Browse content similar to 27/10/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics. Hope you enjoyed | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
the extra hour in bed, and that you've realised it's not 12:45. It's | :00:41. | :00:42. | |
11:45! It's getting stormy outside. you've realised it's not 12:45. It's | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
But they're already battening down the hatches at Number Ten because | :00:48. | :00:48. | |
coalition splits are back, with the hatches at Number Ten because | :00:49. | :00:51. | |
bust-ups over free schools and power bills. We'll speak to the Lib Dems, | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
and ask Labour who's conning whom over energy. | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
EU leaders have been meeting in Brussels. But how's David Cameron | :01:01. | :01:01. | |
getting on with that plan to change Brussels. But how's David Cameron | :01:02. | :01:05. | |
our relationship with Europe? We were there to ask him. Have we got | :01:06. | :01:16. | |
any powers back yet? DS! Foreign companies own everything | :01:17. | :01:19. | |
from our energy companies to our railways. Does it | :01:20. | :01:20. | |
And in our region: It could cost ?50 Look North And | :01:21. | :01:30. | |
And in our region: It could cost ?50 million but well high`speed rail | :01:31. | :01:32. | |
And in our region: It could cost ?50 as many daily journeys made by bus | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
than by tube, so why is the planned investment in buses not keeping | :01:37. | :01:43. | |
pace? And with me, three journalists | :01:44. | :01:46. | |
who've bravely agreed to hunker down in the studio while Britain braces | :01:47. | :01:49. | |
itself for massive storm winds, tweeting their political forecasts | :01:50. | :01:51. | |
with all the accuracy of Michael Fish on hurricane watch. Helen | :01:52. | :01:59. | |
Lewis, Janan Ganesh and Nick Watt. Now, sometimes coalition splits are | :02:00. | :02:02. | |
over-egged, or dare we say even occasionally stage-managed. But this | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
week, we've seen what looks like the genuine article. It turns out Nick | :02:07. | :02:10. | |
Clegg has his doubts about the coalition's flagship free schools | :02:11. | :02:13. | |
policy. David Cameron doesn't much like the green levies on our energy | :02:14. | :02:17. | |
bills championed by the Lib Dems. Neither of them seems to have | :02:18. | :02:20. | |
bothered to tell the other that they had their doubts. Who better to | :02:21. | :02:24. | |
discuss these flare-ups than Lib Dem Deputy Leader Simon Hughes? He joins | :02:25. | :02:34. | |
me now. Welcome. Good morning. The Lib Dems spent three years of | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
sticking up for the coalition when times were grim. Explain to me the | :02:40. | :02:42. | |
logic of splitting from them when times look better. We will stick | :02:43. | :02:48. | |
with it for five years. It is working arrangement, but not | :02:49. | :02:52. | |
surprisingly, where there right areas on which we disagree over | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
where to go next, we will stand up. It is going to be hard enough for | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
the Lib Dems to get any credit for the recovery, what ever it is. It | :03:02. | :03:06. | |
will be even harder if you seem to be semidetached and picky. The | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
coalition has led on economic policy, some of which were entirely | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
from our stable. The one you have heard about most often, a Lib Dem | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
initiative, was to take people on blowing comes out of tax. The | :03:21. | :03:24. | |
recovery would not have happened, there would not have been confidence | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
in Britain, had there not been a coalition government with us in it, | :03:29. | :03:34. | |
making sure the same policies produced fair outcomes. We are not | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
going to leave the credit for any growth - and there has been very | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
good news this week. We have played a part in that, and without us, it | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
would not have happened. Does it not underline the trust problem you | :03:48. | :03:51. | |
have? You promised to abolish tuition fees. You oppose nuclear | :03:52. | :03:57. | |
power, now you are cheerleading the first multi-billion pounds | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
investment in nuclear generation. You are dying out on your enthusiasm | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
on green levies, and now they are up for renegotiation. Why should we | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
trust a word you say? In relation to green levies, as you well know, just | :04:13. | :04:20. | |
under 10% is to do with helping energy and helping people. Unless | :04:21. | :04:27. | |
there is continuing investment in renewables, we will not have the | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
British produced energy at cheaper cost to keep those bills down in the | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
future. At cheaper cost? Explain that to me. Off-shore energy is | :04:37. | :04:46. | |
twice the market rate. The costs of renewables will increasingly come | :04:47. | :04:50. | |
down. We have fantastic capacity to produce the energy and deliver lots | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
of jobs in the process. The parts of the energy bill that may be up for | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
renegotiation seems to be the part where we subsidise to help either | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
poor people pay less, or where we do other things. Too insulated the | :05:04. | :05:11. | |
homes? Are you up to putting that to general taxation? Wouldn't that be | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
progressive? I would. It would be progressive. I would like to do for | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
energy bills what the Chancellor has done for road traffic users, | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
drivers, which is too fuelled motor fuel -- to freeze new to fall. That | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
would mean there would be an immediate relief this year, not | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
waiting for the election. So there is a deal to be done there? Yes We | :05:35. | :05:39. | |
understand we have to take the burden off the consumer, and also | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
deal with the energy companies, who look as if they are not paying all | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
the tax they should be, and the regulator, which doesn't regulate | :05:49. | :05:51. | |
quickly enough to deal with the issues coming down the track. We can | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
toughen the regulator, and I hope that the Chancellor, in the Autumn | :05:57. | :05:59. | |
statement, was signalled that energy companies will not be allowed to get | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
away with not paying the taxes they should. And this deal will allow | :06:04. | :06:11. | |
energy prices to come down? Yes How could David Laws, one of your | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
ministers, proudly defend the record of unqualified teachers working in | :06:16. | :06:21. | |
free schools, and then stand side-by-side with Mr Clegg, as he | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
says he is against them? David Laws was not proudly defending the fact | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
that it is unqualified teachers He said that some of the new, | :06:31. | :06:34. | |
unqualified teachers in free schools are doing a superb job. But you want | :06:35. | :06:41. | |
to get rid of them? We want to make sure that everybody coming into a | :06:42. | :06:45. | |
free school ends up being qualified. Ends up? Goes through a process that | :06:46. | :06:51. | |
means they have qualifications. Just as we said very clearly at the last | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
election that the manifesto curriculum in free schools should be | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
the same as other schools. It looks like Mr Clegg is picking a fight | :07:02. | :07:07. | |
just for the sake of it. Mr Clegg was taught by people who didn't have | :07:08. | :07:11. | |
teaching qualifications in one of the greatest schools in the land, if | :07:12. | :07:15. | |
not the world. It didn't seem to do him any harm. What is the problem? | :07:16. | :07:21. | |
If you pay to go to a school, you know what you're getting. But that | :07:22. | :07:27. | |
is what a free school is. No, you don't pay fees. A free school is | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
parents taking the decisions, not you, the politicians. We believe | :07:33. | :07:36. | |
they would expect to guarantee is, firstly that the minimum curriculum | :07:37. | :07:40. | |
taught across the country is taught in the free schools, and secondly, | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
that the teachers there are qualified. Someone who send their | :07:45. | :07:47. | |
kids to private schools took a decision to take -- to send their | :07:48. | :07:54. | |
children there, even if the teachers were unqualified, because they are | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
experts in their field. Someone who send their kids to free schools is | :08:00. | :08:06. | |
because -- is their decision, not yours. Because some of the free | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
schools are new, and have never been there before, parents need a | :08:12. | :08:14. | |
guarantee that there are some basics in place, whatever sort of school. | :08:15. | :08:21. | |
So they need you to hold their hand? It is not about holding hands, it is | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
about having a minimum guarantee. Our party made clear at our | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
conference that this is a priority for us. Nick Clegg reflects the view | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
of the party, and I believe it is an entirely rational thing to do. Nick | :08:36. | :08:38. | |
Clegg complained that the Prime Minister gave him only 30 minutes | :08:39. | :08:45. | |
notice on the Prime Minister Buzz 's U-turn on green levies. That is | :08:46. | :08:51. | |
almost as little time as Nick Clegg gave the Prime Minister on his | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
U-turn on free schools. Aren't you supposed to be partners? Green | :08:56. | :09:03. | |
levies were under discussion in the ministerial group before Wednesday, | :09:04. | :09:06. | |
because we identified this as an issue. We do that in a practical | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
way. Sometimes there is only half an hour's notice. We had even less than | :09:11. | :09:18. | |
half an hour this morning! Simon Hughes, thank you. | :09:19. | :09:23. | |
So the price of energy is the big battle ground in politics at the | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
moment. 72% of people say that high bills will influence the way they | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
vote at the next election. Ed Miliband has promised a price freeze | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
after the next election, but will the coalition turned the tables on | :09:38. | :09:44. | |
Labour, with its proposal to roll back green levies. Caroline Flint | :09:45. | :09:52. | |
joins us from Sheffield. It looks like the coalition will be able to | :09:53. | :09:59. | |
take ?50 of energy bills, by removing green levies. It is quite | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
clear that different parts of the government are running round waking | :10:05. | :10:07. | |
up to the fact that the public feel that this government has not done | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
enough to listen to their concerns. Last week, there was a classic case | :10:12. | :10:15. | |
of the Prime Minister making up policy literally at the dispatch | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
box. Let's see what they say in the autumn statement. The truth is, | :10:21. | :10:23. | |
whatever the debate around green levies, and I have always said we | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
should look at value for money at those green levies. Our argument is | :10:29. | :10:46. | |
about acknowledging there is something wrong with the way the | :10:47. | :10:49. | |
market works, and the way those companies are regulated. Behind our | :10:50. | :10:51. | |
freeze for 20 months is a package of proposals to reform this market I | :10:52. | :10:54. | |
understand that, but you cannot tell as the details about that. I can. | :10:55. | :10:57. | |
You cannot give us the details about reforming the market. We are going | :10:58. | :10:59. | |
to do three things, and I think I said this last time I was on the | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
programme. First, we are going to separate out the generation side | :11:05. | :11:06. | |
from the supply side within the big six. Secondly, we will have a energy | :11:07. | :11:15. | |
pool, or power exchange, where all energy will have to be traded in | :11:16. | :11:20. | |
that pool. Thirdly, we will establish a tougher regulator, | :11:21. | :11:22. | |
because Ofgem is increasingly being seen as not doing the job right I | :11:23. | :11:29. | |
notice that you didn't mention any reform of the current green and | :11:30. | :11:33. | |
social taxes on the energy bill Is it Labour's policy to maintain the | :11:34. | :11:40. | |
existing green levies? In 2011, the government chose to get rid of warm | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
front, which was the publicly funded through tracks a scheme to support | :11:45. | :11:49. | |
new installation. When they got rid of that, it was the first time we | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
had a government since the 70s that didn't have such a policy. What is | :11:55. | :12:00. | |
your policy? We voted against that because we believe it is wrong. We | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
believe that the eco-scheme, a government intervention which is ?47 | :12:05. | :12:14. | |
of the ?112 on our bills each year, is expensive, bureaucratic and isn't | :12:15. | :12:17. | |
going to the fuel poor. I am up for a debate on these issues. I am up | :12:18. | :12:21. | |
for a discussion on what the government should do and what these | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
energy companies should do. We cannot let Cameron all the energy | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
companies off the hook from the way in which they organise their | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
businesses, and expect us to pay ever increasing rises in our bills. | :12:34. | :12:39. | |
There is ?112 of green levies on our bills at the moment. Did you vote | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
against any of them? We didn't, but what I would say ease these were | :12:45. | :12:51. | |
government imposed levies. When they got rid of the government funded | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
programme, Warm Front, they introduced the eco-scheme. The | :12:56. | :13:05. | |
eco-project is one of the ones where the energy companies are saying | :13:06. | :13:09. | |
it's too bureaucratic, and it is proving more expensive than | :13:10. | :13:13. | |
government estimates, apparently doubled the amount the government | :13:14. | :13:16. | |
thought. These things are all worth looking at, but don't go to the | :13:17. | :13:23. | |
heart of the issue. According to official figures, on current plans, | :13:24. | :13:31. | |
which you support, which you voted for, households will be paying 1% | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
more per unit of electricity by 2030. It puts your temporary freeze | :13:37. | :13:48. | |
as just a blip. You support a 4 % rise in our bills. I support making | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
sure we secure for the future access to energy that we can grow here in | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
the UK, whether it is through nuclear, wind or solar, or other | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
technologies yet to be developed. We should protect ourselves against | :14:04. | :14:09. | |
energy costs we cannot control. The truth is, it is every fair for you | :14:10. | :14:15. | |
to put that point across, and I accept that, but we need to hear the | :14:16. | :14:19. | |
other side about the cost for bill payers if we didn't invest in new, | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
indigenous sources of energy supply for the future, which, in the long | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
run, will be cheaper and more secure, and create the jobs we | :14:28. | :14:32. | |
need. I think it is important to have a debate about these issues, | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
but they have to be seen in the right context. If we stay stuck in | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
the past, we will pay more and we will not create jobs. How can you | :14:42. | :14:47. | |
criticise the coalition's plans for a new nuclear station, when jeering | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
13 years of a Labour government you did not invest in a single nuclear | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
plant? You sold off all our nuclear technology to foreign companies | :14:58. | :15:07. | |
Energy provision was put out to private hands and there has been no | :15:08. | :15:14. | |
obstacle in British law against ownership outside the UK. Part of | :15:15. | :15:25. | |
this is looking ahead. Because your previous track record is so bad | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
What we did decide under the previous government, we came to the | :15:31. | :15:34. | |
view, and there were discussions in our party about this, that we did | :15:35. | :15:41. | |
need to support a nuclear future. At the time of that, David Cameron | :15:42. | :15:45. | |
was one of those saying that nuclear power should be a last | :15:46. | :15:50. | |
resort. And as you said, the Liberals did not support it. We | :15:51. | :15:54. | |
stood up for that. We set in train the green light of 10 sites, | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
including Hinkley Point, for nuclear development. I am glad to | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
see that is making progress and we should make more progress over the | :16:04. | :16:08. | |
years ahead. We took a tough decision when other governments had | :16:09. | :16:14. | |
not done. You did not build a new nuclear station. When you get back | :16:15. | :16:23. | |
into power, will you build HS2? That has not had a blank cheque | :16:24. | :16:29. | |
from the Labour Party. I am in favour of good infrastructure. Are | :16:30. | :16:34. | |
you in favour of?, answer the question? I have answered the | :16:35. | :16:40. | |
question. It does not have a blank cheque. If the prices are too high, | :16:41. | :16:45. | |
we will review the decision when we come back to vote on it. We will be | :16:46. | :16:50. | |
looking at it closely. We have to look for value for money and how it | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
benefits the country. Have you stocked up on jumpers this winter? | :16:56. | :17:02. | |
I am perfectly all right with my clothing. What is important, it is | :17:03. | :17:07. | |
ridiculous for the Government to suggest that the answer to the loss | :17:08. | :17:11. | |
of trust in the energy companies is to put on another jumper. | :17:12. | :17:21. | |
The coalition has taken a long time to come up with anything that can | :17:22. | :17:27. | |
trump Ed Miliband's simple freezing energy prices, vote for us. Are | :17:28. | :17:33. | |
they on the brink of doing so? I do not think so. They have had a | :17:34. | :17:36. | |
problem that has dominated the debate, talking about GDP, the | :17:37. | :17:42. | |
figures came out on Friday and said, well, and went back to talking | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
about energy. My problem with what David Cameron proposes is he agrees | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
with the analysis that the Big Six make too many profits. He wants to | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
move the green levies into general taxation, so that he looks like he | :17:59. | :18:02. | |
is protecting the profits of the energy companies. If the coalition | :18:03. | :18:08. | |
can say they will take money off the bills, does that change the | :18:09. | :18:14. | |
game? I do not think the Liberal Democrats are an obstacle to | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
unwinding the green levies. I think Nick Clegg is open to doing a deal, | :18:20. | :18:26. | |
but the real obstacle is the carbon reduction targets that we signed up | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
to during the boom years. They were ambitious I thought at the time | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
From that we have the taxes and clocking up of the supply-side of | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
the economy. Unless he will revise that, and build from first | :18:41. | :18:43. | |
principles a new strategy, he cannot do more than put a dent into | :18:44. | :18:49. | |
green levies. He might say as I have got to ?50 now and if you | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
voters in in an overall majority, I will look up what we have done in | :18:56. | :18:59. | |
the better times and give you more. I am sure he will do that. It might | :19:00. | :19:05. | |
be ?50 of the Bill, but it will be ?50 on your general taxation bill, | :19:06. | :19:09. | |
which would be more progressive They will find it. We will never | :19:10. | :19:17. | |
see it in general taxation. The problem for the Coalition on what | :19:18. | :19:23. | |
Ed Miliband has done is that it is five weeks since he made that | :19:24. | :19:26. | |
speech and it is all we are talking about. David Cameron spent those | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
five weeks trying to work out whether Ed Miliband is a Marxist or | :19:31. | :19:33. | |
whether he is connected to Middle Britain. That is why Ed Miliband | :19:34. | :19:38. | |
set the agenda. The coalition are squabbling among themselves, | :19:39. | :19:44. | |
looking petulant, on energy, and on schools. Nobody is taking notice of | :19:45. | :19:50. | |
the fact the economy is under way, the recovery is under way. Ed | :19:51. | :19:56. | |
Miliband has made the weather on this. | :19:57. | :20:02. | |
It UK has a relaxed attitude about selling off assets based -- to | :20:03. | :20:12. | |
companies based abroad. But this week we have seen the Swiss owner | :20:13. | :20:15. | |
of one of Scotland's largest industrial sites, Grangemouth, come | :20:16. | :20:18. | |
within a whisker of closing part of it down. So should we care whether | :20:19. | :20:21. | |
British assets have foreign owners? Britain might be a nation of | :20:22. | :20:23. | |
homeowners, but we appear to have lost our taste for owning some of | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
our biggest businesses. These are among the crown jewels sold off in | :20:29. | :20:31. | |
the past three decades to companies based abroad. Roughly half of | :20:32. | :20:38. | |
Britain's essential services have overseas owners. The airport owner, | :20:39. | :20:41. | |
British Airports Authority, is owned by a Spanish company. | :20:42. | :20:43. | |
Britain's largest water company Thames, is owned by a consortium | :20:44. | :20:47. | |
led by an Australian bank. Four out of six of Britain's biggest energy | :20:48. | :20:50. | |
companies are owned by overseas giants, and one of these, EDF | :20:51. | :20:52. | |
Energy, which is owned by the French state, is building Britain's | :20:53. | :20:55. | |
first nuclear power plant in a generation, backed by Chinese | :20:56. | :21:03. | |
investors. It's a similar story for train operator Arriva, bought by a | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
company owned by the German state. So part of the railways privatised | :21:09. | :21:10. | |
by the British government was effectively re-nationalised by the | :21:11. | :21:19. | |
German government. But does it matter who owns these companies as | :21:20. | :21:22. | |
long as the lights stay on, the trains run on time, and we can | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
still eat Cadbury's Dairy Milk? We are joined by the general | :21:29. | :21:32. | |
secretary of the RMT, Bob Crow, and by venture capitalist Julie Meyer. | :21:33. | :21:39. | |
They go head to head. Have we seen the consequences of | :21:40. | :21:46. | |
relying for essential services to be foreign-owned? Four of the Big | :21:47. | :21:53. | |
Six energy companies, Grangemouth, owned by a tax exile in Switzerland. | :21:54. | :21:59. | |
It is not good. I do not think there is a cause and effect | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
relationship between foreign ownership and consumer prices. That | :22:05. | :22:08. | |
is not the right comparison. We need to be concerned about | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
businesses represented the future, businesses we are good at | :22:14. | :22:16. | |
innovating for example in financial services and the UK has a history | :22:17. | :22:23. | |
of building businesses, such as Monotypes. If we were not creating | :22:24. | :22:34. | |
businesses here -- Monotise. Like so many businesses creating | :22:35. | :22:40. | |
products and services and creating the shareholders. Should we allow | :22:41. | :22:48. | |
hour essential services to be in foreign ownership? It was | :22:49. | :22:53. | |
demonstrated this week at Grangemouth. If you do not own the | :22:54. | :22:58. | |
industry, you do not own it. The MPs of this country and the | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
politicians in Scotland have no say, they were consultants. | :23:04. | :23:06. | |
Multinationals decide whether to shut a company down. If that had | :23:07. | :23:13. | |
been Unite union, they are the ones who saved the jobs. They | :23:14. | :23:19. | |
capitulated. They will come back, like they have for the past 150 | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
years, and capture again what they lost. If it had closed, they would | :23:24. | :23:29. | |
have lost their jobs for ever. If the union had called the members up | :23:30. | :23:33. | |
without a ballot for strike action, there would have been uproar. This | :23:34. | :23:38. | |
person in Switzerland can decide to shut the entire industry down. The | :23:39. | :23:43. | |
coalition, the Labour Party, as well, when Labour was in government, | :23:44. | :23:49. | |
they played a role of allowing industries to go abroad, and it | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
should be returned to public ownership. Nestor. It has | :23:54. | :24:05. | |
demonstrated that the Net comes from new businesses. We must not | :24:06. | :24:14. | |
be... When Daly motion was stopped by the French government to be sold, | :24:15. | :24:20. | |
it was an arrow to the heart of French entrepreneurs. We must not | :24:21. | :24:25. | |
create that culture in the UK. Every train running in France is | :24:26. | :24:29. | |
built in France. 90% of the trains running in Germany are built in | :24:30. | :24:36. | |
Germany. In Japan, it has to be built in that country, and now an | :24:37. | :24:44. | |
energy company in France is reducing its nuclear capability in | :24:45. | :24:48. | |
its own country and wants to make profits out of the British industry | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
to put back into it state industry. That happened with the railway | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
industry. They want to make money at the expense of their own state | :24:57. | :25:02. | |
companies. We sold off energy production. How did we end up in a | :25:03. | :25:10. | |
position where our nuclear capacity will be built by a company owned by | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
a socialist date, France, and funded by a communist one, China, | :25:16. | :25:24. | |
for vital infrastructure? I am not suggesting that is in the national | :25:25. | :25:27. | |
interest. I am saying we can pick any one example and say it is a | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
shame. The simple matter of the fact is the owners are having to | :25:34. | :25:36. | |
make decisions. Not just Grangemouth, businesses are making | :25:37. | :25:41. | |
decisions about what is the common good. Not just in the shareholders' | :25:42. | :25:48. | |
interest. For employees, customers. What is in the common good when | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
prices go up by 10% and the reason is that 20 years ago they shut | :25:53. | :25:56. | |
every coal pit down in this country, the Germans kept theirs open and | :25:57. | :26:01. | |
subsidised it and now we have the Germans doing away with nuclear | :26:02. | :26:07. | |
power and they have coal. Under the Labour government, in 2008, the | :26:08. | :26:14. | |
climate change Act was passed. Well before that, and you know yourself, | :26:15. | :26:19. | |
they shut down the coal mines to smash the National Union of | :26:20. | :26:23. | |
Mineworkers because they dared to stand up for people in their | :26:24. | :26:28. | |
community. Even if we wanted to reopen the coalmines, it would be | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
pointless. Under the 2008 Act, we are not meant to burn more coal | :26:33. | :26:40. | |
The can, as if you spent some of the profits, you could have carbon | :26:41. | :26:47. | |
catch up. That does not exist on a massive scale. You are arguing the | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
case, Julie Meyer, for entrepreneurs to come to this | :26:52. | :26:57. | |
country. Even Bob Crow is not against that. We are trying to | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
argue, should essential services be in foreign hands? Not those in | :27:03. | :27:10. | |
Silicon round about doing start ups. I am trying to draw a broader | :27:11. | :27:16. | |
principle than just energy. Something like broadband services, | :27:17. | :27:19. | |
also important to the functioning of the economy. I believe in the | :27:20. | :27:27. | |
UK's ability to innovate. When we have businesses that play off | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
broadband companies to get the best prices for consumers. These new | :27:32. | :27:36. | |
businesses and business models are the best way. Not to control, but | :27:37. | :27:43. | |
to influence. It will be a disaster. Prices will go up and up as a | :27:44. | :27:49. | |
result. Nissan in Sunderland, a Japanese factory, some of the best | :27:50. | :27:54. | |
cars and productivity. You want that to be nationalised and bring | :27:55. | :27:57. | |
it down to the standard of British Leyland? It is not bring it down to | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
the standard. The car manufacturing base in this country has been | :28:03. | :28:07. | |
wrecked. We make more cars now for 20 years -- than in 20 years. | :28:08. | :28:13. | |
Ford's Dagenham produced some of the best cars in the world. Did you | :28:14. | :28:21. | |
buy one? I cannot drive. They moved their plants to other countries | :28:22. | :28:27. | |
where it was cheaper labour. Would you nationalise Nissan? There | :28:28. | :28:32. | |
should be one car industry that produces cars for people. This week | :28:33. | :28:39. | |
the EU summit was about Angela Merkel's mobile phone being tapped, | :28:40. | :28:45. | |
they call it a handy. We sent Adam to Brussels and told him to ignore | :28:46. | :28:49. | |
the business about phone-tapping and investigate the Prime | :28:50. | :28:52. | |
Minister's policy on Europe instead. I have come to my first EU summit to | :28:53. | :29:08. | |
see how David Cameron is getting on with his strategy to claim power was | :29:09. | :29:12. | |
back from Brussels. Got any powers back yet? Yes! Which ones? Sadly, | :29:13. | :29:21. | |
his fellow leaders were not as forthcoming. Chancellor, are you | :29:22. | :29:26. | |
going to give any powers back to Britain? Has David Cameron asked you | :29:27. | :29:33. | |
for any powers back? The president of the commission just laughed, and | :29:34. | :29:39. | |
listen to the Lithuanian President. How is David Cameron's renegotiation | :29:40. | :29:50. | |
strategy going? What's that? He wants powers back for Britain. No | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
one knows what powers David Cameron actually wants. Even our usual | :29:56. | :30:00. | |
allies, like Sweden, are bit baffled. We actually don't know yet | :30:01. | :30:07. | |
what is going through the UK membership. We will await the | :30:08. | :30:14. | |
finalisation of that first. You should ask him, and then tell us! | :30:15. | :30:20. | |
Here is someone who must know, the Dutch Prime Minister, he is doing | :30:21. | :30:25. | |
what we are doing, carrying out a review of the EU powers, known as | :30:26. | :30:30. | |
competencies in the jargon, before negotiating to get some back. Have | :30:31. | :30:35. | |
you had any negotiations with David Cameron over what powers you can | :30:36. | :30:40. | |
bring back from Brussels? That is not on the agenda of this summit. | :30:41. | :30:46. | |
Have you talked to him about it This is not on the schedule for this | :30:47. | :30:50. | |
summit. David Cameron's advises tummy it is | :30:51. | :30:59. | |
because he is playing the long game. -- David Cameron's advisers tell me. | :31:00. | :31:08. | |
At this summit, there was a task force discussing how to cut EU red | :31:09. | :31:15. | |
tape. Just how long this game is was explained to me outside the summit, | :31:16. | :31:20. | |
by the leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament. I think | :31:21. | :31:25. | |
the behind-the-scenes negotiations will start happening when the new | :31:26. | :31:28. | |
commissioner is appointed later next year. I think the detailed | :31:29. | :31:34. | |
negotiations will start to happen bubbly after the UK general | :31:35. | :31:38. | |
election. That is when we will start getting all of the detail of the | :31:39. | :31:43. | |
horse trading, and real, Lake night negotiations. Angela Merkel seems | :31:44. | :31:50. | |
keen to rewrite the EU's main treaties to deal with changes in the | :31:51. | :31:55. | |
Eurozone, and that is the mechanism David Cameron would use to | :31:56. | :31:59. | |
renegotiate our membership. Everyone here says his relationship with the | :32:00. | :32:03. | |
German Chancellor is strong. So after days in this building, here is | :32:04. | :32:08. | |
how it looks. David Cameron has a mountain to climb. It is climbable, | :32:09. | :32:14. | |
but he isn't even in the foothills yet. Has he even started packing his | :32:15. | :32:19. | |
bags for the trip? Joining us now, a man who knows a | :32:20. | :32:24. | |
thing or two about the difficulties Prime Minister 's face in Europe. | :32:25. | :32:29. | |
Former Deputy Prime Minister, Michael Heseltine. We are nine | :32:30. | :32:33. | |
months from David Cameron's defining speech on EU renegotiation. Can you | :32:34. | :32:41. | |
think of one area of progress? I don't know. And you don't know. And | :32:42. | :32:46. | |
that's a good thing. Why is it a good thing? Because the real | :32:47. | :32:52. | |
progress goes on behind closed doors. And only the most naive, | :32:53. | :33:03. | |
because the real progress goes on behind closed doors. Because, in | :33:04. | :33:11. | |
this weary world, you and I, Andrew, know full well that the moment you | :33:12. | :33:16. | |
say, I making progress, people say, where? And the machine goes to work | :33:17. | :33:21. | |
to show that the progress isn't enough. So you are much better off | :33:22. | :33:28. | |
making progress as best you can in the privacy of private diplomacy. It | :33:29. | :33:37. | |
is a long journey ahead. In this long journey, do you have a clear | :33:38. | :33:41. | |
sense of the destination? Do you have a clear sense of what powers Mr | :33:42. | :33:48. | |
Cameron wants to negotiate? I have a clear sense of the destination, | :33:49. | :33:52. | |
which is a victory for the campaign that he will win to stay inside the | :33:53. | :33:58. | |
European community. That is the agenda, and I have total support for | :33:59. | :34:07. | |
that. I understand that, but if he is incapable of getting any tangible | :34:08. | :34:12. | |
sign of renegotiation, if he is able only to do what Wilson did in 1 75, | :34:13. | :34:18. | |
which was to get a couple of token changes to our membership status, he | :34:19. | :34:23. | |
goes into that referendum without much to argue for. He has everything | :34:24. | :34:29. | |
to argue for. He's got Britain's vital role as a major contributor to | :34:30. | :34:37. | |
the community. He's got Britain s self interest as a major | :34:38. | :34:43. | |
beneficiary, and Britain's vital role in the City of London. He's got | :34:44. | :34:49. | |
everything to argue for. He could argue for that now. He could have a | :34:50. | :34:55. | |
referendum now. He doesn't want one now. I haven't any doubt that he | :34:56. | :35:02. | |
will come back with something to talk about. But it may be slightly | :35:03. | :35:11. | |
different to what his critics, the UK isolationist party people, want. | :35:12. | :35:17. | |
He may, for example, have found that allies within the community want | :35:18. | :35:23. | |
change as well, and he may secure changes in the way the community | :35:24. | :35:29. | |
works, which would be a significant argument within the referendum | :35:30. | :35:32. | |
campaign. Let me give you an example. I think it is a scandal | :35:33. | :35:37. | |
that the European Commission don't secure the auditing of some of the | :35:38. | :35:44. | |
accounts. Perhaps that could be on the agenda. He might find a lot of | :35:45. | :35:49. | |
contributing countries, like Germany, like Colin and, would be | :35:50. | :35:51. | |
very keen. -- like Holland. David Germany, like Colin and, would be | :35:52. | :35:59. | |
vetoed the increase in the European budgets the other day, and he had a | :36:00. | :36:07. | |
lot of allies. So working within Europe on the things that people | :36:08. | :36:12. | |
paying the European bills want is fertile ground. Is John Major right | :36:13. | :36:16. | |
to call for a windfall tax on the energy companies? John is a very | :36:17. | :36:22. | |
cautious fellow. He doesn't say things without thinking them out. So | :36:23. | :36:28. | |
I was surprised that he went for a windfall tax. First of all, it is | :36:29. | :36:34. | |
retrospective, and secondly, it is difficult to predict what the | :36:35. | :36:39. | |
consequences will be. I am, myself, more interested in the other part of | :36:40. | :36:43. | |
his speech, which was talking about the need for the Conservative Party | :36:44. | :36:49. | |
to seek a wider horizon, to recognise what is happening to the | :36:50. | :36:53. | |
Conservative Party in the way in which its membership is shrinking | :36:54. | :37:01. | |
into a southeastern enclave. Are you in favour of a windfall tax? I am | :37:02. | :37:05. | |
not in favour of increasing any taxes. Do you share Iain Duncan | :37:06. | :37:17. | |
Smith's point of view on welfare reform? I think Iain Duncan Smith is | :37:18. | :37:27. | |
right. It is extremely difficult to do, but he is right to try. I think | :37:28. | :37:33. | |
public opinion is behind him, but it isn't easy, because on the fringe of | :37:34. | :37:43. | |
these issues there are genuine hard luck stories, and they are the ones | :37:44. | :37:48. | |
that become the focus of attention the moment you introduce change It | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
requires a lot of political skill to negotiate your way through that But | :37:54. | :37:59. | |
isn't Iain Duncan Smith right to invoke the beverage principle, that | :38:00. | :38:04. | |
you should be expected to make a contribution for the welfare you | :38:05. | :38:10. | |
depend on? Yes, he is. I will let you get your Sunday lunch. Thanks | :38:11. | :38:14. | |
for joining us. Coming up in just over 20 minutes, I | :38:15. | :38:16. | |
will In Welcome to the programme here. | :38:17. | :38:45. | |
Coming up: The Derby but should we get more of a say in the running of | :38:46. | :38:52. | |
her clubs? We have a lifelong Newcastle fan and a Labour MP with | :38:53. | :38:58. | |
us who joins us in the studio. Also a Conservative candidate for buried. | :38:59. | :39:05. | |
Let us start by talking rail. The government has taken the first step | :39:06. | :39:09. | |
towards free privatising the East Coast mainline. It has been in | :39:10. | :39:14. | |
public hands for the last four years. Presumably you think this is | :39:15. | :39:21. | |
a very bad idea? It is a very bad idea. The profits made by the East | :39:22. | :39:30. | |
Coast mainline have been an excess of ?800 million since they have been | :39:31. | :39:36. | |
in the hand `` hands of the public. That is a fantastic amount of money. | :39:37. | :39:41. | |
Why should be looking to get that type of profit to private industry? | :39:42. | :39:47. | |
Should we not be looking at investing, as a government, into the | :39:48. | :39:52. | |
East Coast Main line and maximising that profit. At the same time the | :39:53. | :39:59. | |
East Coast mainline have invested into the infrastructure so it is a | :40:00. | :40:05. | |
good deal for everyone. Why should we privatise it? It is like selling | :40:06. | :40:11. | |
the family silver. Get me one good reason why it should be handed back | :40:12. | :40:18. | |
to public hands? `` private hands. We want a strong support of private | :40:19. | :40:24. | |
investment. We want to put it back with good operators. We have to make | :40:25. | :40:33. | |
sure that what the customers need on the East Coast is provided, we need | :40:34. | :40:38. | |
long`term capital investment and I think private investment is always | :40:39. | :40:43. | |
the way forward. Now we have a dispute over whether to press ahead | :40:44. | :40:49. | |
with a ?50 million high`speed railway from London to Manchester. | :40:50. | :40:53. | |
It has been said it will boost economy even for areas in Cumbria | :40:54. | :41:01. | |
that are not on the route. Others say it will suck the lifeblood out | :41:02. | :41:08. | |
of the deal system and leads to longer journey times. Some say it | :41:09. | :41:17. | |
will impact on transport spending in the region. It is a disaster. Other | :41:18. | :41:27. | |
projects will have to be forgotten about if this goes ahead. We | :41:28. | :41:33. | |
contacted MPs right across the North East and Cumbria to find out how | :41:34. | :41:42. | |
they felt. 43% of MPs remain in favour of high`speed rail but one | :41:43. | :41:47. | |
third are against, the rest declined to say. We asked about the top | :41:48. | :41:56. | |
transport priorities. Half said better bus links, improvements to be | :41:57. | :42:07. | |
one and a 66 were mentioned. We'll all parts of our region benefit | :42:08. | :42:12. | |
economically? This is one company that is keen, it provides parts and | :42:13. | :42:17. | |
equipment for the real industry and it plans to bid for this. It | :42:18. | :42:21. | |
believes benefits could go much wider. It is definitely the way | :42:22. | :42:32. | |
forward. We need spending on infrastructure. For a long time | :42:33. | :42:37. | |
beware of the poor man of Europe when it came to deal. The French | :42:38. | :42:42. | |
have hired high`speed rail for a long time and so have the Japanese. | :42:43. | :42:50. | |
`` we where the poor man of Europe. It has got to be done. Many feel | :42:51. | :43:00. | |
high`speed rail will have no impact on productivity in the region. They | :43:01. | :43:08. | |
will come up the motorway and over to Scotland or even towards Penrith. | :43:09. | :43:16. | |
If we play the road network or was mainline or cross`country services, | :43:17. | :43:19. | |
infrastructure spend is vital and we could spread it out and do you not | :43:20. | :43:33. | |
more good. `` do you not more good. Some say we should spread it around | :43:34. | :43:37. | |
rather than spending all that money on one project? Investment in the | :43:38. | :43:45. | |
north`east has been severely lacking for decades. I hope the Chancellor | :43:46. | :43:49. | |
will now understand this is a key economic value. In terms of real | :43:50. | :43:56. | |
infrastructure there is a need to improve capacity across the country. | :43:57. | :44:00. | |
I was disappointed when the legislation came through at the | :44:01. | :44:04. | |
second phase which comes up to the northern part of the UK has not been | :44:05. | :44:10. | |
set out. It is key for us that it comes across to the east coast and | :44:11. | :44:16. | |
up into Scotland. I think the government has not done a good job | :44:17. | :44:20. | |
of explaining just how important the increased capacity is to make sure | :44:21. | :44:25. | |
that we get the real infrastructure. You cannot see that we want | :44:26. | :44:32. | |
structural investment in roads and other real services and also see you | :44:33. | :44:39. | |
want HS two. I think it is a perfectly reasonable amount of | :44:40. | :44:43. | |
money. You are looking at a couple of billion every year. 50 billion | :44:44. | :44:47. | |
for other projects, so I do not think it is one or the other. It is | :44:48. | :44:56. | |
a long`term project. North`east companies stand to benefit from | :44:57. | :45:03. | |
this, economists say the Bijan will benefit from it, it is a no`brainer? | :45:04. | :45:12. | |
I am not sure I can agree. `` the region will benefit. It is ?20 more | :45:13. | :45:22. | |
in the south than it is in the north`east, the spending. In the | :45:23. | :45:30. | |
south it is 200 and ?700 per head compared by ?5 here in the | :45:31. | :45:38. | |
north`east. It is outrageous. Of the suggestions are that it will bring | :45:39. | :45:44. | |
economic benefit, RU saying we should ditch it? I am not seeing | :45:45. | :45:52. | |
ditch it but things like dealing of the A1, the metro, there are other | :45:53. | :46:05. | |
projects which would benefit us because it gives access. The problem | :46:06. | :46:15. | |
is that the East Coast mainline is filling up. You might be able to get | :46:16. | :46:21. | |
to Newcastle but you will have a very slow journey to London. I know | :46:22. | :46:26. | |
that from experience, I travel from Newcastle station to London most | :46:27. | :46:33. | |
Mondays. The regional infrastructure programmes which are short already | :46:34. | :46:44. | |
need work. But would this help? The people in this region have the right | :46:45. | :46:50. | |
to ask if this is value for money. ?50 billion, is it right to spend | :46:51. | :46:55. | |
that kind of finance to get from London to Birmingham? Why are we not | :46:56. | :47:03. | |
included in that? What about a fear allocation to deliver things in this | :47:04. | :47:06. | |
region so that people can benefit economically. The reality is that | :47:07. | :47:15. | |
the places that will benefit most are Birmingham, Leeds and | :47:16. | :47:20. | |
Manchester, not Newcastle. Without a doubt but it is the government | :47:21. | :47:25. | |
appreciating that there needs to be investment in infrastructure across | :47:26. | :47:27. | |
the country, not just the South West. A huge amount has been sucked | :47:28. | :47:34. | |
into the south`east over the past few years. We need to see a broad | :47:35. | :47:42. | |
investment in rail and roads. You might not need me to tell you that | :47:43. | :47:47. | |
it is Derby weekend. The rivalry will be intense with no love lost on | :47:48. | :47:54. | |
either side. One thing the sense of supporters will actually agree on is | :47:55. | :48:03. | |
the chance for supporters on both sides to get more oversea in what | :48:04. | :48:13. | |
those on. It is what happens of the pitch that is really interesting | :48:14. | :48:18. | |
here. Fans really happier say. Della macro fans can turn up, they can | :48:19. | :48:29. | |
vote on everything. If they are not doing a very good job and someone | :48:30. | :48:34. | |
comes in the can vote you out. It is as easy as that. Here dealers rather | :48:35. | :48:43. | |
different mood, there have been a series of protests from Newcastle | :48:44. | :48:51. | |
United fans against the club owner. The board have never really taken | :48:52. | :48:57. | |
the support seriously and sought to develop it. It is almost as if the | :48:58. | :49:03. | |
fans have supported the club despite what is going on at board level. Say | :49:04. | :49:13. | |
it is a wonderful city. Recently the club have been disengaged from the | :49:14. | :49:16. | |
people who are putting money into the club. I think it would make a | :49:17. | :49:26. | |
big difference and stop the clock making disastrous decisions. `` the | :49:27. | :49:36. | |
club. The government said it wanted to give fans a bigger say in the | :49:37. | :49:40. | |
running of football clubs but we have heard that idea has since been | :49:41. | :49:46. | |
shelved, there not enough time in Parliament schedule. People over | :49:47. | :49:58. | |
there want action. A conference at Newcastle University business | :49:59. | :50:05. | |
School. It is just an fear to raise expectations, to go with what | :50:06. | :50:11. | |
appears to be a populist idea and then for someone to say we do not | :50:12. | :50:20. | |
have time. It is just not high enough on the agenda. It is | :50:21. | :50:28. | |
different in Germany. These fans have something to cheer them up, | :50:29. | :50:33. | |
they have a big say on the running of the club, there is a national ban | :50:34. | :50:37. | |
on anyone owning more than half a football club. We, the members, the | :50:38. | :50:47. | |
club belongs to us. At the EGM we can change the club statute. If you | :50:48. | :50:52. | |
are a member of the club you QB club belongs to you. You are not just a | :50:53. | :50:57. | |
fan. It is our club, not something we just support. The players show | :50:58. | :51:05. | |
the skills but it is the fans who call the shots. It is simply the way | :51:06. | :51:11. | |
English football works these days, tackling it could be a challenge. | :51:12. | :51:21. | |
With me now is a lecturer of finance from the University business School. | :51:22. | :51:27. | |
How realistic is it to think that this German fan model could work in | :51:28. | :51:34. | |
Newcastle, Sutherland or Carlisle? It is interesting to look at how the | :51:35. | :51:38. | |
models have evolved over time, the German model has been built on a | :51:39. | :51:45. | |
history of fans being involved in the club structure. In the UK we | :51:46. | :51:51. | |
have a more industrial background where there was typically a singular | :51:52. | :51:54. | |
owner so football has evolved as being a business over at time. | :51:55. | :52:01. | |
Politicians fall over themselves to say be like this idea but there's a | :52:02. | :52:10. | |
beer the downside? It is to do with commercial brands, if you look at | :52:11. | :52:15. | |
Manchester United and Chelsea which have domestic and international fan | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
bases. If you have the tradition to fan base controlled membership | :52:21. | :52:26. | |
structure the problem is the sustainability of the financial side | :52:27. | :52:35. | |
of the UK clubs even higher wages. Perhaps they're not surprising the | :52:36. | :52:41. | |
government has gone cold on this? The government, in terms of trying | :52:42. | :52:46. | |
to be involved, it is difficult, particularly given the stands of | :52:47. | :52:50. | |
fief up on the reluctance for the government to get involved. I think | :52:51. | :52:57. | |
the government's involvement is something that is crucial but needs | :52:58. | :53:01. | |
to be done through the associations themselves. The Premier league is | :53:02. | :53:06. | |
the envy of Europe, why change anything? That is the argument. The | :53:07. | :53:14. | |
UK have traditionally done very well in terms of domestic and European | :53:15. | :53:19. | |
competitions. The German models have been successful, and the Spanish and | :53:20. | :53:30. | |
other countries. This idea sounds great of course but what difference | :53:31. | :53:37. | |
will it make to these clubs? The government promised supporters they | :53:38. | :53:41. | |
would legislate to make sure there was more engagement with supporters | :53:42. | :53:45. | |
in the clubs. They should look at that again and get the commitment to | :53:46. | :53:51. | |
support. In Newcastle 52,000 supporters attend every game. I am | :53:52. | :53:56. | |
not sure it is good enough to see just one person on the board. | :53:57. | :54:04. | |
Generations of families have been going and they should have a say. | :54:05. | :54:12. | |
With the have any more say effing big businesses should anyone who | :54:13. | :54:26. | |
shops in Tesco beyond the board? Why shouldn't these people who spend | :54:27. | :54:30. | |
hard earned money to watch the team through bad times and good not happy | :54:31. | :54:37. | |
voice in how it is run? It would benefit the clubs if the sat back | :54:38. | :54:43. | |
and listened to deal people in the real world. There is populist | :54:44. | :54:49. | |
posturing by the government but it has been ditched now, why is that? I | :54:50. | :54:58. | |
am not as added a football fan as Ian, but my mother`in`law is. They | :54:59. | :55:04. | |
are enormous huge profit`making businesses. The fact that they were | :55:05. | :55:10. | |
once local football teams seems to have been largely lost. If there is | :55:11. | :55:17. | |
a way to get them a better relationship that gives them a | :55:18. | :55:20. | |
practical consideration with the fan base, I think the football | :55:21. | :55:26. | |
Association and the clubs themselves can take that decision. There does | :55:27. | :55:31. | |
not need to be drive to encourage, if they are genuinely concerned, by | :55:32. | :55:37. | |
the members, the people who turn out every Saturday whatever the weather. | :55:38. | :55:46. | |
Are you saying get some shoppers on board for supermarkets? YouTube | :55:47. | :55:53. | |
Tesco's as an example, I have the Tesco Clubcard, if they choose | :55:54. | :55:58. | |
things I do not like I would take my business elsewhere. Football is a | :55:59. | :56:03. | |
monstrous business but if you are a fan are you going to stop supporting | :56:04. | :56:09. | |
them? The reality is that there needs to be a better relationship | :56:10. | :56:13. | |
between the directors of an individual football club to build a | :56:14. | :56:18. | |
stronger grouping. You see it in the smaller clubs more effectively than | :56:19. | :56:22. | |
the big ones. Newcastle fans could stay a way. But when it comes to it, | :56:23. | :56:35. | |
they do not. Fans at Newcastle, like teams up and down the country, have | :56:36. | :56:40. | |
a strong allegiance. Not the type of allegiance you might have at Tesco. | :56:41. | :56:46. | |
That is a ridiculous analogy! They are dyed in the will supporters, it | :56:47. | :56:54. | |
is what they live and breed for. The directors and owners of the club | :56:55. | :56:57. | |
should just listen to what these people have got to see. `` say. If | :56:58. | :57:06. | |
you listen to them, they might get more success. There are not many | :57:07. | :57:17. | |
issues that unite country sport enthusiasts. They have all joined up | :57:18. | :57:26. | |
to stop them campaigning. Now if the rest of the political news in 62nd | :57:27. | :57:32. | |
seed as our reporter. Tyne and we are fired and rescue services to | :57:33. | :57:36. | |
consult on plans to cut firefighter posts and close existing firefighter | :57:37. | :57:45. | |
stations. This new nation 's depot has been earmarked for closure in | :57:46. | :57:50. | |
Cumbria. Some jobs might still go but the site should remain open. | :57:51. | :57:56. | |
There are concerns about the government's new lobbying bill. The | :57:57. | :58:02. | |
big lobbyists working for energy firms and drinks companies would be | :58:03. | :58:09. | |
unaffected but some people's work would be hit. The private lobbying | :58:10. | :58:18. | |
group will still go on. And in Newcastle beer was history with a | :58:19. | :58:23. | |
minister in a committee of the French parliament. They were | :58:24. | :58:30. | |
discussing ways to tackle youth unemployment. Now let's look in a | :58:31. | :58:38. | |
bit more detail at the first of those stories. The lobbying bill, | :58:39. | :58:44. | |
some have accused them of overreaction, what do you think? I | :58:45. | :58:50. | |
have had more correspondence on this bill than any other issue in the | :58:51. | :58:57. | |
last 8.5 years. It is not correspondence from raving militants | :58:58. | :59:02. | |
who want a revolution, it is from local and national charities, | :59:03. | :59:06. | |
campaign groups. They are concerns are that they are being stopped from | :59:07. | :59:17. | |
using the boys to change policies at the national level. It is the run`up | :59:18. | :59:24. | |
to the national election that they have to get in there and get | :59:25. | :59:28. | |
commitment from the party they believe will be in government after | :59:29. | :59:35. | |
the election. This is a gagging law there to prevent local people from | :59:36. | :59:38. | |
holding to account the government for the decisions it has made. The | :59:39. | :59:46. | |
government says they are starting out with good intentions but have | :59:47. | :59:49. | |
they turned this into a dog 's breakfast? It seems to me to be | :59:50. | :59:59. | |
quite confused bit of legislation. You need to be the assurances for | :00:00. | :00:06. | |
the average charity. Part of the purpose of the bill is to enforce | :00:07. | :00:11. | |
the union structures to make a clean record of their membership so there | :00:12. | :00:15. | |
is a much clearer source of information on that side of things. | :00:16. | :00:23. | |
They are bashing the unions? Absolutely not, transparency is the | :00:24. | :00:31. | |
key, where there's money going and how is it being spent? Whether it is | :00:32. | :00:37. | |
a big charity or a union. Trade unions should be accountable. We | :00:38. | :00:45. | |
should see where they are influencing your party leader for | :00:46. | :00:51. | |
example? You can have a look at every evening which has come from a | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
trade union and look down the financial line to see where it has | :00:56. | :00:58. | |
come from, the lollipop ladies, dinner ladies, you can hardly say | :00:59. | :01:04. | |
that its financing of the parties which come from lobbyists and big | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
business. That is it from us. Next Sunday we will be supporting the | :01:10. | :01:17. | |
funding policy. That is on health spending. For | :01:18. | :01:19. | |
free school area for into that category. Thank you. | :01:20. | :01:31. | |
Is Labour about to drop its support category. Thank you. | :01:32. | :01:32. | |
Is Labour about to drop its support for High Speed 2, a rail line the | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
party approved while in government? for High Speed 2, a rail line the | :01:37. | :01:47. | |
these green shoots? These are all questions for The Week Ahead. | :01:48. | :01:59. | |
So, HS2. Miss Flint wouldn't answer the question. She's in northern MP | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
too. Ed Balls is comparing it to the Millennium Dome. | :02:05. | :02:09. | |
too. Ed Balls is comparing it to the minute's silence for HS2? It will | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
not be quite as crude as that. They will not stand up and say, we | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
not be quite as crude as that. They senior Labour person said to me it | :02:20. | :02:19. | |
would be a bit senior Labour person said to me it | :02:20. | :02:22. | |
that Gordon Brown and Ed Balls set for the euro back in 97. They will | :02:23. | :02:28. | |
be chucking lots of questions into the air, and the questions will | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
create doubt, and will create the grounds for Labour to say, at some | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
point, we think there is a much much better way of spending the money. It | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
isn't ?42 billion, because that includes a contingency. Let's see | :02:44. | :02:50. | |
what Peter Mandelson had to say about HS2. He was in the government | :02:51. | :02:57. | |
when Labour supported it. Frankly, there was too much of the argument | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
that if everyone else has got a high-speed train, we should have won | :03:02. | :03:08. | |
too. Regardless of need, regardless of cost, and regardless of | :03:09. | :03:14. | |
alternatives. As a party, to be frank, we didn't feel like being | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
trumped by the zeal of the then opposition's support for the | :03:20. | :03:26. | |
high-speed train. We wanted, if anything, to upstage them. So they | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
didn't really need it, and we're only talking about ?50 billion. Why | :03:31. | :03:38. | |
would you take a decision involving ?50 billion in a serious way? For | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
David Cameron, if it becomes clear Labour is against it, he cannot | :03:43. | :03:48. | |
proceed. He indicated last week that he wouldn't proceed if the certainty | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
wasn't there. For Labour, HS2 is really a debate about the deficit by | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
proxy. They think that if you don't go ahead with HS2, that releases | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
tens of billions of pounds to spend on other things, such as public | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
services, without going into boring. I don't think that works because | :04:07. | :04:28. | |
there was a difference between cancelling something that already | :04:29. | :04:30. | |
exists to pay for something else, and cancelling something that does | :04:31. | :04:32. | |
not yet exist and will be paid for over decades to pay for something | :04:33. | :04:35. | |
here and now. Can Labour do this? I know that the line will be, we are | :04:36. | :04:38. | |
not going to build this railway because we are going to build | :04:39. | :04:41. | |
200,000 houses a year. Can they do this without political cost? I think | :04:42. | :04:43. | |
there will be political costs, but they will play this card of we have | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
changed our mind. I think Cameron's line has been very clever, saying we | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
cannot do it without labour. You can put it in two ways. Sorry, we cannot | :04:54. | :04:58. | |
go ahead with it, but Labour has ruined your chance of prosperity, or | :04:59. | :05:02. | |
they can tie themselves to it, and then Labour cannot attack it on | :05:03. | :05:09. | |
great grounds when costs do spire. You can write Labour's script right | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
now. They can say, if we were in charge, the financial management | :05:15. | :05:22. | |
would be much better. This raises some really important questions for | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
the government. They have utterly failed to make the case for HS2 | :05:28. | :05:33. | |
There is a real case to make. Between London and Birmingham it is | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
about capacity not speed. North of Birmingham, it is about | :05:38. | :05:42. | |
connectivity. It is a simple case to make, but it is only in the last | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
month that they have been making that case. It shows really terrible | :05:47. | :05:49. | |
complacency in the coalition that they haven't done that. We'll HS2 | :05:50. | :05:57. | |
happen or not? I think it will. For the reasons that Nick outlined, | :05:58. | :06:01. | |
there is not of a constituency for it amongst Northern areas. -- there | :06:02. | :06:10. | |
is enough of a constituency for it. There is private investment as well. | :06:11. | :06:17. | |
It isn't like Heathrow. I say no, because I think Labour will drop | :06:18. | :06:24. | |
their support for it. Caroline Flint said she was in favour of the | :06:25. | :06:27. | |
concept of trains generally, but will it go further than that? It is | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
difficult to see how it will go ahead if Labour will not support it | :06:33. | :06:38. | |
after setting five tests that it clearly will not meet. Some will | :06:39. | :06:46. | |
breathe a sigh of relief. Some will say, even in the 20th century, we | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
cannot build a proper rail network. The economy was another big story of | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
the week. We had those GDP figures. There is a video the Tories are | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
releasing. The world premiere is going to be here. Where's the red | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
carpet? It gives an indication of how the Tories will hand Mr Miliband | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
and labour in the run-up to the election. Let's have a look at it. | :07:11. | :07:43. | |
These graphics are even worse than the ones we use on our show! How on | :07:44. | :07:49. | |
earth would you expect that to go viral? It did have a strange feel | :07:50. | :07:58. | |
about it. It doesn't understand the Internet at all. Who is going to | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
read those little screens between it? Put a dog in it! However, | :08:04. | :08:14. | |
putting that aside, I have no idea that that is going to go viral. The | :08:15. | :08:20. | |
Tories are now operating - and I say Tories rather than the coalition - | :08:21. | :08:26. | |
on the assumption that the economy is improving and will continue to | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
improve, and that that will become more obvious as 2014 goes on. We | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
just saw their how they will fight the campaign. Yes, and at the | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
crucial moment, you will reach the point where wages. To rise at a | :08:43. | :08:47. | |
faster pace than inflation, and then people will start to, in the words | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
of Harold Macmillan, feel that they have never had it so good. That is | :08:52. | :08:57. | |
the key moment. If the economy is growing, there is a rule of thumb | :08:58. | :09:05. | |
that the government should get a benefit. But it doesn't always work | :09:06. | :09:08. | |
like that. The fundamental point here is that Ed Miliband has had a | :09:09. | :09:11. | |
great month. He has totally set the agenda. He has set the agenda with | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
something - freezing energy prices - that may not work. That video shows | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
that the Conservatives want to get the debate back to the | :09:23. | :09:25. | |
fundamentals. That this is a party that told us for three years that | :09:26. | :09:33. | |
this coalition was telling us to -- was taking us to hell on a handcart. | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
That doesn't seem to have happened. The energy price was a very clever | :09:38. | :09:45. | |
thing, at the party conference season, which now seems years ago. | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
They saw that the recovery was going to happen, so they changed the | :09:50. | :09:56. | |
debate to living standards. Some economists are now privately | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
expecting growth to be 3% next year, which was inconceivable for five | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
months ago. If growth is 3% next year, living standards will start to | :10:06. | :10:07. | |
rise again. Where does Labour go then? I would go further, and say | :10:08. | :10:14. | |
that even though Ed Miliband has made a small political victory on | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
living standards, it hasn't registered in the polls. Those polls | :10:19. | :10:25. | |
have been contracted since April -- have been contracting since April. | :10:26. | :10:29. | |
That macro economic story matters more than the issue of living | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
standards. The interesting thing about the recovery is it confounds | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
everybody. No one was predicting, not the Treasury, not the media not | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
the IMF, not the academics, and the only people I can think of... I fit | :10:45. | :10:51. | |
-- I thought they knew everything! The only people I know who did are | :10:52. | :10:57. | |
one adviser who is very close to George Osborne, and the clever hedge | :10:58. | :11:00. | |
fund is who were buying British equities back in January. Because | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
the Treasury's record is so appalling, no one believe them, but | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
they were saying around February, March this year, that by the end of | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
the summer, the recovery would be gathering momentum. For once, they | :11:15. | :11:23. | |
turned out to be right! They said that the economy would be going gang | :11:24. | :11:26. | |
bust is! Where did the new Tory voters come from? I agree, if the | :11:27. | :11:33. | |
economic recovery continues, the coalition will be stronger. But | :11:34. | :11:42. | |
where will they get new voters from? For people who sign up to help to | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
buy, they will be locked into nice mortgages at a low interest rate, | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
and just as you go into a general election, if you are getting 3% | :11:52. | :11:57. | |
growth and unemployment is down the Bank of England will have to review | :11:58. | :12:00. | |
their interest rates. People who are getting nice interest rates now may | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
find that it is not like that in a few months time. The point John | :12:05. | :12:11. | |
Major was making implicitly was that Mrs Thatcher could speak to people | :12:12. | :12:16. | |
on low incomes. John Major could not speak to them -- John Major could | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
speak to them. But this coalition cannot speak to them. This idea | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
about the reshuffle was that David Cameron wanted more Northern voices, | :12:26. | :12:33. | |
more women, to make it look like it was not a party of seven men. When | :12:34. | :12:38. | |
David Cameron became leader, John Major said, I do not speak very | :12:39. | :12:43. | |
often, but when I do, I will help you, because I think you are good | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
thing and I do not want to be like Margaret Thatcher. But that speech | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
was clearly a lament for the party he believed that David Cameron was | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
going to lead and create, but that isn't happening. And energy prices | :12:57. | :13:02. | |
continue into this coming week. We have the companies going before a | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
select committee. My information is they are sending along the secondary | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
division, not the boss. How can they get along -- get away with that I | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
got the letter through from British Gas this week explaining why my | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
bills are going up, and at no point since this became a story have any | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
of the big companies handled it well. I will have to leave it there. | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
Make sure you pay your bill! That's it for today. The Daily Politics is | :13:31. | :13:37. | |
back on BBC Two tomorrow. I will be back here on BBC One next Sunday. | :13:38. | :13:44. | |
Remember, if it's Sunday, it is The Sunday Politics. | :13:45. | :13:51. |