Browse content similar to 10/11/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics. Ed Miliband's on | :00:35. | :00:41. | |
the war path over pay day loans your energy bill and what he calls | :00:42. | :00:43. | |
the war path over pay day loans the bedroom tax. His spinners say | :00:44. | :00:47. | |
he's resurgent though the polls don't show it. We'll be talking to | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
his right hand woman, Labour's Deputy Leader, Harriet Harman. From | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
resurgent to insurgent. Nigel Farage won an award this week for being a | :00:57. | :00:59. | |
political insurgent. We'll be talking to the UKIP leader. And | :01:00. | :01:08. | |
Harriet hates, hates, hates page three. She wants rid of it. But what | :01:09. | :01:10. | |
do you think? We sent Adam out with do you think? We sent Adam out with | :01:11. | :01:13. | |
some balls. Stay. It is good fun Welcome to your lunchtime Look | :01:14. | :01:21. | |
North. In the headlines this Welcome to your lunchtime Look | :01:22. | :01:33. | |
row over the super sewer rumbles on. And with me, fresh from their | :01:34. | :01:46. | |
success at yesterday's Star Wars auditions, Darth Vader. Obi Wan | :01:47. | :01:52. | |
Kenobi and R2D2. Congratulations on your new jobs. We'll miss you. Nick | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
Watt, Helen Lewis and Janan Ganesh. First, the talks with Iran in | :01:58. | :02:01. | |
Geneva. They ended last night without agreement despite hopes of a | :02:02. | :02:11. | |
breakthrough. America and its allies didn't think Iran was prepared to go | :02:12. | :02:14. | |
far enough to freeze its nuclear programme. But some progress has | :02:15. | :02:17. | |
been made and there's to be another meeting in ten days' time, though at | :02:18. | :02:20. | |
a lower level. The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, had this | :02:21. | :02:23. | |
to say a little earlier. On the question of, or will it happen in | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
the next few weeks? There is a good chance of that. We will be trying | :02:29. | :02:36. | |
again on 20th, 21st of November and negotiators will be trying again. We | :02:37. | :02:44. | |
will keep an enormous amount of energy and persistence behind | :02:45. | :02:48. | |
solving this. Will that be a deal which will please everyone? No, it | :02:49. | :02:55. | |
will not. Compromises will need to be made. I had discussions with | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
Israeli ministers yesterday and put the case for the kind of deal we are | :03:01. | :03:03. | |
looking the case for the kind of deal we are | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
interests of the whole world, including | :03:09. | :03:14. | |
interests of the whole world, the world, to reach a diplomatic | :03:15. | :03:15. | |
agreement we can be confident in in this issue. This otherwise will | :03:16. | :03:22. | |
threaten the world with nuclear proliferation and conflict in the | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
future. The interesting thing about this is that it seems | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
future. The interesting thing about prepared to go far enough over the | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
Iraq heavy water plutonium reactor it is building. The people who took | :03:37. | :03:49. | |
the toughest line - the French. France has always had a pretty tough | :03:50. | :03:56. | |
line on Iran. They see it as a disruptive influence in Lebanon I | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
am reasonably optimistic a deal will be done later this month when the | :04:01. | :04:03. | |
talks reconvene. Western be done later this month when the | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
sanctions have had such an impact on Iran domestic league. They have | :04:08. | :04:15. | |
pushed inflation up to 40%. Dashes-macro domestically. The new | :04:16. | :04:19. | |
president had a campaign pledge Dashes-macro domestically. The new | :04:20. | :04:26. | |
saying, I will deal with sanctions. I actually think, by the end of this | :04:27. | :04:31. | |
year, we will see progress in these talks. Should we be optimistic? The | :04:32. | :04:39. | |
next round of talks will be at official level. The place to watch | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
will be Israel. The language which has been coming out of there is | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
still incredibly angry, incredibly defensive. They do not want a deal | :04:51. | :04:53. | |
at all. Presumably John Kerry has to defensive. They do not want a deal | :04:54. | :05:03. | |
go away and tried to get Israel to be quiet about it, even if they | :05:04. | :05:12. | |
cannot be happy about it. They cannot agree to a deal which allows | :05:13. | :05:18. | |
cannot be happy about it. They the Iraq reactor with plutonium | :05:19. | :05:24. | |
heavy water. You do not need that with a peaceful nuclear power | :05:25. | :05:26. | |
programme will stop that is why the with a peaceful nuclear power | :05:27. | :05:33. | |
Israelis are so nervous. If there is an international deal, Israel could | :05:34. | :05:41. | |
still bomb that but it would be impossible. The French tactics are | :05:42. | :05:48. | |
interesting. It says the French blocked it in part because they are | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
trying to carry favour with Israel but also the Gulf Arab states, who | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
are really nervous about and Iranians nuclear capability. Who is | :05:59. | :06:04. | |
that? Saudi Arabia. Newsnight had a story saying that Pakistan is | :06:05. | :06:10. | |
prepared to provide them with nuclear weapons. You are right about | :06:11. | :06:18. | |
Saudi Arabia. They are much more against this deal than Israel. Who | :06:19. | :06:24. | |
is Herman van Rompuy's favourite MEP? It is probably not Nigel | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
Farage. He plummeted to the bottom of the EU president's Christmas card | :06:29. | :06:31. | |
list after comparing him to a bank clerk with the charisma of a damp | :06:32. | :06:35. | |
rag. And he's been at it again this week. Have a look. Today is November | :06:36. | :06:44. | |
the 5th, a big celebration festival day in England. That was an attempt | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
to blow up the Houses of Parliament with dynamite and destroy the | :06:50. | :06:52. | |
Constitution. You have taken the Dahl, technocratic approach to all | :06:53. | :06:59. | |
of these things. What you and your colleagues save time and again you | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
talk about initiatives and what you are going to do about unemployment. | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
The reality is nothing in this union is getting better. The accounts have | :07:09. | :07:15. | |
not been signed off for 18 years. I am now told it is 19 and you are | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
doing your best to tone down any criticism. Whatever growth figures | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
you may have, they are anaemic. Youth unemployment in the | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
Mediterranean is over 50% in several states. You will notice there is a | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
rise in opposition dashed real opposition. Much of it ugly | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
opposition, not stuff that I would want to link hands with. And Nigel | :07:40. | :07:46. | |
Farage joins me now. Let me put to you what the editor of the Sun had | :07:47. | :07:55. | |
to say. He says, UKIP will peak at the European election and then it | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
will begin to get marginalised as we get closer to 2015 because there is | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
now that clear blue water between Labour and the Tories. What do you | :08:05. | :08:11. | |
say to that? There may be layered blue water on energy pricing but on | :08:12. | :08:15. | |
Eastern Europe, there is no difference at all. When Ed Miliband | :08:16. | :08:20. | |
offers the referendum to match Cameron, even that argument on | :08:21. | :08:24. | |
Europe will be gone. The one thing that will keep UKIP strong, heading | :08:25. | :08:30. | |
towards 2015, is if people think in some constituencies we can win. I | :08:31. | :08:34. | |
cannot sit here right now and say that will be the case. If we get | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
over the hurdle of the European elections clearly, I think there | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
will be grounds to say that UKIP can win seats in Westminster. You are | :08:45. | :08:51. | |
going to run? Without a shadow of a doubt. I do not know which | :08:52. | :08:57. | |
constituency. The welcome I got in Edinburgh was not that friendly | :08:58. | :09:01. | |
Edinburgh is not everything in Scotland. I think we have a | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
realistic chance of winning those elections. If we do that, we will | :09:07. | :09:12. | |
have the momentum behind us. You might be the biggest party after the | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
May elections. The National front is likely to do very well in France as | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
well. They have won the crucial by-election in the South of France. | :09:23. | :09:28. | |
Have you talked about joining full season in Parliament? The leader has | :09:29. | :09:37. | |
tried to take the movement into a different direction than her father. | :09:38. | :09:42. | |
The man she beat, to become leader, actually attended the BNP | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
conference. The problem she has with her party and we have with her party | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
is that anti-Semitism is too deep and we will not be doing a deal with | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
the French national government. You can guarantee you will not be | :09:58. | :10:04. | |
joining such groups. I can guarantee that. Let's move on to Europe. Let's | :10:05. | :10:10. | |
accept that the pro-Europeans exaggerate the loss of jobs that | :10:11. | :10:15. | |
would follow the departure of Britain from the UK. Is there no | :10:16. | :10:23. | |
risk of jobs whatsoever? No risk whatsoever. There is no risk at all. | :10:24. | :10:31. | |
There have been some weak and lazy arguments put around about this We | :10:32. | :10:38. | |
will go on doing business - go on doing trade with Europe. We will | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
have increased opportunities to do trade deals with the rest of the | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
world and they will create jobs The head of Nissan, the head of Hitachi | :10:50. | :10:58. | |
and CBI many other voices in British business, when they all expressed | :10:59. | :11:05. | |
concern about the potential loss of jobs and incoming investment, we | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
should just ignore them. With Nissan, the BBC News is making this | :11:11. | :11:20. | |
a huge story. The boss did not say what was reported. He said there was | :11:21. | :11:26. | |
a potential danger to his future investment. They have already made | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
the investments. They have built the plant in Sunderland, which they say | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
is operating well. We should be careful of what bosses of big | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
businesses say. This man said they may have two leaves Sunderland if we | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
did not join the euro. I do not take that seriously. As for the CBI, they | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
wanted us to join the euro and now they do not. Even within the CBI, | :11:50. | :11:55. | |
there is a significant minority saying, we do not agree with what | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
the CBI director-general is saying. The former boss of the organisation | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
is saying we need a referendum and we need a referendum soon. It | :12:05. | :12:10. | |
depends on the renegotiation. There is not the uniformity. What we are | :12:11. | :12:16. | |
beginning to see in the world, is, manufacturing and small businesses | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
are a lot more voices saying, the costs of membership outweigh any | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
potential benefit. If you look at the polls, if Mr Cameron does | :12:26. | :12:35. | |
repatriate some powers and he joins with Labour, the Lib Dems, the | :12:36. | :12:41. | |
Nationalists in Scotland and Wales, most of business, all of the unions | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
to say we should stay in, you are going to lose, aren't you? In 1 75, | :12:46. | :12:55. | |
the circumstances were exactly the same. Mr Wilson promised a | :12:56. | :12:58. | |
renegotiation and he got very little. The establishment gathered | :12:59. | :13:02. | |
around him and they voted for us to stay in. I do not think that will | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
happen now. The scales have fallen. We do not want to be governed by | :13:09. | :13:15. | |
Herman Van Rompuy and these people. These people are Eurosceptic but | :13:16. | :13:18. | |
they do not seem to feel strongly enough about it that they are going | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
to defy all the major parties they vote for, companies that employ | :13:23. | :13:29. | |
them, unions they are members of. I am absolutely confident there will | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
be a lot voices in business saying, we need to take this opportunity to | :13:34. | :13:37. | |
break free, give ourselves a chance of a low regulation lowball trader. | :13:38. | :13:50. | |
-- global trade. In 1970 53 small publications said to vote yes. I am | :13:51. | :14:06. | |
not contemplating losing. The most important thing is to get the | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
referendum. If UKIP is not strong, there will not be a referendum. | :14:12. | :14:17. | |
Earlier in the year, your party issued a leaflet about the remaining | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
sample parents being able to come to this country. The EU will allow 29 | :14:22. | :14:27. | |
million Bulgarians and remaining is to come to the UK. That is | :14:28. | :14:37. | |
technically correct but we both know that is not the case. It is an open | :14:38. | :14:49. | |
door to these people. Why take the risk? By make out there are 29 | :14:50. | :15:00. | |
million people? I stand by that verdict. It is an open door. 29 | :15:01. | :15:10. | |
million are not going to come. They can if they want. Also 29 million | :15:11. | :15:16. | |
people from France can come. After these countries have joined, we will | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
do another leaflet saying that Mr Cameron wants to open the door to 70 | :15:22. | :15:28. | |
million people from Turkey. That is scaremongering. I would not say | :15:29. | :15:35. | |
that. We have a million young British workers between 16 and 4 | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
without work. A lot of them want work and we do not need another | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
massive oversupply in the unskilled labour market. Why did you have such | :15:45. | :15:49. | |
a bad time on question Time this week? The folk that did not buy your | :15:50. | :15:59. | |
anti-immigration stick. Do you think that group of people in the room was | :16:00. | :16:02. | |
representative of the voters of Boston? What would make you think it | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
was unrepresentative? When the county council elections took place | :16:08. | :16:11. | |
this year in Boston, of the seven seats, UKIP won five and almost won | :16:12. | :16:15. | |
the other two. I don't think that audience reflected that, but that | :16:16. | :16:19. | |
doesn't matter. How an audience is put together, how a panel is put | :16:20. | :16:23. | |
together, on one programme, it doesn't mean much at all. It shows | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
that your anti-immigrant measure doesn't fly as easily as you hoped | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
it would? The opinion polls which will be launched on Monday that we | :16:33. | :16:35. | |
are conducting and nearing completion, they show two things. | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
Firstly, an astonishing number of people who think it's irresponsible | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
and wrong to open the doer to Romania and Bulgaria, secondly and | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
crucially, a number of people whose vote in the European elections and | :16:50. | :16:52. | |
subsequent general elections may be determined by the immigration | :16:53. | :16:54. | |
issues. This does matter. It would be the perfect run group the | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
European elections in May for you if a lot of Bulgarians and remainians | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
flooded in. You would like that to happen? I think it will happen. | :17:04. | :17:06. | |
Whether I like it or not, it will happen. You think it will be good | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
for you, it will stir things up If you say to people in poor countries, | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
you can come here, get a job, have a safety net of a benefits system | :17:16. | :17:21. | |
claim child allowance for your kids in Bucharest, people will come You | :17:22. | :17:24. | |
are ready with the arguments already? You will be disappointed if | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
only ten turn up? Whether lots come or not we should. Taking the risk | :17:31. | :17:33. | |
and yes, we are going to make it a major issue in the European | :17:34. | :17:36. | |
election. Let's leave it there. Thank you very much, Nigel Farage. | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
The summer of 2013 was not good for Ed Miliband, with questions over his | :17:41. | :17:44. | |
leadership, low ratings and complaints about no policies. He | :17:45. | :17:47. | |
bounced back with a vengeance at the Labour Conference in September, | :17:48. | :17:50. | |
delivering a speech which this week won the spectator political speech | :17:51. | :17:55. | |
of the year aword. In that speech he focussed on the cost-of-living and | :17:56. | :17:58. | |
promised a temporary freeze on energy prices. Even said this. The | :17:59. | :18:03. | |
next election isn't just going to be about policy. It's going to be about | :18:04. | :18:10. | |
how we lead and the character we show. I've got a message for the | :18:11. | :18:17. | |
Tories today. If they want to have a debate, about leadership and | :18:18. | :18:26. | |
character, be my guest And if you want to know the difference between | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
me and David Cameron, here is an easy way to remember it. When it was | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
Murdoch v the McCanns, he took the side of Murdoch. When it was the | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
tobacco lobby versus the cancer charities, he took the side of the | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
tobacco lobby. When the millionaires wanted a tax cut as people pay the | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
bedroom tax, he took the side of the millionaires. A come to think of it, | :18:50. | :18:52. | |
here is an easier way to remember it. David Cameron was a Prime | :18:53. | :18:55. | |
Minister who introduced the bedroom tax. I'll be the Prime Minister who | :18:56. | :19:05. | |
repeals the bedroom tax There we go, that will go down with the party | :19:06. | :19:11. | |
faithful on Tuesday. There will be a debate on the bedroom tax. Labour's | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
Deputy Leader, Harriet Harman, joints me now. Let's begin with the | :19:17. | :19:24. | |
bedroom tax or bedroom subsidy. Nearly 11% of people who've come off | :19:25. | :19:30. | |
Housing Benefits all together after their spare room subsidy was | :19:31. | :19:33. | |
stopped, isn't that proof that reform was necessary? No. I think | :19:34. | :19:38. | |
that the whole way that the bet room tax has been attempted to be | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
justified is completely wrong. What it's said is that it will actually | :19:43. | :19:46. | |
help take people off the waiting lists by putting them into homes | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
that have been vacated by people who've downsized by being | :19:51. | :19:55. | |
incentivised by the bedroom tax so basically if you are a council | :19:56. | :19:59. | |
tenant or Housing Association tenant in a property with spare bedrooms, | :20:00. | :20:03. | |
then because the penalty is imposed, you will move to a smaller property. | :20:04. | :20:07. | |
That is the justification for it. But actually, something like 96 of | :20:08. | :20:11. | |
the people who're going to be hit by the bedroom tax, there isn't a | :20:12. | :20:14. | |
smaller property for them to move into. I understand that. Therefore | :20:15. | :20:18. | |
they are, like the people in my constituency, if they have got one | :20:19. | :20:22. | |
spare bedroom, they are hit by 700 a year extra to pay and that is | :20:23. | :20:28. | |
completely unfair As a consequence of people losing the subsidy for | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
their spare room, they have decided to go out and get work and not | :20:34. | :20:37. | |
depend on Housing Benefit at all? 11% of them. What's wrong with that? | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
Well, they are going to review the way 2 the bedroom tax is working. | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
What is wrong with that? But that's not working. That's the result of | :20:48. | :20:52. | |
Freedom of Information, 141 councils provided the figures, 25,000 who've | :20:53. | :20:56. | |
come off benefits, of the 233,0 0 affected, it's about 11%. These | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
people were clearly able to get a job was having the Housing Benefit | :21:01. | :21:04. | |
in the first place? But of course the people who're on the benefits | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
who're not in work are always looking for work and many of them | :21:10. | :21:12. | |
will find work which is a good thing, but for those who don't find | :21:13. | :21:17. | |
work, or who find work where it s low-paid and need help with their | :21:18. | :21:21. | |
rent, it's wrong to penalise them on the basis of the fact that their | :21:22. | :21:25. | |
family might have grown up and moved away and so you have either got to | :21:26. | :21:29. | |
move out of your home, away from your family and your neighbourhood, | :21:30. | :21:33. | |
or you've got to stay where you are and, despite the fact that you are | :21:34. | :21:37. | |
low-paid or unemployed, you have got to find an extra ?700 a year because | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
of your rent. So it's very unfair The Government that was | :21:43. | :21:45. | |
commissioning independent research on the impact of this work change | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
and welfare policy, particularly on the impact on the most vulnerable, | :21:51. | :21:52. | |
some of which you have been talking about there, shouldn't they have | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
waited until you have got the independent research, that | :21:57. | :21:59. | |
independent investigation before determining your policy? No. In | :22:00. | :22:02. | |
fact, the Government should have waited until they'd have done their | :22:03. | :22:07. | |
independent research before they bought into effect something and | :22:08. | :22:10. | |
imposed it on people in a way which is really unfair. They could have | :22:11. | :22:16. | |
known. Why didn't you wait? What they could have done is, they could | :22:17. | :22:20. | |
have asked councils, are people going to be able to Manifest into | :22:21. | :22:24. | |
smaller homes if we impose the bedroom tax and the answer from | :22:25. | :22:28. | |
councils and Housing Associations would have been no, they can't move | :22:29. | :22:31. | |
into smaller homes because which haven't got them there. They should | :22:32. | :22:35. | |
have done the evaluation before they introduced the policy. We are | :22:36. | :22:38. | |
absolutely clear and you can see the evidence, people are falling into | :22:39. | :22:43. | |
rent arrears. Many people, it's a terrifying thing to find that you | :22:44. | :22:46. | |
can't pay your rent, and some of the people go to payday loan companies | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
to get loans to pay their rent. It is very, very unfair. The | :22:52. | :22:55. | |
justification for it, which is people will move, is completely | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
bogus. There aren't places for them to go. On the wider issue of welfare | :23:00. | :23:05. | |
reform, a call for the TUC showed that voters support the Government's | :23:06. | :23:08. | |
welfare reforms, including a majority of Labour voters. Why are | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
you so out of touch on welfare issues, even with your own | :23:14. | :23:16. | |
supporters? Nobody wants to see people who could be in a job | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
actually living at the taxpayers' expense. That's why we have said | :23:21. | :23:24. | |
that we'll introduce a compulsory jobs guarantee, so that if you are a | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
young person who's been unemployed for a year, you will have to take a | :23:29. | :23:32. | |
job absolutely have to take a job, and if you have been unemployed as | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
somebody over 25, there'll be a compulsory thing after two years of | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
unemployment. So if you have been on welfare two years? So the main issue | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
about the welfare bill actually is people who're in retirement who need | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
support. We have said for the richest pensioners, they shouldn't | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
have to pay their winter fuel allowance. My point wasn't abouts | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
the sub stance, it's about how you don't reflect public opinion -- | :23:59. | :24:02. | |
substance. The Parliamentary aid said the political backlog of | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
benefits and social security is "not yet one that we have won. Labour | :24:08. | :24:12. | |
must accept that they are not convincing on these matters,". Well, | :24:13. | :24:17. | |
redo have to convince people and explain the policies we have got and | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
the view we take. So, for example, for pensioners, who're well off we | :24:22. | :24:24. | |
are saying they don't need the Winter Fuel Payment that. 's me | :24:25. | :24:27. | |
saying to you and us saying to people in this country, we do think | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
that there should be that tightening. For young people, who've | :24:33. | :24:36. | |
been unemployed, they should be offered jobs but they've got to take | :24:37. | :24:39. | |
them. So yes, we have to make our case. OK. The energy freeze which we | :24:40. | :24:45. | |
showed there, on the speech, as popular. The living wage proseles | :24:46. | :24:49. | |
have been going down well as well. Why is Labour's lead oaf the | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
Conservatives being cut to 6% in the latest polls? Ed Miliband's own | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
personal approval rating's gotten worse. Why is that? I'm not going to | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
disdues ins and outs of weekly opinion polls with you or anybody | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
else because I'm not a political commentator, but let me say to you | :25:07. | :25:10. | |
the facts of what's happened since Ed Miliband's been leader of the | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
Labour Party. We have got 1,950 New Labour councillors, all of those... | :25:16. | :25:21. | |
But you're... All those who've won their seats against the | :25:22. | :25:23. | |
Conservatives or the Liberal Democrats and no, Andrew you don't | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
always get that in opposition. In 1997 after Tony Blair was elected, | :25:29. | :25:33. | |
the Tories carried on losing council seats. Exceptional circumstances and | :25:34. | :25:40. | |
these days Mr Blair was 25% ahead in the polls. You were six. The economy | :25:41. | :25:45. | |
grew at an annual rate of 3% in the third quarter just gone. Everybody, | :25:46. | :25:49. | |
private and public forecasters now saying that Britain in this coming | :25:50. | :25:52. | |
year will grow faster than France, Italy, Spain, even Germany will grow | :25:53. | :25:57. | |
faster. Your poll ratings are average when the economy was | :25:58. | :26:00. | |
flatlining, what happens to them when the economy starts to grow | :26:01. | :26:04. | |
Well, I've just said to you, I'm not a political commentator or a pundit | :26:05. | :26:10. | |
on opinion polls. We are putting policies forward and we are holding | :26:11. | :26:12. | |
the Government to account for what they are doing and we think that | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
what they did opt economy pulled the plugs from the economy, delayed the | :26:18. | :26:20. | |
recovery, made it stagnate and we have had three years lost growth. I | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
understand that, but it's now starting to grow. Indeed. If you are | :26:25. | :26:31. | |
no political commentator, let me ask you this, you anticipated the | :26:32. | :26:34. | |
growth, so you switched your line to no growth to this is growth and | :26:35. | :26:37. | |
living standards are rising. If the economy does grow up towards 3% next | :26:38. | :26:42. | |
year, I would suggest that living standards probably will start to | :26:43. | :26:45. | |
rise with that amount of growth What do you do then? We have not | :26:46. | :26:49. | |
switched our line because the economy started to grow. All the way | :26:50. | :26:52. | |
along, we said the economy will recover, but it's been delayed and | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
we have had stagnation for far too long because of the economic | :26:58. | :27:01. | |
policies. We have been absolutely right to understand the concerns | :27:02. | :27:05. | |
people have and recognise that they are struggling with the | :27:06. | :27:09. | |
cost-of-living. Sure. And we are right to do that. What kind of | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
living standards stuck to rise next year? -- start to rise next year. I | :27:14. | :27:19. | |
hope they will. For 40 months of David Cameron's Prime Ministership, | :27:20. | :27:23. | |
for 39 of those, wages have risen slower than prices, so people are | :27:24. | :27:27. | |
worse off. I understand that. You will know that the broader | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
measurement, real household disposable income doesn't show that | :27:32. | :27:34. | |
decline because it takes everything into account. Going around the | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
country, people feel it. They say where's the recovery for me. Living | :27:40. | :27:45. | |
standards now start to rise? If that happens, what is your next line | :27:46. | :27:50. | |
There is a set of arguments about living standards, the National | :27:51. | :27:52. | |
Health Service, about the problems that there is in A, which caused | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
-- are caused by the organisation. I can put forward other lines. All | :27:59. | :28:04. | |
right. Let me ask you one other question If no newspapers have | :28:05. | :28:09. | |
signed up to the Government-backed Labour-backed Royal Charter on press | :28:10. | :28:12. | |
regular lace by 2015 and it looks like the way things are going none | :28:13. | :28:18. | |
will have, if you are in power, will a Labour Government legislate to | :28:19. | :28:21. | |
make them? They don't have to sign up to the Royal Charter, that's not | :28:22. | :28:26. | |
the system. What the Royal Charter does is create a recogniser and | :28:27. | :28:29. | |
basically says it's for the newspapers to set up their own | :28:30. | :28:32. | |
regulator. They are doing that. My question is... Let me finish. If | :28:33. | :28:37. | |
they decide to have nothing to do with the Royal Charter that was | :28:38. | :28:41. | |
decided in Miliband's office in the wee small hours, will you pass | :28:42. | :28:45. | |
legislation to make them? The newspapers are currently setting up | :28:46. | :28:48. | |
what they call... I know that, Harriet Harman. Just let me finish. | :28:49. | :28:53. | |
OK. Because the newspapers are setting up the independent Press | :28:54. | :28:57. | |
Standards Organisation. Right. If it is independent, as they say it is, | :28:58. | :29:01. | |
then the recogniser will simply say, we recognise that this is | :29:02. | :29:05. | |
independent and the whole point is that, in the past when there's been | :29:06. | :29:09. | |
skaen deals a tend press have really turned people's lives upside down | :29:10. | :29:12. | |
and the press have said OK we'll sort things out, leave it to us | :29:13. | :29:17. | |
then they have sorted things out but a few years later they have slipped | :29:18. | :29:21. | |
back, all this recogniser will do is check it once every three years and | :29:22. | :29:25. | |
say yes, you have got an independent system and it's remained independent | :29:26. | :29:29. | |
and therefore that is the guarantee things won't slip back. Very | :29:30. | :29:32. | |
interesting. Thank you for that That's really interesting that if | :29:33. | :29:37. | |
they get their act right, you won't force the alternative on them. We | :29:38. | :29:42. | |
want the system as set forward by Leveson which is not statute and | :29:43. | :29:47. | |
direct regulation. I want to stick with the press because I want to | :29:48. | :29:52. | |
ask, is this a British institution or an out-of-date image for a by | :29:53. | :29:56. | |
gone age. The Sun's Page 3 has been dividing the nation since it first | :29:57. | :30:01. | |
appeared way back in 1970. That s 43 years ago. Harriet Harman's called | :30:02. | :30:06. | |
for it to be removed, so we sent Adam out to ask whether the topless | :30:07. | :30:23. | |
photographs should stay or go. We have asked people if page three | :30:24. | :30:35. | |
should stay or go. Page three. What do you think? Nothing wrong with it | :30:36. | :30:45. | |
at all. I think it is cheap and exploits women. It is a family | :30:46. | :30:56. | |
newspaper. Should it stay or go Go. I will look like the bad guy. It | :30:57. | :31:07. | |
should go. You have changed your mind. It is free choice. Girls do | :31:08. | :31:16. | |
not have to be photographed. Old men get the paper just for that. Know | :31:17. | :31:30. | |
when your age does that? Not really. Dashes-macro know what your age | :31:31. | :31:34. | |
Page three girls, should they stay or go? I am not bothered. There are | :31:35. | :31:45. | |
other ways of getting noticed. Page three of the Sun newspaper every | :31:46. | :31:49. | |
day, there is a woman with no top on. We got rid of that about 40 | :31:50. | :31:58. | |
years ago in Australia. I am not in favour of censorship. It has been | :31:59. | :32:05. | |
long enough. It can stay there. What is wrong with it? We want to | :32:06. | :32:11. | |
encourage children to read the newspapers. I do not want my | :32:12. | :32:17. | |
children to look at that. It is degrading. Do you think we will see | :32:18. | :32:24. | |
the day when they get rid of it Yes, I do. I am wondering if I can | :32:25. | :32:29. | |
turn this into some kind of a shelter. It is tipping it down. I | :32:30. | :32:43. | |
think the council should do something about their car parks | :32:44. | :32:49. | |
Mother nature, the human body. It should stay. Is some people like it, | :32:50. | :32:57. | |
that is fine. I have nothing against it. You know what has surprised me, | :32:58. | :33:04. | |
lots of women saying it should stay. Maybe they are seeing it as | :33:05. | :33:11. | |
empowering. As I have a baby daughter in there, I am happy to see | :33:12. | :33:19. | |
it go. Imagine my grandad opening up his paper and they're being my bats! | :33:20. | :33:28. | |
It should go. There is nothing wrong with it. He wants it to go. What | :33:29. | :33:36. | |
about people who think that page three should be banned? Idiots. Do | :33:37. | :33:44. | |
you know a girl called Lacey, aged 22, from Bedford? Good luck to her. | :33:45. | :33:53. | |
I do not know her as a person that I have heard she is nice. What about | :33:54. | :34:00. | |
her decision to be on page three? Nothing to lose. Do you think she | :34:01. | :34:09. | |
has made Bedford proud? That is not hard. What have we learned? More | :34:10. | :34:15. | |
people want page three to stay down for it to go. Most people do not | :34:16. | :34:25. | |
really seem to care, do they? You have heard a range of views. I am | :34:26. | :34:31. | |
not arguing it should be banned I have not argued for it to be banned | :34:32. | :34:37. | |
but I have disapproved of it since the 1970s. You do not think it | :34:38. | :34:50. | |
should be banned? I do not think there should be dictating content | :34:51. | :34:51. | |
but I do think, if you arrive from there should be dictating content | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
outer space in this country in 21st-century Britain, and asked | :34:58. | :34:58. | |
yourself what was the role of women 21st-century Britain, and asked | :34:59. | :35:03. | |
in society... To stand in their knickers and nothing else, I think | :35:04. | :35:07. | |
women have more to aspire to than to be able to take their clothes off in | :35:08. | :35:18. | |
public. The sun no longer has the circulation, or the political | :35:19. | :35:20. | |
importance, that it had in the 980s circulation, or the political | :35:21. | :35:24. | |
when page three was at its height. Aren't people just voting with their | :35:25. | :35:30. | |
feet anyway? The market is sorting this out. Half the number of people | :35:31. | :35:33. | |
buy it now than they did 20 years this out. Half the number of people | :35:34. | :35:39. | |
ago. Until the time the sun does not have page three any more, I am | :35:40. | :35:44. | |
entitled to my view that it is outdated and wrong. I am happy to | :35:45. | :35:51. | |
ban it. What should happen? Should ban it. What should happen? Should | :35:52. | :35:59. | |
people boycott the paper? I have people boycott the paper? I have | :36:00. | :36:03. | |
never implied or said it should be banned. I have always been | :36:04. | :36:09. | |
forthright. Should people boycott the paper? I have not called for a | :36:10. | :36:15. | |
boycott. The women's movement, of which I am part, and this is not | :36:16. | :36:20. | |
about politicians censoring the press. I am part of the movement | :36:21. | :36:23. | |
which says women can do better than press. I am part of the movement | :36:24. | :36:30. | |
in their knickers in the newspapers. in their knickers in the newspapers. | :36:31. | :36:36. | |
Why don't you do something about it? I am doing something about it by | :36:37. | :36:43. | |
saying it is outdated. I am not doing anything more about it. Should | :36:44. | :36:48. | |
people buy the paper as long as there is a page three? Would you | :36:49. | :36:52. | |
like to say to viewers, as long as like to say to viewers, as long as | :36:53. | :36:56. | |
page three is in the sand, you should not buy it? Dashes-macro be | :36:57. | :37:05. | |
Son. I am saying, wake up to what the role of women in society should | :37:06. | :37:09. | |
be, which is more than page three. If they changed it in Australia | :37:10. | :37:13. | |
which is where Rupert Murdoch came from, why can they not change it in | :37:14. | :37:20. | |
this country? You're watching the Sunday Politics. Coming up in just | :37:21. | :37:24. | |
over 20 minutes... I'll be talking to man | :37:25. | :37:25. | |
Welcome to your lunchtime Look North. In the headlines this | :37:26. | :37:29. | |
Welcome to your lunchtime Look North. In the I Hello | :37:30. | :37:30. | |
Welcome to your lunchtime Look Hello and a warm welcome to your | :37:31. | :37:33. | |
local part of the show for the North East and Cumbria. Coming up: are we | :37:34. | :37:44. | |
doing enough to help foster children once they reach 18? A charity calls | :37:45. | :37:48. | |
for a change in the law. And my guests this week: the | :37:49. | :37:52. | |
Gateshead Labour MP, Ian Mearns, and Northumberland Conservative | :37:53. | :37:54. | |
Councillor Wayne Daley. A warm welcome to you both. | :37:55. | :37:57. | |
And we start this Remembrance Sunday with continuing arguments over the | :37:58. | :38:00. | |
size and scope of the Government's cuts to the Armed Forces. The number | :38:01. | :38:04. | |
of regular soldiers is set to fall from 102,000 to 82,000 over the next | :38:05. | :38:08. | |
decade, leaving the Army half the size it was during the Cold War era. | :38:09. | :38:12. | |
A campaign is under way to save the 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of | :38:13. | :38:15. | |
Fusiliers, which recruits heavily in the North East and North West and is | :38:16. | :38:19. | |
one of those due to be lost. It was an issue raised this week in the | :38:20. | :38:23. | |
Commons. I joined over 100 supporters of the | :38:24. | :38:26. | |
2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers as they marched on | :38:27. | :38:29. | |
Parliament against the government's decision to scrap it. Ministers | :38:30. | :38:32. | |
believe that the 2nd Battalion can be replaced by reservists, yet the | :38:33. | :38:35. | |
chairman of the Northumberland Fusiliers Association is very | :38:36. | :38:37. | |
concerned that it simply won't be possible to recruit the numbers | :38:38. | :38:43. | |
needed. The Government wants the number of | :38:44. | :38:47. | |
reservists to double to 30,000 but ministers say they are not a direct | :38:48. | :38:49. | |
replacement for regular troops. The change of the role of reservists | :38:50. | :38:53. | |
and the changes in the structure of the Army are not simply about trying | :38:54. | :38:56. | |
to recruit reservists to replace disbanded battalions of infantry. | :38:57. | :38:59. | |
Most of the reservists we are recruiting will be specialists, | :39:00. | :39:09. | |
unlike the infantry role. Ian Mearns, I gather the Battalion | :39:10. | :39:12. | |
of Fusiliers is one that is close to your heart? | :39:13. | :39:19. | |
Indeed, my dad was a member of the Northumberland Royal Fusiliers | :39:20. | :39:22. | |
before and during the Second World War. | :39:23. | :39:28. | |
Clearly there is emotional resonance but I suppose the danger is that we | :39:29. | :39:32. | |
could let emotions cloud the hard decisions that have to be made with | :39:33. | :39:36. | |
the lack of resources meaning that some regiments will have to go. | :39:37. | :39:43. | |
That is probably right but we have to look at the criteria the | :39:44. | :39:46. | |
Government are using for the decisions that they have taken. When | :39:47. | :39:52. | |
we look at The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, there are two | :39:53. | :39:54. | |
well`recruited battalions ` one in the North East, the other in the | :39:55. | :39:58. | |
North West. If we take out one of those battalions it brings the whole | :39:59. | :40:01. | |
regiment into question because under the government's own criteria, | :40:02. | :40:04. | |
single battalion regiments are ones they are looking to cut further. | :40:05. | :40:11. | |
Wayne Daley, the whole process of this doesn't seem right. | :40:12. | :40:14. | |
Conservatives are presiding over cuts that a lot of people in your | :40:15. | :40:21. | |
own party will be horrified by. It is important to understand that | :40:22. | :40:23. | |
Northumberland Conservatives have supported a motion which supports | :40:24. | :40:26. | |
the retention of the 2nd Battalion, particularly the Northumberland | :40:27. | :40:29. | |
Regiment within that. It is very important for us to retain | :40:30. | :40:36. | |
historical links. This goes back to something much wider, which was the | :40:37. | :40:39. | |
defence review in 2010. Both parties at that general election were | :40:40. | :40:42. | |
committed to doing this and the reason was simple: there was a ?3.3 | :40:43. | :40:48. | |
billion overspend in the last year of the Labour Government, a ?38 | :40:49. | :40:51. | |
billion hole in total over the last ten years on defence expenditure. | :40:52. | :40:54. | |
That's the context but the reality is that as an unintended | :40:55. | :40:57. | |
consequence, a historic regiment which recruits from the North East, | :40:58. | :40:59. | |
particularly Northumberland, is now likely to be disbanded and as | :41:00. | :41:03. | |
Conservatives in the area we are fundamentally opposed to that and we | :41:04. | :41:06. | |
are writing to Philip Hammond to ask him to review the situation because | :41:07. | :41:17. | |
it is the wrong decision. The Government says that reservists | :41:18. | :41:20. | |
aren't supposed to be a replacement but realistically people will look | :41:21. | :41:27. | |
at them as such. The plan is to have 30,000 | :41:28. | :41:34. | |
reservists by 2020. In the first month of recruitment, around 1500 | :41:35. | :41:37. | |
have been recruited so the MOD are saying they are on track. I don't | :41:38. | :41:45. | |
know whether that's correct but what I am seeing as a Conservative is | :41:46. | :41:48. | |
that I have concerns about that and many in my party have concerns about | :41:49. | :41:52. | |
replacing a full`time Regiment with reservists and we need to monitor it | :41:53. | :41:55. | |
very carefully because the MOD does not have a good history of delivery | :41:56. | :42:02. | |
of its projects. Ian Mearns, I understand there is | :42:03. | :42:05. | |
some emotion around this particular Regiment but every week Labour | :42:06. | :42:08. | |
politicians come on here to say "don't cut this", "don't cut that", | :42:09. | :42:11. | |
but realistically there is only so much money and the Government has | :42:12. | :42:14. | |
got to take action. If you look at what the two | :42:15. | :42:17. | |
battalions deliver on the ground, they are exactly what the modern | :42:18. | :42:22. | |
army would need in the future. The MOD's website tells you exactly what | :42:23. | :42:25. | |
the range of skills are within these two battalions and it exactly fits | :42:26. | :42:29. | |
the criteria of what needs to be retained. I think that the MOD and | :42:30. | :42:35. | |
the Army need to look elsewhere. Thank you both for now. | :42:36. | :42:39. | |
Many of our local councillors have been running campaigns to attract | :42:40. | :42:42. | |
more foster parents and it does seem to have worked. But what happens | :42:43. | :42:46. | |
when those children reach 18? It seems many social service | :42:47. | :42:48. | |
departments are not willing to keep funding of their foster placements | :42:49. | :42:51. | |
and that can leave vulnerable young people faring for themselves without | :42:52. | :42:55. | |
a job or a secure family home. The Government is now being urged to | :42:56. | :43:02. | |
change the law. Like a lot of 18`year`olds, Arran | :43:03. | :43:06. | |
has a busy schedule. Along with work as a swimming pool lifeguard, he is | :43:07. | :43:09. | |
also training to be a sports coach. That means trips to the gym as well | :43:10. | :43:14. | |
as study at college and through all this has foster mum is vital. | :43:15. | :43:17. | |
Heather takes me everywhere, pretty much. She makes all my food. She | :43:18. | :43:20. | |
gives me encouragement to do what I want and I have confidence that | :43:21. | :43:22. | |
Heather believes in me. Of course, in most households, | :43:23. | :43:35. | |
staying in the family home into your 20s has become the norm rather than | :43:36. | :43:41. | |
the exception. But foster children are different. The vast majority | :43:42. | :43:48. | |
still leave care before their 18th birthday. Campaigners say that's too | :43:49. | :43:54. | |
young. Arran's foster carer agrees. There aren't a lot of people who | :43:55. | :43:58. | |
leave home at 18 and most people of that age don't want to think about | :43:59. | :44:02. | |
it, so I think all young people in foster care should be given the | :44:03. | :44:05. | |
choice and the opportunity if they wish to stay on after 18. | :44:06. | :44:12. | |
All the evidence suggests that people who have been in the care | :44:13. | :44:16. | |
system are much more likely to end up unemployed or with poor health. | :44:17. | :44:19. | |
But those who remain with their foster families for longer tend to | :44:20. | :44:25. | |
do better. Why then, across the country, does only one in 20 remain | :44:26. | :44:28. | |
fostered until the age of 19? It might be that there is just not | :44:29. | :44:32. | |
that expectation, that principle that says come 18, you can stay with | :44:33. | :44:36. | |
your foster carer. We have to try and break through that and make it | :44:37. | :44:40. | |
clear to everybody that it is a good thing to do and that the thought of | :44:41. | :44:44. | |
moving into a flat, which might be attractive to some young people, | :44:45. | :44:47. | |
actually isn't so attractive once you have done it as it can be a very | :44:48. | :44:52. | |
lonely time. That sense of isolation is something | :44:53. | :44:55. | |
Ashleigh knows all about. She is now 19, living in supported | :44:56. | :44:59. | |
accommodation and doing well. But after a childhood in the North East | :45:00. | :45:03. | |
that alternated between foster care and unsuccessful returns to her | :45:04. | :45:05. | |
birth family, she was placed alone in a hostel, aged only 16. | :45:06. | :45:12. | |
It was horrible, people knocking on your door all the time, shouting and | :45:13. | :45:18. | |
fighting. What sort of people? | :45:19. | :45:21. | |
Like, alcoholics... How much help and support did you | :45:22. | :45:24. | |
get at that time? Not really much... None. | :45:25. | :45:33. | |
The answer, say some MPs, is to give teenagers like Ashleigh a new legal | :45:34. | :45:36. | |
right to stay in foster care until 21. | :45:37. | :45:39. | |
I think that we as a society have a responsibility to support young | :45:40. | :45:42. | |
people who end up in the care system through no fault of their own. We | :45:43. | :45:46. | |
should give them some of the advantages that young people in | :45:47. | :45:48. | |
stable family relationships end up with. | :45:49. | :45:52. | |
The Government has so far resisted new legislation but ministers say | :45:53. | :45:55. | |
that they are pushing councils to support those in foster care for | :45:56. | :45:59. | |
longer. They appear to share the view that teenagers like Arran | :46:00. | :46:03. | |
deserve someone else to share their burden. | :46:04. | :46:09. | |
Wayne Daley, isn't it a dereliction of duty that we saw someone like | :46:10. | :46:14. | |
Ashleigh there aged only 16, ending up in a hostel facing the things she | :46:15. | :46:16. | |
described? It's not good. In fact, on Friday | :46:17. | :46:22. | |
the Government produced a wide`ranging cross`departmental | :46:23. | :46:24. | |
strategy which is looking at young people in care. It is encouraging | :46:25. | :46:27. | |
local authorities to continue that care and support for them post`18. | :46:28. | :46:33. | |
Encouraging, but not forcing or providing resources. | :46:34. | :46:36. | |
At the moment, it is a cross departmental strategy... | :46:37. | :46:37. | |
A "cross`departmental strategy" ` that doesn't cut any ice... | :46:38. | :46:44. | |
What that means is, let's look at Northumberland. In Northumberland, | :46:45. | :46:47. | |
we have a 'staying put' strategy, which means we can help young people | :46:48. | :46:51. | |
stay with their foster families past the age of 18. In Northumberland, to | :46:52. | :46:55. | |
the age of 25 we have dedicated workers who will support those young | :46:56. | :47:00. | |
people. There are pilot projects, we need to look at that and as we have | :47:01. | :47:04. | |
seen in the film, the Government may be minded to look at legislation. My | :47:05. | :47:08. | |
personal view is that it is such an important issue for those young | :47:09. | :47:12. | |
people that we need to enshrine it in legislation. But at the moment | :47:13. | :47:19. | |
what the Government is saying to local authorities is: continue to | :47:20. | :47:22. | |
give the ?2000 grant to help set up a home, if they want it. Continue to | :47:23. | :47:26. | |
provide the educational bursary of ?1200 a year, but also continue to | :47:27. | :47:29. | |
provide that post`18 care, and like in Northumberland, which is a very | :47:30. | :47:32. | |
good example, continue to offer that one`to`one support, and I think we | :47:33. | :47:39. | |
can learn from that. Ian Mearns, some councils seem to be | :47:40. | :47:42. | |
able to offer support, others don't. Is this more about their will to do | :47:43. | :47:45. | |
it rather than resources? It's very patchy across the country | :47:46. | :47:49. | |
and one of the things we have to accept is that previous governments | :47:50. | :47:52. | |
have introduced the concept of local authorities as corporate parents and | :47:53. | :47:55. | |
from my perspective, the corporate parenting responsibility does not | :47:56. | :47:58. | |
end when a young person becomes 18 years old. If we're going to take | :47:59. | :48:01. | |
the role of corporate parenting as seriously as we would parenting our | :48:02. | :48:05. | |
own children, then it has to go on into young adulthood and into | :48:06. | :48:08. | |
adulthood itself. These are vulnerable young people who have | :48:09. | :48:10. | |
been through traumatic experiences, so we cannot cast them aside at the | :48:11. | :48:12. | |
age of 18. We're does it stop, though? 21? 25? | :48:13. | :48:27. | |
30? I mean, there are limits to resources. | :48:28. | :48:32. | |
I think in the role of the corporate parent should be as a back`up | :48:33. | :48:36. | |
facility, a guardianship role. I don't think we can get away from the | :48:37. | :48:39. | |
fact that that will be resource`intensive but I think the | :48:40. | :48:43. | |
problem we have to face up to is that far too many youngsters come | :48:44. | :48:46. | |
through the care system and end up in the criminal justice system, | :48:47. | :48:50. | |
which has far too many youngsters in it who've been failed by the care | :48:51. | :48:53. | |
system. The costs there are dramatic to the criminal justice system. So | :48:54. | :48:57. | |
we need to think about spending some money to support those young people | :48:58. | :49:01. | |
into adulthood in order to prevent later unnecessary expenditure and | :49:02. | :49:05. | |
harm. Thank you very much. | :49:06. | :49:11. | |
There was a time when bus companies were owned and run by local councils | :49:12. | :49:17. | |
but then Mrs Thatcher came along and the industry was deregulated. These | :49:18. | :49:20. | |
days, it is the big transport operators like Stagecoach and Arriva | :49:21. | :49:23. | |
which control bus services across the North East and the taxpayer | :49:24. | :49:26. | |
still contributes ?62 million a year in subsidy. But could things be | :49:27. | :49:30. | |
about to change? In Tyne Wear, the transport authority is consulting on | :49:31. | :49:32. | |
plans that could see politicians taking back control over buses. | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
The transport authority says that bus companies profits are excessive. | :49:38. | :49:43. | |
If they took control, they'd promise better services and more joined up | :49:44. | :49:46. | |
ticketing with the metro. But the bus companies have hit back. They | :49:47. | :49:50. | |
say that the councils want to take money out of bus services to pay for | :49:51. | :49:54. | |
the loss`making Metro and Shields ferry, while council tax bills will | :49:55. | :50:01. | |
rise. So, who's right? Both sides in an | :50:02. | :50:05. | |
increasingly bitter dispute are with me now. Jonathan Bray, tell us why | :50:06. | :50:09. | |
this would be good news for bus passengers. | :50:10. | :50:11. | |
This proposition is to take the ?60 million that the authorities have | :50:12. | :50:15. | |
already put in and use also the excessive profits that the operators | :50:16. | :50:18. | |
are making to provide a single integrated public transport network | :50:19. | :50:21. | |
for Tyne Wear, where we can guarantee through contracts that the | :50:22. | :50:24. | |
fares will be protected to RPI and also that 80% of passengers will | :50:25. | :50:27. | |
start off any position where they will be better off or the same as | :50:28. | :50:32. | |
they are now. This will be the first city outside of London to have a | :50:33. | :50:34. | |
fully integrated transport system where buses coordinate with each | :50:35. | :50:38. | |
other and with the Metro and it will be something similar to the Oyster | :50:39. | :50:42. | |
card that will allow you to use all of the system together. | :50:43. | :50:45. | |
OK, that is the case for. Phil Medlicot, why is it such a bad idea? | :50:46. | :50:47. | |
Where we are today is that the Tyne Where we are today is that the Tyne | :50:48. | :50:51. | |
Wear bus network, outside of London, is the next`most heavily | :50:52. | :50:55. | |
used network in the whole of the UK. We also have one of the most | :50:56. | :50:58. | |
satisfied customer bases outside of London, in fact including London. We | :50:59. | :51:08. | |
have said that we will work with the Tyne Wear ITA and Nexus to | :51:09. | :51:11. | |
introduce a partnership, as in many other cities in the UK. That is the | :51:12. | :51:22. | |
normal process nowadays. From that, we can introduce a lot of things | :51:23. | :51:26. | |
that Jonathan is talking about, for example, guaranteed levels of | :51:27. | :51:28. | |
investment, real`time information, Wi`Fi, etc. | :51:29. | :51:44. | |
Is is that this is about you protecting profits. . That is not | :51:45. | :52:07. | |
true. ?42 million of that 62 million is actually to pay for concessionary | :52:08. | :52:10. | |
fares so it is actually paying for the travellers that use the service. | :52:11. | :52:21. | |
Are you making profits of 20%? Around that amount but we reinvest | :52:22. | :52:27. | |
back into the service. We have invested over ?10 million into the | :52:28. | :52:35. | |
economy in Tyne Wear. This is about taking money away from | :52:36. | :52:40. | |
profitable alias and subsidising the loss`making metal and Shields | :52:41. | :52:49. | |
ferry. It is all about profit. In London, where they have the same | :52:50. | :52:51. | |
system that Tyne Wear want to bring in here, the only nickname | :52:52. | :52:59. | |
percent. It is all about profit levels. If councils get the figures | :53:00. | :53:11. | |
wrong it is the taxpayer that will suffer. This is the normal system | :53:12. | :53:32. | |
for providing services. This system works. Argos is safe in your hands? | :53:33. | :53:52. | |
`` are buses safe in your hands? Statistics are classic and you can | :53:53. | :53:57. | |
always go back far not to say whether or not asked passengers have | :53:58. | :54:09. | |
or haven't fallen. Actually, bus passenger levels are relatively | :54:10. | :54:14. | |
stable. It is the numbers on the Metro but have fallen. Are bus | :54:15. | :54:33. | |
passengers getting a good deal? I use the buses a great deal. We have | :54:34. | :54:44. | |
one area of regional Government in England, that is London, but why is | :54:45. | :54:51. | |
it one rule for London and another rule for provincial England? I use | :54:52. | :54:58. | |
an Oyster card in London and it is so convenient. Let's not forget that | :54:59. | :55:06. | |
when the buses where the regulated, the bus companies were sold off from | :55:07. | :55:17. | |
public ownership at a very cheap premium. That actually proves that | :55:18. | :55:30. | |
they were just about giving them away. What about support a | :55:31. | :55:40. | |
Northumberland? The town council are supporting the proposal for these | :55:41. | :55:47. | |
buses because they come into Northumberland. I think it would be | :55:48. | :55:58. | |
good for our area. From the information that I have seen, it | :55:59. | :56:05. | |
looks like a good idea because it provides a surety of service. This | :56:06. | :56:12. | |
is curious that a conservative is backing what is in effect a kick in | :56:13. | :56:22. | |
the teeth to private companies. It is not a kick in the teeth, it is | :56:23. | :56:33. | |
falling Boris Johnson's example. It is taking profits. It is not about | :56:34. | :56:47. | |
taking profits. It works in London and can work for the people in Tyne | :56:48. | :57:19. | |
Wear and Northumberland. It is a. . The police caught on | :57:20. | :57:28. | |
one key study identified that young lady has been taxed and now only has | :57:29. | :57:54. | |
84p per day to live on. It is an absolute scandal. The head of Nissan | :57:55. | :58:00. | |
wants the car`maker would have to reconsider its future in the UK if | :58:01. | :58:04. | |
Britain pulled out of the European Union. | :58:05. | :58:14. | |
Former DJ Mike Reed will be in the region next weekend for his new role | :58:15. | :58:19. | |
as culture spokesman. I will be interviewing the party | :58:20. | :58:34. | |
leader Nigel farads. That is next week. | :58:35. | :58:41. | |
It came as a surprise when a Northumberland MP said he wanted to | :58:42. | :58:43. | |
take over the studio and grill me for a change. Here I am, facing a | :58:44. | :58:49. | |
quickfire question round for Children In Need. | :58:50. | :59:04. | |
Here with me today as Richard Moss. You are a celebrity here in the | :59:05. | :59:09. | |
North East so we have if you questions to ask you. Who would play | :59:10. | :59:14. | |
you in the film your life? That is a good question and I would like to | :59:15. | :59:22. | |
think it would be Brad Pitt. But party there might be a better | :59:23. | :59:29. | |
match, in all honesty. You work`out? Songs in my head, yes! What is your | :59:30. | :59:44. | |
message to the world? If you want Mr universe? I want to promote world | :59:45. | :59:53. | |
peace. Daniel Craig Sean Connery? Daniel Craig. What do you want to | :59:54. | :00:04. | |
be? I harbour ambitions to be a bus driver. | :00:05. | :00:13. | |
Your consumer of that this Friday for Children In Need. | :00:14. | :00:25. | |
more equipment so they can see cyclists. Back to you, Andrew. | :00:26. | :00:37. | |
We learned this week that no more warships will be built at | :00:38. | :00:42. | |
Portsmouth, the home of the Royal Navy since the days of the Mary Rose | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
and Francis Drake. But has the city been sacrificed to save jobs on the | :00:47. | :00:49. | |
Clyde in Scotland? Is England the loser in an effort to keep the | :00:50. | :00:53. | |
United Kingdom intact? Let's speak to Eddie Bone, he leads the campaign | :00:54. | :01:03. | |
for an English Parliament. Is England the loser in this attempt to | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
doubt, Andrew. We would look at it from the campaign for the English | :01:08. | :01:15. | |
Parliament that the British governance is bribing the Scots to | :01:16. | :01:20. | |
stay with the union at the cost of English jobs. What is the best | :01:21. | :01:26. | |
outcome for England when Scotland votes in the referendum next year? | :01:27. | :01:30. | |
We have got to have an English parliament. What I mean by that is | :01:31. | :01:33. | |
an endless governor and with a first minister speaking on behalf of the | :01:34. | :01:40. | |
people of England. -- and English government. If Scotland votes for | :01:41. | :01:44. | |
independence, that is the union coming to an end. It will be | :01:45. | :01:51. | |
dissolved legally. England would be going to negotiating table without | :01:52. | :01:58. | |
true representation. The union continues but it continues without | :01:59. | :02:03. | |
Scotland. I want to come back to my... That is the constitutional | :02:04. | :02:08. | |
position. You may not agree with me but that is the constitutional | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
position. Do you want Scotland to vote for independence next year We | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
want a fair deal with equality for England. If that can be maintained | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
or England can have a fair deal within the union, that is brilliant. | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
Let's have a federal system are all the nations are treated equally If | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
that cannot happen and Scotland decides to stay, if Scotland goes, | :02:34. | :02:42. | |
it is an independent England, isn't it? If Scotland votes to leave the | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
union, what is left of the United Kingdom would be so dominated by | :02:48. | :02:51. | |
England at Westminster would, in effect, Beale English Parliament, | :02:52. | :02:56. | |
wouldn't it? I do not agree with you. I think that is a British, deny | :02:57. | :03:03. | |
list approach. The act of union was a fusion with the King of England to | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
the King of Scotland. That would come to an end. The Welsh are very | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
concerned. They are a very small nation. If you have a botched | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
British come English Parliament the Welsh would be in a very vulnerable | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
situation. They would not be listened to. Also a situation with | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
Northern Ireland. There are voices in Northern Ireland talking about | :03:28. | :03:30. | |
trying to reunite Northern Ireland. It would be a very volatile | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
situation. Would you prefer England to become an independent nation | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
separate from what was left of the UK, which would be Wales and | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
Northern Ireland? Would you like to see England have a seat in the UN? I | :03:45. | :03:50. | |
want their representation for the people of England. English jobs were | :03:51. | :03:57. | |
sacrificed because the British government wanted Scotland to | :03:58. | :04:04. | |
remain... You have answered that very quickly. I am -- very clearly. | :04:05. | :04:13. | |
Would you want England, without Northern Ireland and Wales to become | :04:14. | :04:19. | |
a separate nation state? If that is what it takes for people of England | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
to have their representation - representation that looks at | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
policies of the NHS, education very different from Wales and Northern | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
Ireland - then so be it. Independence will need to be the way | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
forward. We have a small window of opportunity that the federal system | :04:36. | :04:47. | |
might still work. D1 indenting have a system like Scotland? -- do you | :04:48. | :04:55. | |
want England to have a system like Scotland? What we need to do now is | :04:56. | :05:01. | |
implement the process is to get their representation for England. I | :05:02. | :05:07. | |
would urge your viewers to join our campaign because it is the only way | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
to protect jobs in England, protect the NHS, protect education. | :05:13. | :05:18. | |
Otherwise we will see the people in England continually penalised by the | :05:19. | :05:20. | |
British government is trying desperately to save the union by | :05:21. | :05:26. | |
giving more to Scotland and Wales. Nice to talk to you. Helen, on this | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
business of the Clyde versus Portsmouth, it would have been | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
pretty inconceivable of the British government that believes in the | :05:37. | :05:40. | |
union to have allowed the Clyde to close. That would have been a | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
disaster. It would have been. It's dumped Nicola Sturgeon. Hang on a | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
minute, if there was Scottish independence, England were not allow | :05:51. | :05:53. | |
its warships to be built in a foreign country. She was unable to | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
admit there were any downsides to Scottish independence. It would be | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
dangerous for Scotland to talk about this. You have a Lib Dem and a | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
Conservative MP with reasonable majorities. They will find that a | :06:08. | :06:12. | |
killer on their doorstep in the next election. There are no results in | :06:13. | :06:18. | |
this for Mr Cameron. He has one MP and he will be lucky to have two. | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
And the South of England, I know Portsmouth is quite an industrial | :06:24. | :06:29. | |
area, but the South of England is overall Tory territory. He has | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
backed the Clyde where there are no Tory votes. The Tory problem in | :06:34. | :06:37. | |
Scotland is crucial. The trend to look out for is the rise of English | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
nationalism within the Conservative Party. They have the word Unionist | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
in their official title. If, in election after election, they failed | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
to win a significant presence in Scotland, and they are failing to | :06:51. | :06:53. | |
win a majority in Westminster because of that, it is not hard to | :06:54. | :07:00. | |
imagine that in ten years time that would be a party which has more | :07:01. | :07:08. | |
autonomy. One person we know who does not sign up to that. David | :07:09. | :07:13. | |
Cameron is a romantic Unionist at heart he may say that are not any | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
vote in Scotland but he want to keep the union together. With the Clyde, | :07:18. | :07:24. | |
you saw a rival together of economic and political interests. It is | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
economic or the case the greatest shipbuilding capability in the | :07:29. | :07:31. | |
United Kingdom is in the Clyde. It is politically very helpful for this | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
government to say to people in Scotland, look at the benefits of | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
being in the United Kingdom and under their breath, or in the case | :07:40. | :07:43. | |
of Alistair Carmichael to a camera, look what might go if you leave | :07:44. | :07:50. | |
That came together very conveniently to the government. Now, how do you | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
like your politicians? Squeaky clean with an impeccable past? Or are you | :07:55. | :07:57. | |
happy for them to have a few skeletons in the closet? Well, last | :07:58. | :08:00. | |
week the Toronto Mayor Rob Ford admitted smoking crack cocaine. He | :08:01. | :08:03. | |
said he took the drug about a year ago whilst in a drunken stupor. So, | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
what impact do confessions have on a political career? In a moment, we'll | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
hear what our panel has to say, but first, take a look at this. Yes I | :08:12. | :08:20. | |
have smoked crack cocaine. Am I an addict? No. Have I tried it? | :08:21. | :08:24. | |
Probably one of my drunken stupor is, about a year ago. I have used | :08:25. | :08:31. | |
drugs in the past. I have used class a drugs in the past. About 30 years | :08:32. | :08:38. | |
ago at university, I did smoke cannabis. I took cannabis is a few | :08:39. | :08:44. | |
times at university and it was wrong. Have you snorted cocaine I | :08:45. | :08:51. | |
tried to but unsuccessfully years ago. I sneezed. The people around | :08:52. | :09:16. | |
you who took cocaine, they went .. Is it better to confess or the that | :09:17. | :09:23. | |
get you into even more hot water? It is absolutely better. The confession | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
by Jacqui Smith was without glamour. Finding a Labour politician who once | :09:30. | :09:35. | |
smoked cannabis 25 years ago... I do not think it makes you think that | :09:36. | :09:41. | |
she cannot be a serious politician. Politicians should brace thing about | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
them which everyone knows. In the case of Ed Miliband, he should not | :09:46. | :09:51. | |
deny being geeky. That would reek of in authenticity. The Tory MP meant | :09:52. | :10:02. | |
to be regarded as a rising star turns out he was claiming to heat | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
his horses stables at the expense of the tax payer. He had made a | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
generous claim for energy bills in his constituency home. He went | :10:14. | :10:16. | |
through the papers and found he had been using it to heat the stables | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
and he laid it all out and did the right thing. He was completely | :10:21. | :10:26. | |
honest. Is that the end of it? It will still haunt in because energy | :10:27. | :10:34. | |
is such a big issue. He was right to be honest about it. Helen was | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
saying, absolutely, you need to be honest about your past. Harriet | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
Harman said she smoked pot at university. If you have smoked pot, | :10:44. | :10:48. | |
you can have a front line career. If you have taken class a drugs, you | :10:49. | :10:56. | |
cannot have a front line career There is the politician confessing | :10:57. | :10:58. | |
and the remarkable willingness of the public to forgive. It is | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
enlightened and progressive to forgive a politician for an affair | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
or taking soft drugs at university. To smoke crack cocaine and demand be | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
mad of following the Mayor of Toronto does astonishes me. There | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
was an example in America a few years ago. It was crack cocaine He | :11:19. | :11:24. | |
was elected having confessed to smoking crack cocaine. I draw the | :11:25. | :11:31. | |
line around class a drugs. We will put the team on to investigate him. | :11:32. | :11:37. | |
Help to Bible come back into the headlines again. Mr Cameron will | :11:38. | :11:40. | |
surroundings by the people who are benefiting from buying their homes | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
on this scheme in the same way that this is that you used to visit those | :11:45. | :11:50. | |
who had bought their council houses. It will become hugely politicised. | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
The Bank of England thinks that unemployment will drop late 201 , | :11:55. | :12:02. | |
early 2015. They will put interest rates up. Those with 95% mortgages | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
will have two find an extra ?40 a month to pay them off. I would not | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
be surprised if David Cameron is setting up himself with this | :12:13. | :12:24. | |
trouble. They will not want to raise interest rates. Mark Carney was very | :12:25. | :12:33. | |
careful to give himself three get out clauses. If unemployment hits a | :12:34. | :12:37. | |
certain level, Key has three measures which have to be fulfilled | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
before he goes ahead and raises interest rates. As a Tory | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
strategist, would you rather go into the election with low and implement | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
or low interest rates? I think they would stick to low interest rates. | :12:51. | :12:59. | |
-- low unemployment. It is not just panellists who are raising questions | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
about it, it is senior figures people in senior economic positions. | :13:04. | :13:10. | |
They are saying the scheme is fine at the moment. David Cameron will be | :13:11. | :13:14. | |
surrounded by people who have taken mortgages out at low levels and it | :13:15. | :13:19. | |
is all fine right now but if interest rates go up, it will not be | :13:20. | :13:25. | |
cosy. That's all folks. The Daily Politics is back tomorrow on BBC Two | :13:26. | :13:28. | |
at midday. I'll be back next Sunday at the normal time of 11am. | :13:29. | :13:31. | |
Remember, if it's Sunday, it's the Sunday Politics. | :13:32. | :13:42. |