Browse content similar to 11/05/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics, where we're talking | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
about the Europe-wide contest that really matters. No, not Eurovision. | :00:39. | :00:47. | |
The European elections. There are local elections across England too | :00:48. | :00:50. | |
on May 22nd. The party leaders are campaigning ahead of polling day. | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
The results could be a pointer to the Big One, May 2015. We'll be | :00:55. | :01:01. | |
speaking to the man in charge of Labour's election battle plan. Has | :01:02. | :01:04. | |
the opposition really got its sights set on all-out victory in 2015? Or | :01:05. | :01:07. | |
will it just be content with squeaking home? And you can't | :01:08. | :01:14. | |
mention elections these days without talking about the impact of this | :01:15. | :01:18. | |
man, Nigel Farage. I'll be asking him if UKIP really is fit for prime | :01:19. | :01:28. | |
time? We are looking at the elections in the capital's 32 | :01:29. | :01:30. | |
boroughs. What will make a difference to the way you vote? | :01:31. | :01:38. | |
And I'm joined by three journalists guaranteed to bring a touch of | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
Eurovision glamour to your Sunday morning. With views more | :01:44. | :01:46. | |
controversial than a bearded Austrian drag act and twice the | :01:47. | :01:49. | |
dress sense, it's Nick Watt, Helen Lewis and Janan Ganesh. So you might | :01:50. | :01:59. | |
have thought you've already heard David Cameron promise an in-out | :02:00. | :02:01. | |
referendum on EU membership in 2017 if he's still Prime Minister. Many | :02:02. | :02:08. | |
times. Many, many times. Well he obviously doesn't think you've been | :02:09. | :02:11. | |
listening, because he's been saying it again today. Here he is speaking | :02:12. | :02:15. | |
to the BBC earlier. We will hold a referendum by the end of 2017. It | :02:16. | :02:19. | |
will be a referendum on an in-out basis. Do we stay in a reformed | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
European Union or do we leave? And I've said very clearly that whatever | :02:24. | :02:26. | |
the outcome of the next election, and of course I want an overall | :02:27. | :02:29. | |
majority and I'm hoping and believing I can win an overall | :02:30. | :02:32. | |
majority, that people should be in no doubt I will not become Prime | :02:33. | :02:35. | |
Minister unless I can guarantee that we will hold a referendum. Here's | :02:36. | :02:46. | |
saying there that an overall majority there will definitely be a | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
referendum. If these are the minority position, he won't form a | :02:51. | :02:53. | |
new coalition unless they agree to a referendum, too. The Lib Dems a | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
pulmonary agree to that. They probably will because the Prime | :03:00. | :03:01. | |
ministers have a strong argument which is I gave you a referendum | :03:02. | :03:06. | |
back in 2010 so the least I need is theirs and the Lib Dems are the only | :03:07. | :03:09. | |
party who have stood in recent elections on a clear mandate to hold | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
a referendum, so it is difficult for them to say no, there was | :03:14. | :03:16. | |
interesting the interview he did earlier today. He named everything | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
was going to ask for. The most controversial with him, as he said | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
in his speech last year, he wants to take Britain out of the commitment | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
to make the European Union and ever closer union. That is a very big | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
ask, but the point is, he may well get it because the choice for the | :03:37. | :03:39. | |
European Union now, France and Germany, is a clear wonderful do | :03:40. | :03:45. | |
Britain in or out? Previously, it was can you put up with a British | :03:46. | :03:49. | |
prime ministers being annoying? I think you'll find the answer is they | :03:50. | :03:52. | |
are willing to pay a price but not any price to keep Britain in. In | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
this scenario, Labour would have lost the election again because we | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
are talking the slowly happen if Mr Cameron is the largest party or has | :04:04. | :04:06. | |
an overall majority. Could you then see Labour deciding we had better go | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
along with a referendum, too? I think that's unlikely because as I | :04:12. | :04:13. | |
think that's unlikely because there's a huge upside for that for I | :04:14. | :04:16. | |
think what's interesting is the idea he would for minority government. | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
Would you get confidence and look at other options that might well happen | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
with the way the arithmetic is going or is he going to hold out and say | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
the only way I will be Prime Minister is in a majority | :04:29. | :04:31. | |
Conservative government? No, the implication of his remarks was I | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
wouldn't form a coalition government unless my coalition partners would | :04:38. | :04:41. | |
also agree to vote for a referendum. He's basically talking about is | :04:42. | :04:43. | |
negotiating strategy in those coalition talks. It's a red line and | :04:44. | :04:49. | |
a huge opportunity for the Lib Dems, because they know David Cameron | :04:50. | :04:53. | |
absolutely has to do, for accidental reasons, as a person who survives as | :04:54. | :04:58. | |
Tory leader, to ask for that referendum, so they can ask anything | :04:59. | :05:02. | |
they want in return and if I was Nick Clegg, I would work out in the | :05:03. | :05:05. | |
next year one absolute colossal negotiating demand for those | :05:06. | :05:12. | |
coalition talks. For a party around 10% in the polls, they will do have | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
the Prime Minister over a barrel on this one, assuming that coalition | :05:17. | :05:25. | |
talks goes well. They could make Michael Gove Tbyte meeting. OK, we | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
need to move on. So, the politicians are out and about on what used to be | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
called the stump ahead of local and European elections in less than two | :05:35. | :05:37. | |
weeks' time. But, without wanting to depress you on a damp Sunday | :05:38. | :05:40. | |
morning, the party strategists are already hard at work on their | :05:41. | :05:43. | |
campaign plans for the General Election next May. Yes, it's less | :05:44. | :05:46. | |
than a year to go. They may have taken their time, but Labour's | :05:47. | :05:49. | |
battleplan for 2015 is starting to take shape. As well as take | :05:50. | :05:52. | |
promising to freeze your energy bills, and reintroduce the 50p rate | :05:53. | :05:55. | |
of tax, Ed Miliband now says he wants to intervene in the housing | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
market to keep rents down. There's even talk that the party leadership | :06:01. | :06:03. | |
wants to bring more railway lines into public ownership. And Labour is | :06:04. | :06:09. | |
gambling that its big push on the cost of living will see it through | :06:10. | :06:12. | |
to the general election despite evidence that growth is firmly back. | :06:13. | :06:15. | |
Labour's campaign chief Douglas Alexander hopes it all adds up to | :06:16. | :06:21. | |
victory next May. But so far, the evidence is hitting home very thin. | :06:22. | :06:27. | |
One survey today shows that 56% of people don't think Mr Miliband is up | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
to the job of Prime Minister. As we head towards one of the least | :06:33. | :06:34. | |
predictable general elections in 70 years, has Labour got a message to | :06:35. | :06:40. | |
win seats up and down the country? And Labour's election co-ordinator | :06:41. | :06:42. | |
and Shadow Foreign Secretary, Douglas Alexander, joins me now. | :06:43. | :06:50. | |
Welcome to Sunday Politics. A lot of these policies announced polar | :06:51. | :06:53. | |
pretty well. By popular with the country. When you add them together, | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
it's a move to the left and what would be wrong with that? I think is | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
your packet suggests, the contours in the coming campaign are becoming | :07:04. | :07:09. | |
clear. Our judgement is the defining issue of the year in British | :07:10. | :07:12. | |
politics will be the widening gap between the wealth of the country | :07:13. | :07:15. | |
and the finances of ordinary families. We believe it will be a | :07:16. | :07:18. | |
cost of living election and we have been setting out our thinking in | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
relation to energy prices and rent, but you will hear more from Labour | :07:23. | :07:25. | |
Party in the coming months because we're now less than one year away | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
from a decisive moment. If the leftish think tank suggested any of | :07:31. | :07:33. | |
his policies in that Tony Blair years, you would have opposed them. | :07:34. | :07:40. | |
Let's be clear, when not going for an interest but seeking to secure a | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
majority for the only way to do that is not simply to appeal to your | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
base, but to the centre ground. I believe we got genuine opportunities | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
in the next year. You have the Conservatives in a struggle with | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
UKIP on the right of politics. The Lib Dems 9% of trying to find their | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
base, and there's a genuine opportunity in the next year for | :08:02. | :08:04. | |
Labour to dominate the centre ground of politics and secure the majority | :08:05. | :08:08. | |
Labour government we are planning for in the coming year. I notice you | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
didn't deny you wouldn't have opposed. You say you have got an | :08:13. | :08:23. | |
message for aspirational voters in the South. This is what John Denham | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
said. He thinks you're talking too much to your core vote. | :08:30. | :08:38. | |
He is right to recognise we took a terrible beating in 2010. 29%. If | :08:39. | :08:47. | |
you look at what we've done in the last week, for example, the | :08:48. | :08:52. | |
signature policy on rent Ed Miliband announced to launch the campaign, | :08:53. | :08:54. | |
there's now more than 9 million people in the country in the private | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
rented sector, more than 1 million families. Many of them are in the | :09:00. | :09:03. | |
south-east. They are seeing circumstances where, suddenly, | :09:04. | :09:05. | |
landlord will increase the rent and they put the pressure involved in | :09:06. | :09:10. | |
schooling, health care facing the families, so it is important both in | :09:11. | :09:15. | |
terms of policy and in terms of politics that we speak to the whole | :09:16. | :09:18. | |
country, not simply to one part of it falls up what is the average rise | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
in event last year? I don't know. Can you tell me? 1%. 1% not in real | :09:23. | :09:31. | |
terms. I'm not sure what the problem is. It will happen to wages in last | :09:32. | :09:37. | |
year, we are facing circumstances where people will be worse off, up | :09:38. | :09:43. | |
to ?1600 off worse and frankly, if our opponents want to argue that the | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
economy has healed and they deserve a victory lap, good luck to them | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
because actually, what we are hearing from the Buddhist public, | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
not just in the north and south, is not the cost living crisis is | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
continuing and it affects families. There was nothing aspirational about | :10:02. | :10:04. | |
your party election broadcast for the European elections. It looked | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
like crude class war to money people. That's a bit of it. Bedroom | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
tax. Isn't it going to look bad that two thirds of those affected are | :10:15. | :10:17. | |
disabled? Who cares? They can't fight back. Shall be lay-offs and | :10:18. | :10:24. | |
NHS nurses? The National Health Service? Oh yes. Mr Cameron? Who | :10:25. | :10:38. | |
said that? Me. My gosh. The man has shrunk. He's actually shrunk. What | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
shall we do with him? Can we hunt him? Nothing about Europe, Labour | :10:43. | :10:49. | |
policy. News that the Tories would result in negative campaigning and | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
smear. You didn't tell you would be just as bad. Let's start the party | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
broadcast. The one thing guaranteed to have most people reaching for the | :10:59. | :11:04. | |
remote control these days are the words, there now follows a party but | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
the broadcast. I make no apology in the factory to be innovative in how | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
we presented. It's factual. It was a policy -based critic of this | :11:15. | :11:17. | |
government. And the Lib Dems role within it. So you're claiming it's | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
factual to betray the camera and cabinet is not even knowing what the | :11:23. | :11:30. | |
NHS is, -- the Cameron Cabinet. They attack the disabled because they | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
can't fight back. The Pinellas Tanner severely Prime Minister Sun | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
and he was treated during a short life by the NHS. It's a fact many | :11:40. | :11:46. | |
disabled people across the country including in my constituency have | :11:47. | :11:49. | |
been directly affected by the bedroom tax. And ultimately, this | :11:50. | :11:52. | |
Conservative led government, including the Lib Dems, will be held | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
accountable by the politicians. You say that, the Prime Minister, who | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
had a severely disabled son of. I you not ashamed about? I shadowed | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
Iain Duncan Smith of five months also they don't have the excuses of | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
seeing that saying nobody told them the consequences of the bedroom tax. | :12:13. | :12:15. | |
They went into this with their eyes open. They knew about the hardship | :12:16. | :12:20. | |
and difficulty. If they were one-bedroom properties available | :12:21. | :12:22. | |
across the country for people to move into, their argument would be | :12:23. | :12:27. | |
OK but they knew they were dealing with the most vulnerable people. Did | :12:28. | :12:32. | |
you sign off that part of the broadcast? Of course I stand by the | :12:33. | :12:38. | |
fact of it. I wish David Cameron and Iain Duncan Smith would apologise to | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
the disabled people of the country and the poorest people for the | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
effects of the bedroom tax. I hope we get that apology between now and | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
election. As someone who thinks integrity is important in politics, | :12:53. | :12:57. | |
not ashamed of this kind of thing? It's important we scrutinise the | :12:58. | :13:00. | |
policies of this government as well as adding a positive agenda for | :13:01. | :13:07. | |
change. You want that you won't promise this is the last time we'll | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
see such a negative press campaign? I don't think it is negative or | :13:13. | :13:14. | |
personal to scrutinise the government. So we'll get more of | :13:15. | :13:19. | |
this? I'm less interested in the background of the cabinet than their | :13:20. | :13:25. | |
views. You call the upper-class twits. It's for the British public | :13:26. | :13:29. | |
to make a judgement in terms of the British... That's how you depicted | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
them. We are held in accountable for the bedroom tax, the NHS, taxation, | :13:34. | :13:40. | |
and our record they have to defend. One reason are so fearful in this | :13:41. | :13:43. | |
election is actually because they know they have a poor record. Let's | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
look at other part of the election campaign. This poster. Particularly | :13:49. | :13:55. | |
digitally doing the rounds. On that shopping basket, can you tell us | :13:56. | :14:02. | |
which items take the full 20% VAT? It's representative of household | :14:03. | :14:05. | |
shopping, which includes items like cleaning products, and we know that | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
food is not that trouble. People don't go to the supermarket and say | :14:10. | :14:25. | |
this is -- vatable. So you are denying that ?450 extra is being | :14:26. | :14:29. | |
paid? Yes, where'd you get that figure? For an average family to pay | :14:30. | :14:37. | |
?450 a year extra VAT, they would have to spend ?21,600 a year on | :14:38. | :14:45. | |
vatable products at 20%. The average take-home pay is only 21,009. They | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
have got to spend on all sorts of things which are zero VAT. So in | :14:50. | :14:54. | |
addition to the items, has a range of products people face in terms of | :14:55. | :15:01. | |
VAT. How could an average family of ?21,000 a year spent 21,006 and the | :15:02. | :15:08. | |
pound a year on 20% vatable items? It's not an annual figure, is it? So | :15:09. | :15:16. | |
what is it then? If it's an annual, what is it? The increased VAT in | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
this parliament is calculated over the course of a Parliament. For the | :15:22. | :15:27. | |
whole of the Parliament? And you're illustrated this with a shopping | :15:28. | :15:34. | |
basket which almost has no VAT on it at all? People will be buying a | :15:35. | :15:38. | |
weekly shop in the course of this Parliament every week. Did you sign | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
off on this as well? Of course. It didn't dawn on you you're putting | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
things on it which have no VAT? If you want to argue some people go to | :15:48. | :15:52. | |
the shops and say these are vatable or not, I disagree. Even your rent | :15:53. | :16:01. | |
cap announcement went wrong. You're working on the rent rises and it | :16:02. | :16:04. | |
turns out it wasn't. It was a post your policy. It is the exception | :16:05. | :16:14. | |
rather than the rule to have the position we have at the moment. In | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
Northern Ireland we have seen the continued rise in terms of the | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
rented sector but there is a widespread recognition that for | :16:23. | :16:29. | |
those people in the rented sector, change is necessary. Are you | :16:30. | :16:34. | |
coordinating this campaign? It seems accident prone. This is a party that | :16:35. | :16:45. | |
has set the agenda more effectively than a Conservative party that said | :16:46. | :16:48. | |
when David Cameron was elected he wasn't going to bang on about | :16:49. | :16:57. | |
Europe. The day after the election we expect the Conservative party to | :16:58. | :17:03. | |
be engulfed in crisis. I'm proud of what we talk about and I think there | :17:04. | :17:07. | |
is a clear contrast about a party talking about issues people care | :17:08. | :17:12. | |
about, and a Conservative party talking about exclusively a | :17:13. | :17:17. | |
referendum. Are you in charge of the campaign? I am coordinating the | :17:18. | :17:24. | |
campaign is, yes. The expensive election guru you have hired, has he | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
been involved in any of this? We have started our discussions with | :17:31. | :17:35. | |
him. You are going to have to brief him about British politics because | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
he doesn't know anything about it. I make no apology for hiring him. He | :17:40. | :17:46. | |
has a lot of experience in winning tight elections and that is what we | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
are expecting. If you are expecting us to say, they have passed and we | :17:52. | :17:57. | |
have to hold them accountable, then I am sorry but we have a campaign | :17:58. | :18:04. | |
that holds the Government and the Conservatives to account for what I | :18:05. | :18:13. | |
think is a very hopeless record in government. Thank you. | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
He leads a party with zero MPs but his media presence is huge. He's had | :18:19. | :18:22. | |
an expenses scandal, but the public didn't seem to mind. He's got a | :18:23. | :18:24. | |
privileged background but he's seen as an anti-establishment champion. | :18:25. | :18:27. | |
Nothing seems to stick to him, not even eggs. I speak of course of | :18:28. | :18:31. | |
Nigel Farage. We'll talk to him in a moment, but first Giles has been out | :18:32. | :18:34. | |
on the campaign trail ahead of elections that could make or break | :18:35. | :18:37. | |
the UKIP leader. Nigel Farage likes a stage, and at | :18:38. | :18:40. | |
this stage of the Euro and local election campaign he is, like his | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
party, in buoyant mood. They feel they are on the verge of what they | :18:45. | :18:48. | |
see as causing an earthquake in British politics. Today Nigel is | :18:49. | :18:53. | |
filling thousands seat venues and bigger. Not that there's much sign | :18:54. | :19:03. | |
of that at this press launch. But it's a threat with serious money | :19:04. | :19:06. | |
behind it, that they believe the media and the political elite just | :19:07. | :19:09. | |
haven't realised yet, much less learned how to counter it. Not that | :19:10. | :19:12. | |
it's all been plain sailing. Offensive comments from some | :19:13. | :19:14. | |
candidates has not only seen UKIP labelled as racist, but necessitated | :19:15. | :19:17. | |
a rally by the party to visibly and verbally challenge that. The | :19:18. | :19:25. | |
offensive idiotic statements made by this handful of people have been | :19:26. | :19:27. | |
lifted up and presented to the great British public as if they represent | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
the view of this party, which they do not. They never have and they | :19:33. | :19:35. | |
never will. APPLAUSE I don't care what you call us, but | :19:36. | :19:51. | |
from this moment on, please do not call must trust a racist party. We | :19:52. | :20:02. | |
are not a racist party. The need to say that is not just | :20:03. | :20:05. | |
about the European and local elections even at that campaign | :20:06. | :20:08. | |
launch it's clear UKIP's leader has set his sights firmly on the | :20:09. | :20:11. | |
ultimate prize. I come from the south of England and I would not | :20:12. | :20:13. | |
want to be seen as an opportunist heading to the north, north Norfolk | :20:14. | :20:18. | |
or whatever it will be. I will make my mind up and stand in the general | :20:19. | :20:24. | |
election for somewhere in Kent, East Sussex, Hampshire, somewhere in my | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
home patch. Back at UKIP HQ they are still drilling down how the last | :20:30. | :20:38. | |
fortnight of campaigning should go. They aren't taking any chances, and | :20:39. | :20:41. | |
one imagines having offices above those of Max Clifford is a reminder | :20:42. | :20:44. | |
how fragile built reputations can be of the bubble bursting. They want | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
their reputation to be built on votes and they know anything but | :20:49. | :20:50. | |
significant success on May 22nd and some seats in Westminster in 2015 | :20:51. | :20:58. | |
isn't going to be good enough. And after that, having sold yourselves | :20:59. | :21:01. | |
as the honest outsiders, that stance is harder to maintain once your | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
people are on the inside. And subtle changes from the past are already | :21:06. | :21:11. | |
noticeable. The ordinary man of the people stance is still working. | :21:12. | :21:13. | |
Characteristically outside a pub, Nigel Farage is glad handed by a | :21:14. | :21:20. | |
customer. Two weeks to go, let's cause an upset. Wouldn't that be | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
great? The only sign that such an interaction is different now is the | :21:26. | :21:28. | |
ever presence of bodyguards who shadow his every move. Over lunch | :21:29. | :21:40. | |
ahead of Question Time, a radio appearance, and then off to | :21:41. | :21:43. | |
Scotland, I ask him if some of those minded to vote UKIP who see him as a | :21:44. | :21:47. | |
man they'd be comfortable having a drink with are the sort of people | :21:48. | :21:50. | |
he'd be entirely comfortable sitting down with. Every political party | :21:51. | :21:52. | |
attracts support from across the spectrum and there will be some | :21:53. | :21:55. | |
magnificent people who vote for us and some ne'er-do-wells. The one | :21:56. | :22:03. | |
common thing about UKIP voters is that they are often not very | :22:04. | :22:09. | |
political. And it's that people's army that if UKIP can get to a | :22:10. | :22:13. | |
polling booth might just create that earthquake they want. | :22:14. | :22:18. | |
Nigel Farage joins me now. When you decided not to stand at the new work | :22:19. | :22:22. | |
by election coming said if you lost it that the bubble would have | :22:23. | :22:29. | |
burst. What did you mean by that? I was asked at seven 20p -- at 7:21pm | :22:30. | :22:48. | |
if I would stand, I have decided by the next morning that I would not. I | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
didn't know he was going to resign. You claim only a handful of UKIP | :22:55. | :22:58. | |
candidates have ever said things that are either stupid or offensive, | :22:59. | :23:05. | |
I'm right on that, yes? 0.1%, I'd rather it was non-. But why have you | :23:06. | :23:11. | |
chosen a candidate to fight this by-election that has said many | :23:12. | :23:15. | |
things most people would regard as stupid or offensive? Roger is | :23:16. | :23:21. | |
fighting this for us, someone of 70 years of age who grew up with a | :23:22. | :23:27. | |
strong Christian Bible background, in an age when homosexuality was | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
imprisonable. He had a certain set of views which he maintained for | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
many years which he now says he accepts the world has moved on and | :23:37. | :23:42. | |
he is relaxed about it. The comments about homosexuality are not from the | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
dark ages, they are from two or three years ago. From when he was a | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
Conservative, yes, so will you be asking David Cameron that question? | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
I have never seen a single comment from Roger that would be deemed to | :23:59. | :24:05. | |
be offensive. Do you regard his comments on homosexuality as | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
offensive? When he grew up, homosexuality was illegal in this | :24:11. | :24:15. | |
country. But this was in 2012 but he said that. Most people have his age | :24:16. | :24:26. | |
still feel uncomfortable about it -- of his age. In 2012 he said, if two | :24:27. | :24:33. | |
men can be married, why not three, why not a commune. Many people in | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
this country are disconcerted by the change in the meaning of marriage | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
and in a tolerant society we understand that some people have | :24:45. | :24:48. | |
different views. But he has changed his views now in only two years? He | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
says he is more relaxed about it. Was he your candidate? He is a | :24:54. | :25:04. | |
first-class campaigner who has had 30 years in industry, he served in | :25:05. | :25:09. | |
the European Parliament, he is a good candidate. This morning's | :25:10. | :25:13. | |
papers suggest you are about to select Victoria Ayling for Grimsby, | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
but she is on camera saying that, of immigrants, I just want to send a | :25:19. | :25:23. | |
lot back. This is all very interesting, and we can talk about | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
it, all we could talk about the fact that in 12 days we have a European | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
election and every voter across the UK can vote on it and it is really | :25:33. | :25:38. | |
interesting. Are you happy to pick a candidate that says of immigrants, I | :25:39. | :25:47. | |
just want to send a lot back? I have seen the tape, it is a complete | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
misquote and she says it in the context of illegal immigrants. I | :25:52. | :25:59. | |
have seen the full quote and in the context it is not about illegal | :26:00. | :26:02. | |
immigrants. Let's come onto the European campaign, you have used a | :26:03. | :26:07. | |
company that employs Eastern European is to deliver leaflets in | :26:08. | :26:12. | |
London and the Home Counties. Have we? I'm told that in Croydon one | :26:13. | :26:18. | |
branch might have done that. Have you found some indigenous Brits to | :26:19. | :26:24. | |
deliver leaflets in Europe? We have thousands joining the party every | :26:25. | :26:28. | |
month and they are not all indigenous because what is | :26:29. | :26:31. | |
interesting is that in today's opinion polls, UKIP is above the Lib | :26:32. | :26:47. | |
Dems and the Conservatives amongst the indigenous voting. | :26:48. | :26:57. | |
We have not agreed a manifesto for the general election, we will do | :26:58. | :27:04. | |
over the course of the summer. This is in your local election. We are | :27:05. | :27:11. | |
having local elections in some part of the country but we are fighting a | :27:12. | :27:14. | |
European election. It is impossible with the British media to have an | :27:15. | :27:19. | |
intelligent debate on the European question. But as I say, we are also | :27:20. | :27:25. | |
fighting the local elections too. You have promised these tax cuts, | :27:26. | :27:32. | |
how much will they cost? I have met -- read the local election manifesto | :27:33. | :27:37. | |
and it doesn't make those promises. We do talk about local services, we | :27:38. | :27:41. | |
do talk about the need to keep council tax down but we don't talk | :27:42. | :27:49. | |
about income tax. Absolutely not. In local election campaigning you say | :27:50. | :27:53. | |
you would restore cuts to policing, double prison places, restore cuts | :27:54. | :27:59. | |
to front line NHS, spend more on roads, how much would that cost? You | :28:00. | :28:06. | |
are obviously reading different documents to me. We are voting for | :28:07. | :28:11. | |
local councillors in district councils who have got little local | :28:12. | :28:18. | |
budgets. Every party in a manifesto puts his aspirations in it. Have you | :28:19. | :28:24. | |
read it? Of course I have, cover to cover, which is why I'm saying you | :28:25. | :28:30. | |
are misquoting it. By the way, on the bubble bursting, you told that | :28:31. | :28:37. | |
to Norman Smith of the BBC. 75% of British laws are now made in the | :28:38. | :28:42. | |
European Union. Now AstraZeneca is potentially going to be taken over | :28:43. | :28:47. | |
by Pfizer. The BBC is refusing to show the public that that decision | :28:48. | :28:52. | |
cannot be taken here but by an elected European commissioner, and | :28:53. | :28:56. | |
we sit and argue about what is in or not in the local election manifesto. | :28:57. | :29:10. | |
It is my job, but let me come on to AstraZeneca. Is it your view that a | :29:11. | :29:13. | |
British government should stop the takeover of AstraZeneca? It cannot. | :29:14. | :29:25. | |
Can we please get this clear. I sat next to Chuka Umunna the other day | :29:26. | :29:30. | |
at question time and he said what could and couldn't be done. He said | :29:31. | :29:35. | |
I am being studiously neutral, and the reason is we don't have this | :29:36. | :29:39. | |
power. That is what the European elections is about. Should France | :29:40. | :29:45. | |
have the takeover of the food company Danan? We seem to do things | :29:46. | :30:03. | |
to the Nth degree and nobody else does, perhaps because we have this | :30:04. | :30:07. | |
culture and we obey it. In your view, you don't think Pfizer should | :30:08. | :30:16. | |
be able to take over AstraZeneca? There is some good science within | :30:17. | :30:20. | |
AstraZeneca which is in danger of being asset stripped and lost. | :30:21. | :30:27. | |
Because it is run by a Swede and a Frenchman and most of its employees | :30:28. | :30:32. | |
are overseas. I understand that but there are still some good science | :30:33. | :30:37. | |
being produced here. What did you think of the Prime Minister saying | :30:38. | :30:40. | |
he would not form a government after the election unless he was able to | :30:41. | :30:46. | |
have a referendum in 2017? I sat here talking to you and you said to | :30:47. | :30:53. | |
me that David Cameron had given a cast-iron guarantee that if David | :30:54. | :30:57. | |
Cameron becomes Prime Minister he will have a referendum on the Lisbon | :30:58. | :31:01. | |
Treaty, but he didn't deliver on that. He knows that people struggle | :31:02. | :31:06. | |
to believe the renegotiation is worth a row of beans. He is saying | :31:07. | :31:12. | |
he will not form a government unless he can go forward with the | :31:13. | :31:16. | |
referendum. I know he is desperately trying to pretend to be Eurosceptic | :31:17. | :31:19. | |
whilst at the same time saying he will campaign for Britain to remain | :31:20. | :31:24. | |
in. In a sense, that is what this election is about. We have three | :31:25. | :31:28. | |
traditional parties, all of whom passionately believe in the | :31:29. | :31:31. | |
continued membership of the European Union and we have UKIP saying we | :31:32. | :31:35. | |
want trade and cooperation but there is a bigger and better world out | :31:36. | :31:41. | |
there. You are now travelling with I think four bodyguards, has this | :31:42. | :31:52. | |
affected you and your family life? I can't stand it. I've always wondered | :31:53. | :31:56. | |
about the place and on my own thing. Sadly we have a couple of | :31:57. | :32:00. | |
organisations out there headed up by senior Labour Party figures who | :32:01. | :32:03. | |
purport to be against fascism and extremism, who received funding from | :32:04. | :32:08. | |
the Department of communities, from the trade unions, who have acted in | :32:09. | :32:12. | |
a violent wait more than once. You are saying the Labour Party is | :32:13. | :32:17. | |
behind the threats? No, I said a taxpayer funded, trade union funded | :32:18. | :32:21. | |
and headed by senior Labour Party figures, and I'm happy for them to | :32:22. | :32:24. | |
come to my meetings and have an itinerant with me, but it's not so | :32:25. | :32:28. | |
much fun when there are banging you over the head. I is still keen to be | :32:29. | :32:34. | |
an MP? Yes, what UKIP will then do is target before the general | :32:35. | :32:39. | |
election next year for the one life be easier if you just went to the | :32:40. | :32:44. | |
Lords? That's the last thing I want to do. There's an awful lot to do. | :32:45. | :32:48. | |
Most of all, I will not rest until we are free from political union and | :32:49. | :32:52. | |
government from Brussels. Nigel Farage, thank you for being with us. | :32:53. | :32:55. | |
It's just gone 11.30am. You're watching the Sunday Politics. We say | :32:56. | :32:58. | |
goodbye to viewers in Scotland, who leave us now for Sunday Politics | :32:59. | :33:01. | |
Scotland. Coming up here in 20 minutes, our panel talks about the | :33:02. | :33:04. | |
big stories of the week. First though, the Sunday Politics where | :33:05. | :33:05. | |
you are. Welcome. This is a Gaelic at the | :33:06. | :33:20. | |
election is happening in London's 32 boroughs in just under a fortnight. | :33:21. | :33:24. | |
Here to protect our representatives of the three main parties. | :33:25. | :33:40. | |
Welcome to you all are. Before we get going, here is Kate Ford to set | :33:41. | :33:47. | |
the scene in London. The last council elections in London took | :33:48. | :33:51. | |
place on the same day as the general election when the capital's | :33:52. | :33:54. | |
political map turned red. Despite much of a capital being run by | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
Labour town halls, in many ways, it's been the Coalition | :33:59. | :34:00. | |
Government's decisions which have been the big news in the last four | :34:01. | :34:06. | |
years. The last four years of London government have been characterised | :34:07. | :34:08. | |
for the borough by pretty well continuous cuts. The London boroughs | :34:09. | :34:13. | |
have faced some of the deepest cuts in the country and this has given | :34:14. | :34:18. | |
them an accumulated need radically to reduce spending. On average, | :34:19. | :34:24. | |
London council budgets are being cut by 25% in the last four years, | :34:25. | :34:31. | |
rising to 44% cut by 2016. We are going to see the impact of what will | :34:32. | :34:35. | |
by then be six or seven or eight years of continuous reductions in | :34:36. | :34:39. | |
spending. That risks people beginning to notice that the | :34:40. | :34:44. | |
potholes really are bad or the general condition of council offices | :34:45. | :34:50. | |
and buildings is not as good as it once was or care for the elderly is | :34:51. | :34:54. | |
now reduced to an absolute bare minimum or libraries do close in | :34:55. | :34:58. | |
numbers. All of those things may begin to occur in the next four | :34:59. | :35:03. | |
years. While all parties go into the election telling you about how they | :35:04. | :35:07. | |
have managed to protect services in the face of austerity, what they | :35:08. | :35:10. | |
will be less keen to talk about is the popular services they may have | :35:11. | :35:15. | |
to cut should they win the poll. Kate Ford reporting. Kick this off | :35:16. | :35:22. | |
for us, tell us what these elections mean and what Conservatives are | :35:23. | :35:28. | |
saying. We are saying we are a party with a clear plan of action | :35:29. | :35:33. | |
nationally and locally. Therefore, nationally, we working coalition to | :35:34. | :35:37. | |
reduce the deficit because that was necessary. We inherited a huge | :35:38. | :35:40. | |
deficit, getting the economy back on track in the same way, locally, we | :35:41. | :35:44. | |
have worked hard to make sure we protect front line services. In my | :35:45. | :35:50. | |
borough, for example, we have capped -- catchable library is open because | :35:51. | :35:55. | |
wouldn't joint working. -- capped local library is open. -- capped | :35:56. | :36:00. | |
local libraries open. Council tax frozen but found | :36:01. | :36:15. | |
services many councils haven't. Affordable housing, keeping one | :36:16. | :36:19. | |
o'clock club is open, provide the services local residents feel if | :36:20. | :36:23. | |
they're going to address the crisis, and the challenge in the report is a | :36:24. | :36:28. | |
challenge over the next period, 44% cut as a consequence of the policies | :36:29. | :36:33. | |
of the Conservatives. It's going to be tough and in 12 days came, it's | :36:34. | :36:38. | |
important people bear that in mind. -- 12 days' time. The situation will | :36:39. | :36:47. | |
be the same for whichever way you vote. Why, when we see the Lib Dems | :36:48. | :36:53. | |
suffering apparently in the national polls, will people continue to vote | :36:54. | :37:01. | |
locally for you? We have a strong local history. If you look at | :37:02. | :37:05. | |
Saturn, which has been leading on business, working with local | :37:06. | :37:10. | |
businesses, creating jobs, -- Sutton, Kingston, which makes sure | :37:11. | :37:16. | |
despite a young population, they had school places, work with communities | :37:17. | :37:21. | |
to make sure there was the free school agenda, it wasn't a random | :37:22. | :37:26. | |
one, but actually is providing places where they are needed and | :37:27. | :37:29. | |
when they are needed, when you look at the Lib Dem boroughs, we haven't | :37:30. | :37:34. | |
cut a single library. It can't be said of Brent, Haringey. It is | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
really behind on its housing maintenance. We are hearing | :37:40. | :37:43. | |
complaints about Labour councils on their ability to management. And | :37:44. | :37:47. | |
frankly, some of the Conservative councils have not been good on | :37:48. | :37:50. | |
school places. What we haven't been hearing from Labour is that this is | :37:51. | :37:57. | |
a really bad time for local government. It looks like councils | :37:58. | :38:02. | |
have been able to manage. Sutton and Kingston, zero affordable housing. | :38:03. | :38:11. | |
Kingston, tender. Kingston has identified a site and put together a | :38:12. | :38:15. | |
site where it will build 2000 homes. That is key. It has made a huge... | :38:16. | :38:25. | |
Too much income? The important thing is... Its flagship. We will see how | :38:26. | :38:32. | |
much you win. You are right to remind me things have been tough for | :38:33. | :38:39. | |
all councils. The issue is which of the councils have managed to | :38:40. | :38:44. | |
withstand the huge cuts made by their parties in Westminster, not | :38:45. | :38:51. | |
only... Everybody has managed... Let me continue. The challenge in the | :38:52. | :38:54. | |
report is the toughest times I get to come and which councillor, which | :38:55. | :39:00. | |
party do you think will be better on your side when the cuts bear down | :39:01. | :39:04. | |
rather than just looking after the few? I notice you don't measure | :39:05. | :39:10. | |
levels of council tax across London. We charge less. Whether Conservative | :39:11. | :39:19. | |
Maher, of course, we have a real terms cut in council tax as well. | :39:20. | :39:24. | |
But you offer a bribe... It's what the government should help people in | :39:25. | :39:29. | |
a practical way to keep council tax down. Good councils, look at | :39:30. | :39:32. | |
Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, working together saving ?40 million | :39:33. | :39:39. | |
through the joint service working, planning for the future. That's the | :39:40. | :39:43. | |
long-term planning and how you cope with a different levels of spending | :39:44. | :39:47. | |
in the future. The House of Commons library has done some research and | :39:48. | :39:56. | |
average council tax... Here he goes. You use the old figure. The House of | :39:57. | :40:01. | |
Commons library shows Conservative councils charge ?1400 more than | :40:02. | :40:10. | |
Labour councils. Independent experts say it's a discredited figure. Here | :40:11. | :40:16. | |
he goes. If you compare and D with band D. What a slander on the | :40:17. | :40:25. | |
library. Your figure is discredited. I was just trying to say, I think | :40:26. | :40:30. | |
across the country, ironically, this last year, only Lib Dem majority one | :40:31. | :40:34. | |
councils were the only one who absolutely 100% froze council tax. I | :40:35. | :40:39. | |
thought that was an interesting statistic. The complexities of | :40:40. | :40:45. | |
council tax, he doesn't actually understand how that works because | :40:46. | :40:50. | |
the level of grant... Council tax is only one fifth of what the income | :40:51. | :40:55. | |
is, such a narrow part. On the bigger picture, what were the Lib | :40:56. | :41:01. | |
Dems offer to face this challenge, particularly elderly social care? | :41:02. | :41:05. | |
You have contributed to a very tough financial position, the money is not | :41:06. | :41:11. | |
increasing. But the demand is. If you look at where we have councils, | :41:12. | :41:15. | |
Kingston and Sutton, really protecting services for the | :41:16. | :41:20. | |
vulnerable, Kingston, protecting the small voluntary charities which do | :41:21. | :41:24. | |
so much faster than putting them on a competitive basis, giving them | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
systems necessary for them to be able to function within their | :41:30. | :41:32. | |
communities. There are effective ways you can do this, but it takes | :41:33. | :41:38. | |
that kind of skill and competence. On the politics, I accept you might | :41:39. | :41:42. | |
lose a few councils. Governing parties invariably come under | :41:43. | :41:46. | |
pressure when you are mid-term or partway through the term. It's | :41:47. | :41:50. | |
difficult to call because of the difference in the turnout from last | :41:51. | :41:53. | |
time, when it was on the same day as the general election. Susan 's party | :41:54. | :41:59. | |
has lost seats, but we know it varies from place to place. UKIP is | :42:00. | :42:04. | |
a new factor servers more variables. I think we have got a good local | :42:05. | :42:08. | |
record in our Conservative councils and we will be fighting hard on | :42:09. | :42:13. | |
that. I think some places we may find themselves with surprise | :42:14. | :42:20. | |
people. I think you'll find... Which councils will you win? You may find | :42:21. | :42:26. | |
some surprises, I said. You could be disappointed when you don't win | :42:27. | :42:32. | |
Redbridge, Croydon, Murton. You will be disappointed that make those | :42:33. | :42:35. | |
games. What is right to remind your viewers is the last ten was 60% | :42:36. | :42:42. | |
versus 36%. We want to win as many seats as they possibly can. The | :42:43. | :42:46. | |
borough we are targeting, we want to keep the 15 we won in 2010 from the | :42:47. | :42:53. | |
Conservative Party, by the way. I was in Enfield yesterday trying to | :42:54. | :42:59. | |
keep them. We are trying to win further councils as well for them it | :43:00. | :43:03. | |
would be great if we could win Redbridge full sun is great for | :43:04. | :43:05. | |
those people to have a decent... Susan, in the time you got left, do | :43:06. | :43:11. | |
you accept it would be a good result and he managed to hold onto Sutton? | :43:12. | :43:14. | |
I think we will hold the ones we have, but even more than that, | :43:15. | :43:18. | |
what's been really good if they have a new generation of Lib Dems coming | :43:19. | :43:23. | |
through, people deeply headed in the community, and I think you will see | :43:24. | :43:26. | |
that all over the place that we start to see them come through | :43:27. | :43:33. | |
because they're getting recognised, and we have some spectacular people | :43:34. | :43:37. | |
coming through. Are people going to vote for you when they know you have | :43:38. | :43:40. | |
made no bones about it, the cuts will continue to fall | :43:41. | :43:43. | |
disproportionately on local government? I think we understand | :43:44. | :43:48. | |
that we are picking up the huge mess that we inherited from Labour. And | :43:49. | :43:53. | |
that is not a problem and we have been upfront about it. We need to | :43:54. | :43:59. | |
reduce public spending to get the economy back contracts. They are | :44:00. | :44:02. | |
seeing the economy come right now and that makes a big difference to | :44:03. | :44:05. | |
people. They know, because we have been honest there, we are honest | :44:06. | :44:10. | |
about other things. Thank you very much to all three of you. As one of | :44:11. | :44:16. | |
the Council contest in four boroughs, this also may run | :44:17. | :44:19. | |
elections including in Tower Hamlets. It's been the subject of | :44:20. | :44:23. | |
recent claims of course by BBC panorama strongly disputed by the | :44:24. | :44:25. | |
current Maher that council grants have been disbursed for political | :44:26. | :44:32. | |
gain -- Mayor. It's pitting labour gain some unused in one of its own. | :44:33. | :44:40. | |
This is the Mayor Tower Hamlets. The only leader of a London council who | :44:41. | :44:43. | |
doesn't belong to one of the major parties. But that's not how we | :44:44. | :44:48. | |
wanted to be. Back in 2010, the local Labour Party selected him to | :44:49. | :44:53. | |
be their candidate for the newly created post of directly elected | :44:54. | :44:56. | |
Mayor of the National party wasn't having it. They deselected him | :44:57. | :45:00. | |
saying they had serious concerns about his conduct and what they | :45:01. | :45:05. | |
called the eligibility of participating voters. Unperturbed, | :45:06. | :45:11. | |
he ran as an independent. He won convincingly with help of strong | :45:12. | :45:16. | |
support from Tower Hamlets's Bangladeshi community who outnumber | :45:17. | :45:18. | |
white British people in the borough. Labour came second. For years on, | :45:19. | :45:23. | |
campaigning for this year 's election is this man, campaigning in | :45:24. | :45:32. | |
more than one language. According to the Lib Dems, the elected are being | :45:33. | :45:39. | |
asked to picture the Labour Party and the breakaway called Tower | :45:40. | :45:44. | |
Hamlets first. The split splinter group of the Labour Party call the | :45:45. | :45:50. | |
Labour MPs in the House of Commons their colleagues and brothers and | :45:51. | :45:53. | |
sisters. So, clearly, that's what is happening. Maybe there's | :45:54. | :45:58. | |
characteristics the local Labour Party that somehow put people 's | :45:59. | :46:00. | |
backs up but whatever the reason is, they are not able to deliver for | :46:01. | :46:10. | |
the people of Tower Hamlets. The Labour candidate for mayor is John | :46:11. | :46:15. | |
Biggs. The fact that Ed Miliband has come to Tower Hamlets tells you how | :46:16. | :46:19. | |
seriously Labour are taking this election but it's also interesting | :46:20. | :46:23. | |
he decided to come to Brick Lane, which is the heart the Bangladeshi | :46:24. | :46:29. | |
community and where Rahman is strongest. Labour want to get across | :46:30. | :46:34. | |
the message that the difference between them and Mr Rahman is this. | :46:35. | :46:41. | |
Mr Rahman will tell you who lives by Labour values but he is too much of | :46:42. | :46:45. | |
a separatist, not part of the mainstream any more. We offer a very | :46:46. | :46:50. | |
real choice which is about a leadership broadly based in the | :46:51. | :46:56. | |
borough which will take it forwards at a time of enormous change and | :46:57. | :47:01. | |
pressure. Similar language is also used by the Conservative candidate | :47:02. | :47:04. | |
when asked who he preferred between Rahman and Biggs. Ideally it would | :47:05. | :47:13. | |
be myself, but we want somebody who can get on with the nuts and bolts | :47:14. | :47:19. | |
issues I was talking about. Given that you were saying earlier in this | :47:20. | :47:25. | |
interview that Rahman only place to one community group, when you want | :47:26. | :47:28. | |
them there that place of a whole community you are saying you would | :47:29. | :47:34. | |
rather John Biggs won the election? I think Tower Hamlets needs someone | :47:35. | :47:43. | |
who is open to the whole commune -- the whole community and wants that. | :47:44. | :48:05. | |
Free home care, the only group of people that have continued to | :48:06. | :48:09. | |
deliver free home care and we don't charge for the care that we give to | :48:10. | :48:14. | |
all vulnerable residents in the bucket -- in the community and I'm | :48:15. | :48:19. | |
the only group who will continue with home care. Full list can be | :48:20. | :48:28. | |
found on the council's website. What finally about the other parties | :48:29. | :48:32. | |
seeking to make advances in the capital? On paper it might be argued | :48:33. | :48:38. | |
by some that the Greens seem on the way down while UKIP might be on the | :48:39. | :48:43. | |
way up. In 2006 the Greens had a dozen councillors, now reduced to | :48:44. | :48:49. | |
two. UKIP have been gaining a few councillors in London over recent | :48:50. | :48:52. | |
times but they are all but one people who have defected, crossed | :48:53. | :48:57. | |
over from other parties so they have not been directly elected, the | :48:58. | :49:00. | |
exception being Lawrence Webb who is here now, and Darren Johnson from | :49:01. | :49:09. | |
the Green party is also here. Do you see this as a rivalry here? Are they | :49:10. | :49:17. | |
stealing some of your thunder? Actually at the last elections we | :49:18. | :49:24. | |
came third ahead of the Lib Dems and UKIP, we were the third party in the | :49:25. | :49:28. | |
London assembly elections and I am really confident that we are going | :49:29. | :49:33. | |
to pick up some real votes, particularly in those boroughs where | :49:34. | :49:36. | |
Greens have been working really hard on the ground to win seats. You have | :49:37. | :49:43. | |
had your moments, you had a few councillors in Lewisham and Camden, | :49:44. | :49:47. | |
and whilst they have done well in the London assembly has that | :49:48. | :49:53. | |
translated to something that was promised but didn't happen? The last | :49:54. | :49:56. | |
set of local elections in London was something strange because they were | :49:57. | :50:00. | |
on the same day when the general election got dominated by national | :50:01. | :50:04. | |
issues. This time it is very different, the elections are being | :50:05. | :50:08. | |
fought on local issues and I'm confident we can get some more green | :50:09. | :50:12. | |
councillors elected, particularly on issues like affordable housing. | :50:13. | :50:19. | |
Issues like 20 mph and safer streets, and you need Green | :50:20. | :50:23. | |
councillors even if it is only one or two. UKIP need councillors as | :50:24. | :50:30. | |
well, why do we think this time will be anything different than we have | :50:31. | :50:35. | |
experienced in the past, and UKIP have not been able to make headway? | :50:36. | :50:41. | |
There has been a clear sea change. Ten, 15 years ago, nobody discussed | :50:42. | :50:46. | |
is leaving the European Union but that is on the table as one of the | :50:47. | :50:51. | |
issues. You mentioned the massive budget cuts that all London boroughs | :50:52. | :50:55. | |
are having to take. Our membership fee of the European Union is ?55 | :50:56. | :51:01. | |
million per day. That money could have prevented cuts and increased | :51:02. | :51:07. | |
spending. You have failed to say that most of the polling available | :51:08. | :51:12. | |
suggests London doesn't quite share the same levels of scepticism and | :51:13. | :51:15. | |
concern about Europe, which is in the end what will block you from | :51:16. | :51:21. | |
making any meaningful progress. London is a huge area and it varies | :51:22. | :51:27. | |
from across the London boroughs to the outer London boroughs. So you | :51:28. | :51:32. | |
will only make progress in a few pockets like east London? All areas | :51:33. | :51:37. | |
make progress in that way and then it spreads. On the basis of what | :51:38. | :51:43. | |
kind of key policy pledge running services better? People tell me they | :51:44. | :51:49. | |
feel they have been abandoned by the old parties, one of the issues as | :51:50. | :51:54. | |
housing and immigration is a hot topic, but the population is roughly | :51:55. | :52:06. | |
2000. And you say you want to see more housing supply but what people | :52:07. | :52:10. | |
want addressed is what Lawrence is alluding to. It is not the issue we | :52:11. | :52:15. | |
are getting on the doorstep. London is a very cosmopolitan, tolerant | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
city, and I don't necessarily think that sort of message will go down | :52:21. | :52:25. | |
well in London. It is a progressive city and that is why people are | :52:26. | :52:30. | |
responding much better to our positive message about creating | :52:31. | :52:36. | |
affordable housing. It is nothing to do with intolerance, it's the fact | :52:37. | :52:39. | |
that people find their children are having to move 30 miles away because | :52:40. | :52:44. | |
they cannot get housing in their own communities. That is the frustration | :52:45. | :52:47. | |
people are seeing, people coming into the borough and getting ahead | :52:48. | :52:55. | |
of them on the housing list. You can find details of all of the | :52:56. | :53:04. | |
candidates standing in Havering on the website now. Now it is back to | :53:05. | :53:06. | |
you, Andrew. Welcome back, let's go straight to | :53:07. | :53:24. | |
our panel. What did you make of Mr Alexander's defence of the Labour | :53:25. | :53:29. | |
party election broadcast? It is difficult for them because they | :53:30. | :53:31. | |
started by saying they were not going to do negative campaigning and | :53:32. | :53:36. | |
they have thrown that away for an advert which is funny but crude in | :53:37. | :53:43. | |
the class war sense. He didn't look thrilled to be defending it. There | :53:44. | :53:51. | |
is a page in Tony Blair's memoirs talking about negative campaigning, | :53:52. | :53:54. | |
and he says that anything too extreme turns off the average voter | :53:55. | :54:00. | |
so his line of attack on Hague was funny jokes but... I think this | :54:01. | :54:11. | |
failed the Blair test, it was too vicious. If your strategy is to | :54:12. | :54:18. | |
shore up your car vote, that advert was genius. If your strategy is to | :54:19. | :54:22. | |
reach out to a broader number of voters, Middle Britain, then that | :54:23. | :54:28. | |
advert was a complete disaster. It looks like there is a lot of | :54:29. | :54:32. | |
negativity and smears all round in the next year. That definitely looks | :54:33. | :54:43. | |
the way we are going. They will be essentially trying to re-run by -- | :54:44. | :55:02. | |
the American election. I am slightly puzzled why we cannot have our own | :55:03. | :55:07. | |
election gurus who live here and understand the country. I should | :55:08. | :55:13. | |
point out that the ?450 extra VAT that was claimed in that Labour | :55:14. | :55:18. | |
poster, both Ed Balls and the Labour Treasury team have said that is ?450 | :55:19. | :55:24. | |
per year. Nonsense the VAT rise, one year. I should also point out that | :55:25. | :55:30. | |
Nigel Farage said to Norman Smith, the BBC is always reliable Norman | :55:31. | :55:38. | |
Smith that if you run in Newark and lost the bubble would burst. I | :55:39. | :55:42. | |
should also point out that although a number of the tax rises I | :55:43. | :55:47. | |
mentioned on council tax, minimum wage tax and some other things that | :55:48. | :55:51. | |
UKIP wants to cuts, a couple of these are in the local manifesto but | :55:52. | :55:57. | |
several are not. They are on the UKIP website, which is still current | :55:58. | :56:05. | |
and dated 2014. We like to make sure we are absolutely right. Let's talk | :56:06. | :56:10. | |
about Nick Clegg and Michael Gove and the latest spat. Let me show you | :56:11. | :56:14. | |
this headline in the Observer this morning. From both the Independent, | :56:15. | :56:24. | |
he called him a zealot, lunatic is of -- another word. Do we take this | :56:25. | :56:34. | |
seriously? It hinges on this question of what counts as an area | :56:35. | :56:40. | |
of need in education. The Lib Dems say an area of need is one where | :56:41. | :56:43. | |
there are not enough school places to meet local demand. He says it can | :56:44. | :56:48. | |
also be a place where there are surplus places but that is for a | :56:49. | :56:53. | |
reason. Local places don't trust those schools to do a good job for | :56:54. | :57:05. | |
their kids. It surprises me because there isn't a yawning distance | :57:06. | :57:10. | |
between David Laws and Michael Gove. David Laws has found himself between | :57:11. | :57:15. | |
a rock and a hard place because I asked -- as I understand it most Lib | :57:16. | :57:20. | |
Dems don't like the free schools but Mr laws was quite sympathetic to it | :57:21. | :57:24. | |
and he is now having to this respect it. When they asked people who are | :57:25. | :57:31. | |
the most hated politicians in a poll were this week, Michael Gove is off | :57:32. | :57:36. | |
the charts, far above David Cameron or George Osborne. This is | :57:37. | :57:49. | |
tit-for-tat war. The Liberal Democrats believe Michael Gove had a | :57:50. | :57:53. | |
hand in leaking the document that showed Nick Clegg was opposing the | :57:54. | :57:57. | |
tougher Chris Grayling position on knife crime. They are saying there | :57:58. | :58:01. | |
were Cabinet ministers who never usually attend the sub Cabinet | :58:02. | :58:06. | |
meeting, they turned up and the document is leaked so what we are | :58:07. | :58:11. | |
getting is tit for tat on that. It is inevitable but it is not good for | :58:12. | :58:16. | |
either side of the Coalition. Voters will look at it and say it is | :58:17. | :58:22. | |
politics of the playground. I read in the Mail on Sunday this morning | :58:23. | :58:32. | |
that some Tory insiders are accusing Lib Dems of spreading rumours about | :58:33. | :58:37. | |
the camera in marriage. The rebuttals of education story is that | :58:38. | :58:44. | |
the free school meals is sucking money away. I always thought they | :58:45. | :58:54. | |
would work together without fuss and yet it has been more the source of | :58:55. | :59:00. | |
disagreement then I would have expected a couple of years ago. Is | :59:01. | :59:06. | |
it serious? It is serious obviously, using that language, but is it fatal | :59:07. | :59:12. | |
for the Coalition? I think it is a road bump because I don't think | :59:13. | :59:15. | |
anybody wants to dissolve the Coalition. It is a challenge for | :59:16. | :59:19. | |
Labour because where do they stand on the free schools? They invented | :59:20. | :59:23. | |
the Academy programme so it is difficult for them to take a | :59:24. | :59:28. | |
hands-off approach at this stage. There was a danger for Michael Gove | :59:29. | :59:31. | |
that he looks ideological but the danger for the Liberal Democrats is | :59:32. | :59:35. | |
that they are breaking the rules for the Coalition they said that they | :59:36. | :59:39. | |
wouldn't break which is that they looked like opposition in | :59:40. | :59:45. | |
government. Is Michael Gove's position safe? Very safe. If he | :59:46. | :59:51. | |
moves in a reshuffle that will be to a a job. That's all for today. The | :59:52. | :59:57. | |
Daily Politics will be back on BBC Two at lunchtime from Tuesday | :59:58. | :00:00. | |
onwards. I'll be back here on BBC One at 11am next week. Remember if | :00:01. | :00:03. | |
it's Sunday, it's the Sunday Politics. | :00:04. | :00:52. | |
What if the person that killed her... | :00:53. | :00:53. | |
I found out she'd been taking drugs. Just let me explain. | :00:54. | :00:57. | |
You wasn't at that party all night. Yeah, I was. | :00:58. | :01:00. | |
What was she even doing there? Oi, you keep your mouth shut. | :01:01. | :01:03. | |
She was exchanging a significant number of texts and calls | :01:04. | :01:06. |