41:16. | |
will remain in the capital, with our memories and his statues. Above all, | :41:17. | :41:21. | |
the one that stands facing Parliament, where he once stood and | :41:22. | :41:24. | |
dreamt of an apartheid free South Africa. Before embarking on his own | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
and his people's long march to freedom. | :41:30. | :41:35. | |
Trevor Phillips, you met Nelson Mandela. Your reflections on the | :41:36. | :41:40. | |
man? I was lucky enough to be asked to be his escort in a previous | :41:41. | :41:45. | |
visit, in 1993, before he had become president. In fact, we did take him | :41:46. | :41:50. | |
to Brixton. There are two things that struck me about him. What has | :41:51. | :41:58. | |
not been said about him so far is what a political genius he was. | :41:59. | :42:03. | |
Astute and smart. First of all, in Brixton, he did a very clever little | :42:04. | :42:08. | |
thing. When he spoke to the crowd, he kept saying, it is great to be | :42:09. | :42:13. | |
here in Bristol. He knew exactly where he was, he was teasing. He was | :42:14. | :42:21. | |
quite good at jokes? Witty and very smart. The other thing that has been | :42:22. | :42:25. | |
said about him is that he has been presented a bit like a saintly teddy | :42:26. | :42:32. | |
bear. But, actually, the thing about this guy is he was steely and | :42:33. | :42:37. | |
disciplined beyond belief. That is how you get through 27 years. More | :42:38. | :42:41. | |
than that, the decision to reach out to white South Africa was not just | :42:42. | :42:49. | |
about being a good guy. He made a clear political decision that this | :42:50. | :42:53. | |
was the path to economic prosperity and stability. That was what he had | :42:54. | :42:59. | |
to do. It wasn't just about being a nice character. It was politics, | :43:00. | :43:05. | |
hard economics and politics. That is what many people remember, that | :43:06. | :43:09. | |
there was not the blood-letting once he was released and before he became | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
president, certainly not for white South Africans. In London, Sadiq | :43:14. | :43:20. | |
Khan, these were your formative years, what impact did he have on | :43:21. | :43:24. | |
the black and ethnic communities? Trevor picked up on this. For those | :43:25. | :43:31. | |
of us in London of a certain age, campaigning against apartheid, | :43:32. | :43:36. | |
outside Chatham house, we were angry. We wanted revenge, reprise | :43:37. | :43:40. | |
all is. Here you have the guy that has been in prison for 27 years. He | :43:41. | :43:44. | |
could have child some of our anger. Saying, hold on a second, the future | :43:45. | :43:49. | |
of South Africa, the future of blacks and Africans is prosperity, | :43:50. | :43:53. | |
getting on with white neighbours, not deporting them as people wanted | :43:54. | :43:56. | |
to do. We took our lead from him once he had been released. He | :43:57. | :44:00. | |
managed to channel the anger into a constructive path for South Africa. | :44:01. | :44:07. | |
South Africa is now the leading country, doing remarkably well in | :44:08. | :44:11. | |
the context of... Nick made the point outside the studio, but South | :44:12. | :44:15. | |
Africa had the first black president before the USA, before the UK, | :44:16. | :44:19. | |
before many other countries we talk about. In the context of apartheid, | :44:20. | :44:27. | |
that is remarkable. The con text has not been made in the way that some | :44:28. | :44:33. | |
people would like. You heard Boris Johnson saying that maybe someone | :44:34. | :44:37. | |
his party were wrong, do you agree with that that sometimes some of the | :44:38. | :44:41. | |
things that Margaret Thatcher and senior Conservative said about the | :44:42. | :44:44. | |
ANC being a terrorist organisation, were they wrong? I think some | :44:45. | :44:49. | |
conservatives would look back and say they were wrong on that | :44:50. | :44:52. | |
particular issue. Some of them may have reflected that point of view. I | :44:53. | :44:57. | |
think it's a little early to start getting into the debate about | :44:58. | :45:00. | |
Britain's political position at the time. I think that would miss the | :45:01. | :45:04. | |
point about Nelson Mandela and his key message. Which, of course, is | :45:05. | :45:11. | |
that I am not looking for recrimination, I am looking for | :45:12. | :45:14. | |
reconciliation and building. There is a debate, and I'm sure it will be | :45:15. | :45:18. | |
had in time, about the political role Britain played and what | :45:19. | :45:21. | |
influence that may or may not have had on Nelson Mandela's release. | :45:22. | :45:24. | |
There is no doubt that Margaret Thatcher, this link to a former | :45:25. | :45:28. | |
ambassador, the High Commissioner there, he argues that she played a | :45:29. | :45:34. | |
determined role, both anti-depart late -- anti-apartheid and demanding | :45:35. | :45:40. | |
his release. It didn't feel that way in the 80s and 90s. But if Nelson | :45:41. | :45:43. | |
Mandela can forget Margaret Thatcher, who am I? The way it felt | :45:44. | :45:48. | |
was you were on one side of the debate and the campaign against | :45:49. | :45:52. | |
apartheid, against the South African regime, wanting Nelson Mandela | :45:53. | :45:55. | |
released, and then you have those on the other side. I remember reading | :45:56. | :46:00. | |
the Daily Mail and The Sun, listening to consider politicians, | :46:01. | :46:05. | |
if Mandela can forgive them, who am I? Is it too early to have an | :46:06. | :46:13. | |
objective view of him, he has been eulogised as a saint? It probably | :46:14. | :46:17. | |
is, but it will not stop people doing it. I think he would say, that | :46:18. | :46:22. | |
is the past, let the past be the past. If you had to say one thing | :46:23. | :46:25. | |
about him, he is a poet, not an engineer. States, economics, sorting | :46:26. | :46:33. | |
out housing probe lands -- problems, that is for other people to do. | :46:34. | :46:37. | |
Revolutions do not mean the replacement of one dominant group by | :46:38. | :46:40. | |
another dominant group. The real contribution he made to the 20th | :46:41. | :46:43. | |
century was to say you can have a revolution, but at the other side of | :46:44. | :46:47. | |
that revolution, everybody can be part of it. | :46:48. | :47:01. | |
Mandela said he thought London was the second headquarters of the | :47:02. | :47:09. | |
anti-apartheid movement. We are proud of the role we played in that | :47:10. | :47:16. | |
movement. We are terribly sad at his death but incredibly proud. | :47:17. | :47:19. | |
This year, there has been a series of stories coming out of the borough | :47:20. | :47:24. | |
of Greenwich. The reports relate to bullying and, in particular, the | :47:25. | :47:27. | |
conduct of the Labour leader of the council Chris Roberts, with one | :47:28. | :47:29. | |
local paper calling for his resignation. Andrew Cryan reports. | :47:30. | :47:42. | |
More reaction from Chris Roberts. This is the leader of Greenwich | :47:43. | :47:47. | |
Council, Councillor Chris Roberts. Speaking in October 2010. Since last | :47:48. | :47:52. | |
year, he and his administration had been publicly accused of bullying. | :47:53. | :47:58. | |
In March and October, councillors announced they were stepping down, | :47:59. | :48:02. | |
citing bullying. At the time, the Labour chief whip said he was not | :48:03. | :48:07. | |
aware of any descriptions of a bullying culture. In October, this | :48:08. | :48:14. | |
voice mail message was left by Chris Roberts on another councillor's | :48:15. | :48:15. | |
phone. Councillor Roberts apologised the | :48:16. | :48:28. | |
same date and has since written apologising. It's not be any time he | :48:29. | :48:35. | |
has said sorry for this type of being. We obtained a copy of this | :48:36. | :48:40. | |
letter written by him to an 86-year-old member of the local | :48:41. | :48:41. | |
Labour Party in 2012. Back in October, we asked the | :48:42. | :49:01. | |
council for details of any complaints made against Chris | :49:02. | :49:05. | |
Roberts in the last decade. They came back with only two, the first | :49:06. | :49:09. | |
was the voice mail message you heard earlier. The second, a complaint | :49:10. | :49:14. | |
from a counsellor which was never upheld. Sunday politics has | :49:15. | :49:16. | |
discovered there have been other complaints. This is Barbara Clark | :49:17. | :49:23. | |
who works as a cleaner in Greenwich Council during which time she | :49:24. | :49:27. | |
entered a complaint against Chris Roberts. She died last year. Her son | :49:28. | :49:35. | |
has never spoken publicly before. Malm accidentally opened the door on | :49:36. | :49:40. | |
him not realising someone was there. He had a tantrum and shouted at her. | :49:41. | :49:48. | |
Mum said she didn't realise anyone was there. She wanted to clean the | :49:49. | :49:58. | |
office. Would you mind if she collected the keys and would come | :49:59. | :50:02. | |
back when he was ready. He went berserk, had a tantrum, and through | :50:03. | :50:09. | |
the bunch of keys and my mum. The keys almost went through her face. | :50:10. | :50:14. | |
She put her hand up to protect herself. The keys smashed on her | :50:15. | :50:23. | |
wrist. What happened to her wrist? It was sprained and bruised. A | :50:24. | :50:27. | |
complaint was entered with the council by her. They tell us it was | :50:28. | :50:31. | |
not consistent with her son's account but declined to say how. The | :50:32. | :50:37. | |
council opted to find an informal resolution. The highest ranking | :50:38. | :50:43. | |
employee had three meetings with Barbara. Chris Roberts was present | :50:44. | :50:48. | |
at one. He did not apologise and no minutes were kept. The council said | :50:49. | :50:53. | |
during the meetings Mrs Clark changed her version of the fence | :50:54. | :50:57. | |
said she had left her keys in the office. He had tossed them over the | :50:58. | :51:02. | |
balcony for her to catch. She caught the keys. The complaint was then | :51:03. | :51:11. | |
withdrawn. Her son's version is different. She felt stressed and no | :51:12. | :51:19. | |
one was listening to her. She put in a complaint about him if you times. | :51:20. | :51:25. | |
But to make it seems they brushed everything under the carpet. We | :51:26. | :51:29. | |
asked Chris Roberts to appear on the programme but he declined and gave | :51:30. | :51:30. | |
us following statement. I realise that you can't comment on | :51:31. | :51:59. | |
the details of the Councillor Roberts allegations, but how much is | :52:00. | :52:02. | |
this about the rough-and-tumble of contemporary politics in London? Is | :52:03. | :52:08. | |
this something the London Labour Party should investigate? If people | :52:09. | :52:13. | |
have allegations to make, they will be investigated. There is no place | :52:14. | :52:17. | |
in politics or any form of life, for bullying. Please make any | :52:18. | :52:23. | |
allegations you have two the Labour Party and we will look into them. Is | :52:24. | :52:28. | |
part of this just the rough and tumble of politics? That there is a | :52:29. | :52:35. | |
line between robust challenges and bullying. I think it used to be part | :52:36. | :52:44. | |
of it. I have never witnessed bullying, or anything remotely like | :52:45. | :52:48. | |
what has been alleged here in Westminster. Having said that, | :52:49. | :52:55. | |
Westminster is very much in the public eye and it would not be | :52:56. | :52:59. | |
unimaginable that councils under the radar, this may go on. It is not | :53:00. | :53:03. | |
acceptable behaviour and it should be brought to light if and when it | :53:04. | :53:09. | |
does happen. Do you think it is true that councils do not have a light | :53:10. | :53:13. | |
shone on them in quite the same way when it comes to the behaviour of | :53:14. | :53:18. | |
public officials? As you said, this aside, generally. Yes, these are | :53:19. | :53:24. | |
allegations, we are talking generally. Politics is a match own | :53:25. | :53:31. | |
profession. There are examples of intimidator repave you. In | :53:32. | :53:35. | |
councils, you have people who have other jobs. Sometimes, their lack of | :53:36. | :53:46. | |
professionalism comes through. I have seen some strange behaviour in | :53:47. | :53:57. | |
councils. The way to do it is, there are ways to persuade people to do | :53:58. | :54:00. | |
what you want to do without bullying them of being aggressive. There is | :54:01. | :54:06. | |
an appeal to loyalty which is no bad thing. I remember... Very well put! | :54:07. | :54:13. | |
When I was in a situation where I was going to vote against the | :54:14. | :54:16. | |
government, one of the whips politely said, you do realise that | :54:17. | :54:20. | |
if you vote against government, the prime Minister will hear of this. | :54:21. | :54:22. | |
And I said, that's the point! It's time for the rest of the | :54:23. | :54:29. | |
political news in 60 seconds. A survey for BBC London found one in | :54:30. | :54:43. | |
five cyclists claim they have stopped riding to work following a | :54:44. | :54:46. | |
spate of cycling related that other teas, and 70% believe it is not safe | :54:47. | :54:53. | |
to cycle on the roads in London. Only five out of 32 councils are | :54:54. | :54:57. | |
paying the so-called London living wage for subcontractors. Ealing, | :54:58. | :55:03. | |
Islington and Southwark chancel among them have living wage | :55:04. | :55:09. | |
councils. A new report shows the borough of | :55:10. | :55:14. | |
Newham has a higher rate of tuberculosis and some impoverished | :55:15. | :55:19. | |
nations. It has 108 cases, more than twice the rate in India. | :55:20. | :55:24. | |
Most transport fares in London are to rise by the rate of inflation. | :55:25. | :55:34. | |
The average fare will rise by 3.1%. Prices for season tickets on travel | :55:35. | :55:35. | |
cards will go up by 4.1%. We now understand City Hall | :55:36. | :55:48. | |
anticipates that travel card increases will be in line with | :55:49. | :55:53. | |
inflation. And not at the higher rate. Good news? | :55:54. | :55:58. | |
Anything that holds a real terms increase is to be welcomed. But the | :55:59. | :56:02. | |
reality is, the more we can hold down prices on rail fares, they are | :56:03. | :56:08. | |
driving the cost of living prices for Londoners. A big proportion of | :56:09. | :56:13. | |
income goes on it. Would you like to see more done? I will always press | :56:14. | :56:19. | |
for more to be done. As well as improvements in services and | :56:20. | :56:23. | |
reliability. I hope we will see that in my constituency where overground | :56:24. | :56:33. | |
services will become part of TEFL. -- TfL. | :56:34. | :56:46. | |
We wouldn't have increased the cost of bus fares by 60%. We wouldn't | :56:47. | :56:51. | |
have spent millions of pounds on a vanity cable car, more than 300 | :56:52. | :57:00. | |
staff in Transport for London more than ?300,000. I could go one. What | :57:01. | :57:05. | |
you will see in January is your constituents, at a time when their | :57:06. | :57:11. | |
wages frozen, or getting a 0.8% increase in wages, having to pay an | :57:12. | :57:18. | |
increase of 3.1%, ?96, on the cost of their Travelcards. When you say | :57:19. | :57:22. | |
it is a freeze, it is an example of smoke and mirrors. 1000 staff will | :57:23. | :57:28. | |
be losing their jobs in ticket offices. If we are going to drive | :57:29. | :57:34. | |
efficiencies. If only 3% of customers are actually using ticket | :57:35. | :57:37. | |
offices, I don't suspect you would want to keep up the cost of that | :57:38. | :57:41. | |
service that actually is costing money. You are very good at actually | :57:42. | :57:49. | |
highlighting one particular issue. But in London, we are taking | :57:50. | :57:55. | |
measures to relieve the cost of living pressures as much as we can. | :57:56. | :57:58. | |
We have taken 2.5 million people out of income tax by raising the | :57:59. | :58:12. | |
threshold. 10% increase in rent, average age of first-time buyer is | :58:13. | :58:16. | |
38. London pays more in public transport than Rome Paris, New | :58:17. | :58:24. | |
York. The real world, Londoners are struggling. You should answer what | :58:25. | :58:31. | |
with Labour have done. You are always opposing but never proposing. | :58:32. | :58:36. | |
You paint a picture wearing large rose tinted spectacles. You asked me | :58:37. | :58:44. | |
the question. We would have, at the moment, local authorities are | :58:45. | :58:49. | |
building houses twice as many as Labour authorities. We would give | :58:50. | :58:53. | |
our authorities more powers to build more housing. Take action against, | :58:54. | :58:59. | |
for example, 70% of houses built in London were bought by foreigners. We | :59:00. | :59:04. | |
would address that. Total housing in London, 6.5% is bought by | :59:05. | :59:11. | |
foreigners. Which new build. You are talking about... You haven't even | :59:12. | :59:26. | |
looked at... From 2015, one state agents advertising to foreigners, | :59:27. | :59:41. | |
they make... One flats built creates jobs. We are creating jobs and | :59:42. | :59:45. | |
taxing them on their profits. That is something I thought the Labour | :59:46. | :59:50. | |
Party might well come. How many of the 1 million young people out of | :59:51. | :59:56. | |
work... That's all we've got time for. It's back now to Andrew. | :59:57. | :00:08. | |
Tomorrow, the House of Commons will pay its tributes to Nelson Mandela. | :00:09. | :00:22. | |
Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father. | :00:23. | :00:42. | |
The first thing I ever did that involved an issue or policy, or | :00:43. | :00:49. | |
politics, was protest against apartheid. | :00:50. | :00:56. | |
I think his greatest legacy, to South Africa and to the world, is | :00:57. | :01:06. | |
the emphasis which he has always put on the need for a conciliation, on | :01:07. | :01:16. | |
the importance of human rights. He also made us understand that we can | :01:17. | :01:22. | |
change the world. We can change the world by changing attitudes, by | :01:23. | :01:25. | |
changing perceptions. For this reason, I would like to pay him | :01:26. | :01:31. | |
tribute as a great human being, who raised the standard of humanity. | :01:32. | :01:43. | |
Thank you for the gift of Madiba. Thank you for what he has enabled us | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
to know we can become. We are joined now by the Labour MP | :01:48. | :02:05. | |
Diane Abbott. You met Mr Mandela not one after he was released from | :02:06. | :02:09. | |
prison in 1990. He went as an election observer for the first one | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
person, one-vote in South Africa. I would guess, of all the people you | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
met in your life, you must have been the most impressive and biggest | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
influence? He was extraordinary. He had just come out of prison, 28 | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
years in reason. He had seen a lot of his colleagues tortured, blown up | :02:29. | :02:34. | |
and killed. He was entirely without bitterness. That is what came | :02:35. | :02:37. | |
across. That was key to his achievement, to achieve a peaceful | :02:38. | :02:42. | |
transition. Everybody thought that if you have black majority rule, you | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
might have a bloodbath. It's down to Nelson Mandela but didn't happen. I | :02:48. | :02:52. | |
remember FW de Klerk saying that Mandela was the key to getting a | :02:53. | :02:58. | |
peaceful transition. Absolutely the key, an amazing man. London was one | :02:59. | :03:05. | |
of the centres, people talked about it as being the other centre of the | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
anti-apartheid struggle. That anti-apartheid struggle in London, | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
it had an effect on black politics in Britain? Oh, yes. If you were | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
black and politically active at the time, the apartheid struggle, the | :03:19. | :03:24. | |
struggle against white supremacy in South Africa, was very important. | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
Whatever your colour, the anti-apartheid struggle, for our | :03:29. | :03:30. | |
generation, was the political campaign. We have the 50th | :03:31. | :03:37. | |
anniversary of Kennedy's assassination. Mr Mandela's death. | :03:38. | :03:40. | |
We are kind of running out of people that inspired us? I will never | :03:41. | :03:45. | |
forget where I was when I saw him come out of prison, hand-in-hand | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
with the women, I might add. If you have spent your whole teenage years | :03:51. | :03:53. | |
and 20 is boycotting, marching, picketing, to see him actually come | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
out was amazing. Do you think it was more exciting to meet you or the | :03:59. | :04:06. | |
Spice Girls? I think the Spice Girls. What did the Labour | :04:07. | :04:13. | |
backbenchers think about Ed Balls's performance after the Autumn | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
Statement? Luck, Ed Balls is a brilliant man, but I think even he | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
would say that it was not his best performance. But if you look at the | :04:23. | :04:25. | |
polls, the public liked the points he made. The backbenchers were | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
quiet, there was something wrong? I noticed that. It was like a wall of | :04:31. | :04:37. | |
sound, deliberately. They know that under pressure his stamina might | :04:38. | :04:39. | |
come back and it is difficult for him. That is what they were trying | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
to incite. I have had experience first hand, a look at all of these | :04:46. | :04:48. | |
anonymous and sometimes not anonymous quotes in the media. The | :04:49. | :04:54. | |
spinning has begun against him? This is the party of brotherly love, no | :04:55. | :05:04. | |
matter what the Tories say, we can say worse about each other. How | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
could it be that two former aides to Gordon Brown do not like each other? | :05:10. | :05:15. | |
Far be it from me to say. If he wanted to do it, and I'm not saying | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
he does, is Mr Miliband ruthless enough to get rid of Ed Balls? I | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
mean, he got rid of you, he got rid of his brother? One thing you should | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
not do is under estimate Ed Miliband's capacity for | :05:31. | :05:33. | |
ruthlessness. If he feels it is the right thing to do, he will do it. | :05:34. | :05:39. | |
It's not just a matter of... Ed Balls is a big, powerful | :05:40. | :05:42. | |
personality. He's great to interview because he is across his subject, | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
you can have a really good argument with him, a man that knows his | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
brief, his facts. But it's not just about the personality. There is a | :05:51. | :05:57. | |
kind of sense that Labour needs to look forwards more on economic | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
policy. Of course, the standard of living has been hugely successful | :06:03. | :06:05. | |
for Labour. But it needs more than that on economic policy? I think he | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
has been one of the most effective member 's Shadow Cabinet, and he's | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
always associated with the Brown years, where there is always an | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
element about, you were the guys that got it wrong. I think Ed | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
Miliband will be very tempted to replace him with Alistair Darling. | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
The scenario goes like this, Alistair Darling saves the union and | :06:28. | :06:30. | |
then in September he saves the Labour Party. Ultimately, I don't | :06:31. | :06:34. | |
think he would do it. Talk about shifting tectonic plates, it would, | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
wouldn't it? But it is a step too far. Ed Balls would not be too | :06:39. | :06:45. | |
happy. It is not something you would want to do lightly. That sounds a | :06:46. | :06:55. | |
bit of a threat. Not from you. I can't see Ed Balls magnanimously | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
retreating and say, go on, Alistair Darling, take the job I have been | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
after all career. Where do you put him? Do you make him a middle | :07:05. | :07:07. | |
ranking business or welfare secretary? He wouldn't do that. If | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
you sack him, he would retreat to the backbenchers. He might take up | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
knitting and practices piano scales, or he might have a blood feud with | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
Ed Miliband. I don't know which could be. You look back to when he | :07:23. | :07:28. | |
was schools Secretary, you could feel he was constantly fuming. I | :07:29. | :07:31. | |
think he is better inside the tent, looking out, than the other way | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
around. The thing one Labour strategist said to me was that he is | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
too much looking into the rear-view mirror, when it comes to economic | :07:40. | :07:43. | |
policy. He needs to look ahead through the windscreen. That had | :07:44. | :07:49. | |
some resonance? He was at the centre of Labour's economic policy-making | :07:50. | :07:53. | |
from the mid-90s. So it's hard for him but he has to look forward. | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
There is an interesting comparison with 2009. Gordon Brown got in | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
trouble when he said the choice is between Labour investment and Tory | :08:03. | :08:05. | |
cuts. Everybody knew it was between Labour cuts and Tory cuts. In other | :08:06. | :08:09. | |
words, he was not acknowledging reality. With Ed Balls, OK, we can | :08:10. | :08:13. | |
say it is the wrong sort of recovery, but there is a recovery. | :08:14. | :08:17. | |
Does he not need to absorb that punch and say there is a recovery, | :08:18. | :08:20. | |
then people will listen to him? Possibly. We know that the | :08:21. | :08:27. | |
macroeconomics are looking better. We also know people are not | :08:28. | :08:31. | |
experiencing it as a recovery in living standards. No one, not even | :08:32. | :08:37. | |
Tories, really believe that David Cameron knows what it is like for | :08:38. | :08:40. | |
middle-income people to live normal lives. Living standards is | :08:41. | :08:44. | |
particularly powerful because of the composition of the government? Don't | :08:45. | :08:47. | |
go away. This time last year we ambushed our political panel with a | :08:48. | :08:52. | |
quiz. They didn't come out of it smelling of roses, but they did come | :08:53. | :08:56. | |
out rather smelly. Will the coalition still be in place | :08:57. | :09:02. | |
a year from now? Yes. Definitely. I say definitely as well. From now, | :09:03. | :09:10. | |
one year, will we know the date of the European referendum? Yes. No. I | :09:11. | :09:17. | |
say no as well. How much growth will there be? Less than 1%. Father | :09:18. | :09:23. | |
Christmas is less qualified than me, but I will go for one. I will go for | :09:24. | :09:30. | |
a quarter of that. 0.4%. Sorry, a third of that. I am with you, and | :09:31. | :09:37. | |
1%. We didn't do too badly. What will growth be next year? I will | :09:38. | :09:42. | |
remind you, the OBR has upgraded to 2.4%. Better stick with the OBR, got | :09:43. | :09:50. | |
it wrong last year. Well, they went down in March and then went back in | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
December. I'm going to go under and claim credit where it's higher. I'm | :09:56. | :09:58. | |
going to say 1%. Deliberately get it wrong. Given our record, if we say | :09:59. | :10:05. | |
there is going to be spectacular growth, does it mean we're going to | :10:06. | :10:09. | |
go into recession? There is incentive to be cautious. 2%. 2.4%, | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
because the housing market in London is rocketing. It would be closer to | :10:16. | :10:22. | |
3% and 2.4, mark my words. We'll Ed Balls be Shadow Chancellor by this | :10:23. | :10:30. | |
time next year? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, I value my life. Will UKIP mean the | :10:31. | :10:37. | |
European elections, by which I mean have the highest percentage of the | :10:38. | :10:45. | |
vote? Yes. Second behind Labour. Second behind Labour. Will Alex | :10:46. | :10:51. | |
Salmond win the independence referendum? No, but it will be | :10:52. | :10:57. | |
closer than we think. No, unless they do something catastrophic like | :10:58. | :11:00. | |
let Cameron debate him. Too close to call. Controversial. How many | :11:01. | :11:08. | |
Romanians and Bulgarians will come to Britain in 2014? Far fewer than | :11:09. | :11:18. | |
anyone thinks. The entire population of Romania and Bulgaria, like Nigel | :11:19. | :11:21. | |
Farage thanks. I'll go with that, I'm confident. A change of tone for | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
your magazine. Not many will come, but a lot here already will | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
normalise and be counted into figures. Too many for most | :11:32. | :11:37. | |
right-wing commentators. I think quite a few will come, but not the | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
kind of numbers that made such a huge difference. This time, | :11:42. | :11:51. | |
everybody is open. They do like to speak English, that is the reason | :11:52. | :11:55. | |
they want to come. We'll all three of you still be here by this time | :11:56. | :12:01. | |
next year? Yes. Would you recommend that? Yes, keep them. And he has | :12:02. | :12:08. | |
lovely boots. Shiny red boots. If you can keep affording me, I will be | :12:09. | :12:15. | |
here. I hope so, it sounds like you have a firing squad outside. I hope | :12:16. | :12:21. | |
so, maybe you will find some true talent. Very pragmatic, aren't they? | :12:22. | :12:29. | |
Let me put this to you, I think you will agree. The coalition will not | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
break now, this side of the election next year? There will not be... They | :12:34. | :12:39. | |
will not go their own ways by this time next year? Of next year, maybe | :12:40. | :12:46. | |
just after. Early 2015. This side of the election? What is the UKIP view? | :12:47. | :12:53. | |
I don't think there is an advantage to either of them. If the Lib Dems | :12:54. | :12:58. | |
pulled out, they would look like there were a lodger in the Tory | :12:59. | :13:01. | |
house of government. I think it would suit the Lib Dems to break | :13:02. | :13:05. | |
just before the election. I think that is what Vince Cable wants to | :13:06. | :13:09. | |
do. I don't think it is what Nick Clegg would like to do. The Tories | :13:10. | :13:17. | |
would love it. They would have all of the toys to themselves. Yellow | :13:18. | :13:19. | |
marker they would look like the grown-ups. The problem for Vince | :13:20. | :13:22. | |
Cable is that he's not the force that used to be after his temper | :13:23. | :13:25. | |
tantrum at the Conference. I will be back with the Daily | :13:26. | :13:34. | |
Politics next week. If Santer gives you a diary in your stocking, pencil | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
in Sunday the 20th of January, the first Sunday Politics of 2014. | :13:40. | :13:47. | |
Remember, if it is Sunday, it is the Sunday Politics. Unless it is | :13:48. | :13:48. | |
Christmas. And New Year. | :13:49. | :13:51. |