Browse content similar to 02/03/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics. | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
Fears that Ukraine could face invasion escalate this morning as | :00:41. | :00:42. | |
Russian forces take control of Crimea. President Obama and his | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
European allies tell President Putin to back off. It doesn't sound like | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
he's listening. Shadow Education Secretary Tristram | :00:52. | :00:54. | |
Hunt has started spelling out Labour's plans for schools. So | :00:55. | :00:58. | |
what's the verdict - full marks or must try harder? He joins us for the | :00:59. | :01:04. | |
Sunday Interview. And all the big political parties | :01:05. | :01:06. | |
are desperate to broaden their And all the big political parties | :01:07. | :01:07. | |
appeal. We'll look at some Wembley. And all the glory of the | :01:08. | :01:10. | |
Northern Lights. We're showing In the north`east and Cumbria, our | :01:11. | :01:16. | |
Northern Lights. We In In the north`east and Cumbria, our | :01:17. | :01:19. | |
government welfare increasing poverty. Cumbria and say they pay | :01:20. | :01:23. | |
more changes. And tightening household | :01:24. | :01:29. | |
finances. And with me, as always, three | :01:30. | :01:32. | |
journalists who'd make a clean sweep if they were handing out Oscars for | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
political punditry in LA tonight. But just like poor old Leonardo | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
DiCaprio they've never won so much as a Blue Peter badge! Yes, it's | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
Nick Watt, Helen Lewis and Janan Ganesh. Instead of acceptance | :01:46. | :01:48. | |
speeches they'll be tweeting faster than the tears roll down Gwyneth | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
Paltrow's face. Yes, that's as luvvie as we get on this show. | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
Events have been moving quickly in Ukraine this weekend. The interim | :01:58. | :02:01. | |
government in Kiev has put the Ukrainian military on full combat | :02:02. | :02:03. | |
alert after Russia's parliament rubber-stamped the deployment of | :02:04. | :02:08. | |
Russian troops anywhere in Ukraine. Russian troops seem already to be in | :02:09. | :02:11. | |
control of the mainly Russian-speaking Crimea region, | :02:12. | :02:14. | |
where Russia has a massive naval base. President Obama told President | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
Putin that Russia has flouted international law by sending in | :02:19. | :02:20. | |
Russian troops but the Kremlin is taking no notice. This is now | :02:21. | :02:27. | |
turning into the worst stand-off between Russia and the West since | :02:28. | :02:30. | |
the conflict between Georgia and Russia in 2008, though nobody | :02:31. | :02:33. | |
expects any kind of military response from the West. Foreign | :02:34. | :02:39. | |
Secretary William Hague is on his way to Kiev this morning to show his | :02:40. | :02:42. | |
support for the new government, though how long it will survive is | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
another matter. We can speak to our correspondent David Stern, he's in | :02:47. | :02:53. | |
Kiev. As things look from Kiev, can we | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
take it they've lost Crimea, it is now in all essence under Russian | :03:00. | :03:07. | |
control? Yes, well for the moment, Crimea is under Russian control | :03:08. | :03:11. | |
Russian troops in unmarked uniforms have moved throughout the peninsula | :03:12. | :03:19. | |
taking up various positions, also at the Ismis which links Ukraine into | :03:20. | :03:26. | |
Crimea. They've surrounded Ukrainon troops there. Three units have been | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
captured according to a top officials. We can say at the moment | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
Russia controls the peninsula. It should also be said, also they have | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
the support of the ethnic Russian population. The ethnic Russians make | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
up the majority of the population. They are also not entirely in | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
control because there are other groups, namely the Tatar as and the | :03:50. | :03:55. | |
ethnic Ukrainian speakers who are at least at the moment tacitly | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
resisting. We'll see what they'll start to do in the coming days. | :04:02. | :04:08. | |
David, I'm putting up some pictures showing Russian troops digging in on | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
the border between Crimea and Ukraine. I get the sense that is | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
just for show. There is, I would assume, no possibility that the | :04:19. | :04:24. | |
Ukrainians could attempt to retake Crimea by military force? It seems | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
that the Ukrainians are weighing their options right now. Their | :04:31. | :04:36. | |
options are very limited. Any head-to-head conflict with Russia | :04:37. | :04:39. | |
would probably work against the Ukrainians. They seem to be taking | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
more of a long-term gain. They are waiting for the figs's first move. | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
They are trying not to create any excuse that the Russians can stage | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
an even larger incursion into Crimea or elsewhere, for that matter. They | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
also seem to be trying to get international support. It should be | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
said, this is a new Government. It has only been installed this week. | :05:04. | :05:06. | |
They are trying to gain their footing. This is a major crisis | :05:07. | :05:12. | |
They have to count on the loyalty of the army they might have some | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
resistance from solders from the eastern part of the country who are | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
Russian speaking. They probably could count on Ukrainian speakers | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
and people from the centre and west of the country as well as regular | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
Ukrainians. A lot of people are ready to fight to defend Ukrainian | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
Terre Tory. Where does the Kremlin go next? They have Crimea to all | :05:35. | :05:42. | |
intents and purposes. There's a weak Government in Kiev. Do they move to | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
the eastern side of Ukraine which is largely Russian speaking and there's | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
already been some unrest there? That's the big question, that's what | :05:51. | :05:54. | |
everybody's really asking now. Where does this go from here? We've had | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
some unrest in the eastern part of the country. There have been | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
demonstrations and clashes. More ominously, there have been noises | :06:04. | :06:09. | |
from the Kremlin they might actually move into eastern Ukraine. Putin in | :06:10. | :06:15. | |
his conversation with Barack Obama said they might protect their | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
interests there. It should be said, if they do expand, in fact, they've | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
also said they are dead against the new Government seeing it as | :06:25. | :06:31. | |
illegitimate and fascist. It does contain risks. They will have to | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
deal with international reactions. America said there will be a deep | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
reaction to this and it will affect Russia's relations with Ukraine and | :06:42. | :06:44. | |
the international community. They have to deal with the reaction in | :06:45. | :06:50. | |
Ukraine. This may unite Ukrainians behind this new interim Government. | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
Once Russia moves in, they will be seen as an invading force. It plays | :06:56. | :07:03. | |
on historical feelings of Russia being an imperial force. | :07:04. | :07:10. | |
Joining me is MP Mark Field who sits on the security Security and | :07:11. | :07:14. | |
Intelligence Committee in the House of Commons. What should the western | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
response be to these events? I can understand why William Hague is | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
going to Kiev tomorrow to stand side by side whizz whoever's in charge. | :07:26. | :07:33. | |
They need to CEOP sit numbers and also President Putin. The truth is | :07:34. | :07:42. | |
we are all co significant fatries to the Budapest Memorandum of almost 20 | :07:43. | :07:48. | |
years ago which was designed to maintain the integrity of the | :07:49. | :07:52. | |
Ukraine and Crimea. There needs to be a discussion along those lines. | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
The difficulty is President Putin has watched events in recent months, | :07:58. | :08:05. | |
in relation to Syria, it is palpable President Obama's focus of attention | :08:06. | :08:11. | |
ask the other side of the Pacific rather than the Atlantic. The vote | :08:12. | :08:14. | |
in the House of Commons, I was very much against the idea of military | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
action or providing weapons to the free Syrian army. My worry is, | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
events proved this, the majority of the other options toed as sad are | :08:24. | :08:30. | |
rather worse. It is clear now we are in a constitutional mess in this | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
country. We cannot even contemplate military action without a | :08:36. | :08:38. | |
parliamentary vote that moves against quick reaction that is | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
required from the executive or, I suspect, there will be very little | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
appetite for any military action from the West over in Ukraine. We | :08:48. | :08:55. | |
are corn tours under the agreement of less than 20 years ago. We may be | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
but we've guaranteed an agreement which it is clear we haven't the | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
power to enforce. You wrote this morning, Britain is a diminished | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
voice. Clams Iley navigating the Syrian conflict we relick wished | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
decisions to the whims of parliamentary approval. That may or | :09:15. | :09:20. | |
may not be but the Kremlin's not watching how we voted on the Syrian | :09:21. | :09:27. | |
issue? In relation to Syria, it was where is the western resolve here. | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
The truth ask Putin's position is considerably less strong. In | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
diplomatic terms. He had a victory in Syria in relation to chemical | :09:38. | :09:43. | |
weapons and in relation to the West's relationship with Iran. Putin | :09:44. | :09:50. | |
is a vital inter locking figure In demographic and economic terms, | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
Russia's in very deep trouble. The oil price started to fall to any | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
degree, oil and gas price, given the importance of mineral wealth and | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
exports for the Russian economy Putin would be in a lot of trouble. | :10:06. | :10:12. | |
It requires an engagement from the EU and the EU are intending to look | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
at their internal economic problems and will be smarting from the | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
failure within a matter of hours of the deal they tried to broker only | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
nine days' ago. You say if Mr Putin decides to | :10:26. | :10:29. | |
increase the stakes and moves into the east, takes over the whole | :10:30. | :10:33. | |
place, our Government, you say, will find itself with another colossal | :10:34. | :10:39. | |
international headache. Some people watching this will be thinking, | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
what's it got to do with us? It s a long way away from Britain. We | :10:44. | :10:48. | |
haven't a dog in this fight? We have in this regard for the longer term | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
here. I think if there were to be some military action in Ukraine the | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
sense of Russia taking over, it could have a major impact on the | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
global economy in very quick order. You should not deny that. There will | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
be move to have sanctions against Russia. The escalation of that will | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
be difficult. The other fact is looking at our internal affairs and | :11:13. | :11:20. | |
reform, partners, the Baltic states, Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic, | :11:21. | :11:26. | |
they will be looking at a resurgent Russia now and think they'll need to | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
hold as tightly as possible to the EU institutions and the power of | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
Germany at the centre of that. This whole appetite for the reforms | :11:37. | :11:44. | |
politically and economically will be closed very much within a matter of | :11:45. | :11:49. | |
a short period of time. It has longer term implications. Mark | :11:50. | :11:53. | |
Field, thank you. We're joined now by BBC News night's | :11:54. | :12:02. | |
Diplomatic Editor Mark Urban. Is there any prospect of a western | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
military response? Clearly at the moment, it is nil. The boat has | :12:08. | :12:16. | |
sailed with the Crimean. It has been per performed by Russian forces It | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
is now a matter of coordinating a plate cal line. European foreign | :12:22. | :12:27. | |
ministers tomorrow. To say what will our future limits be? Where could we | :12:28. | :12:32. | |
possibly draw red lines? To try to think a couple of steps down this, | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
what happens if Russia interrupts energy supplies to EU member states | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
ornate owe countries? These are the important steps they have to think | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
about. It is quite clear we are in a different world here now. Also, | :12:46. | :12:51. | |
Ukraine is facing a urgent foreign exchange crisis. Within literally a | :12:52. | :12:54. | |
few weeks they could run out of money. All of these are rushing | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
towards decision makers very fast. There is an interim and I suggestion | :13:00. | :13:06. | |
unstable Government in Kiev. Crimea semi-to be under Russian control. | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
There are clashes between the reformers and Russian nationals in | :13:11. | :13:13. | |
the east of the country. What does Mr Putin do next? He has lots of | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
options, of course. He has this carte blanch carte blanch from his | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
Parliament to go in to the rest of Ukraine if he wants to. His military | :13:23. | :13:29. | |
deployment suggests the one bite at a time, just Crimea to start with. | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
See what response comes from the Ukrainian Government. Of course so | :13:35. | :13:38. | |
far, there hasn't been a coherent response. The really worrying thing | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
about recent months, not just recent days, are the indications that the | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
future of Ukraine as a unitary state is now in doubt. Look at it from the | :13:49. | :13:56. | |
other side of the equation. The President when faced with | :13:57. | :14:01. | |
demonstrations, many extremists he was unable to deal with that. Now we | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
have the other side, if you like, the Russian speakers, the other side | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
of the fight, Russian nationalists showing they can get away with | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
unilateral action more or less with impunity. The Ukrainian chiefs have | :14:16. | :14:24. | |
been sacked. I think there are considerable questions now as to | :14:25. | :14:27. | |
whether Ukraine is falling apart and, if that happens, we're into a | :14:28. | :14:34. | |
Yugoslav-type situation which will continue posing very serious | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
questions for the EU and NATO for months or years to come. So, Janan, | :14:40. | :14:47. | |
Ukraine is over? Where the west to concede to the Russian in Crimea, it | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
would perversely be a net loss for Russia. You'd assume the rest of | :14:53. | :15:00. | |
Ukraine would become an un unambiguously a member of the the | :15:01. | :15:06. | |
EU, maybe NATO. On top of that a Russian dream of Eurasion dream | :15:07. | :15:13. | |
they will look at Putin's behaviour and is a, no, thanks, we'll head | :15:14. | :15:18. | |
towards the EU. It is a short-term victory for Putin which backfires on | :15:19. | :15:31. | |
his broader goals in Well, many people said if he grabs Crimea, he | :15:32. | :15:38. | |
loses Ukraine, which is your point. We have seen violent demonstrations | :15:39. | :15:42. | |
in the big eastern cities in Ukraine yesterday. People taking control of | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
certain buildings. The risk is there of spreading beyond Crimea. I think | :15:48. | :15:53. | |
the lack of any unified or visible response from Ukrainian armed | :15:54. | :15:55. | |
forces... They allowed Russian troops to walk into the bases in | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
Crimea. They have supposedly gone on red alert but they have done | :16:01. | :16:04. | |
absolutely nothing. We don't see them deploying from barracks. There | :16:05. | :16:07. | |
are serious questions about whether they would just fall apart. Putin is | :16:08. | :16:15. | |
not going to let them split away. I would have thought he would like the | :16:16. | :16:20. | |
entire Ukraine to come into the Russian ambit. Barack Obama is | :16:21. | :16:26. | |
saying this will not stand. He has a 90 minute conversation with Vladimir | :16:27. | :16:31. | |
Putin and what is his response? I am suspending my cooperation in the | :16:32. | :16:34. | |
run-up to the Sochi Summit. What is the EU doing? Nothing. There is | :16:35. | :16:41. | |
nothing they can do and Putin knows there are a series of lines that he | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
is able to cross and get away with it. Why should Berlin, London, | :16:46. | :16:53. | |
Washington be surprised by the strength of Vladimir Putin's | :16:54. | :16:57. | |
reaction? It was never going to let Ukraine just fall into the arms of | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
the EU. That is the interesting point. And who does he listen to? | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
Paddy Ashdown was saying sent Angela Merkel because she is the only | :17:07. | :17:09. | |
person who can talk to him and I find that response worrying. We need | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
to speak with a united voice but nobody knows what we should be | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
saying. Military intervention is out for the West so we go to economic | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
sanctions. Doesn't Vladimir Putin just say, oh, you want sanctions? I | :17:23. | :17:29. | |
have turned off the gas tap. Yes, it is move and countermove, and it is | :17:30. | :17:33. | |
difficult to predict where it will end up. In all these meetings that | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
are being held, they do think a step or two ahead and try and set out | :17:39. | :18:12. | |
clear lines. Thank you for coming in this morning. | :18:13. | :18:13. | |
Labour has been struggling since 2010 to decide exactly how to take | :18:14. | :18:15. | |
education secretary Michael Gove, one of the boldest reformers of the | :18:16. | :18:18. | |
coalition and most divisive figures. Ed Miliband appointed TV historian | :18:19. | :18:20. | |
Tristram Hunt and many thought Labour had found the man to teach | :18:21. | :18:23. | |
Michael Gove a lesson. But how much do we really know about the party's | :18:24. | :18:25. | |
plans for England's schools? Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are a | :18:26. | :18:27. | |
devolved matter. Child has been back to school to find out. A politician | :18:28. | :18:30. | |
once told me, do you know why education secretaries changed | :18:31. | :18:32. | |
schools? Because they can. Michael Gove might dispute the motive but he | :18:33. | :18:34. | |
is changing schools, like this one. The changes he is ringing in our | :18:35. | :18:37. | |
encouraging them to be academies, free from local authorities to | :18:38. | :18:39. | |
control their own budgets, ushering in free schools, focusing on | :18:40. | :18:41. | |
toughening exams and making them the core of the curriculum with less | :18:42. | :18:43. | |
coursework, and offering heads more discretion on tougher discipline. | :18:44. | :18:49. | |
And he is in a hurry to put all this in place. But has that shut out any | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
chance for a Labour Government to change it all themselves and do they | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
really want to? Any questions? Visiting a different school, first | :18:59. | :19:04. | |
in line to get a crack at that would-be Labour's third shadow | :19:05. | :19:07. | |
education secretary since 2010, Tristram Hunt. In post, he has not | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
been taken about fine tuning previous direct opposition to free | :19:12. | :19:15. | |
schools and he has also suggested teachers in England would have to be | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
licensed under a Labour Government, allowing the worst to be sacked and | :19:20. | :19:22. | |
offering training and development to others and of course ending | :19:23. | :19:27. | |
coalition plans to allow unqualified teachers into classrooms. Full | :19:28. | :19:31. | |
policy detail is still unmarked work. Your opinion about evolution? | :19:32. | :19:42. | |
What is very clear is that Labour's education policy is still evolving. | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
We are learning that they have some clear water, but we also seem, from | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
the sting at the back, to get the feeling that there is not a great | :19:53. | :19:55. | |
deal of difference from them and the current Government on types of | :19:56. | :20:00. | |
schools and the way education should proceed. -- from listening at the | :20:01. | :20:06. | |
back. So what exactly is different about their policy? What Tristram | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
Hunt's job is to do is to be open and honest about the shared agenda | :20:12. | :20:15. | |
between us and the Tories. There are a lot of areas where there is clear | :20:16. | :20:19. | |
water between us and Tristram Hunt as to turn his back, shared agenda, | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
stop fighting it, and forge our agenda, which I think people will be | :20:25. | :20:30. | |
really interested in. The art of Government, of course, is to balance | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
competing pictures of policy, even inside your own party. It is fair to | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
say that if Labour reflects and draws its own visions of a shared | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
agenda, it might have to square that idea with teaching unions, who are | :20:44. | :20:46. | |
already unhappy with the pace and tone of change that the Government | :20:47. | :20:51. | |
had sketched out. What we sincerely hope is that if Labour were to form | :20:52. | :20:56. | |
the next Government, that they would look at a serious review of | :20:57. | :21:19. | |
accountability measures. That is really what ways on teachers every | :21:20. | :21:21. | |
single day. Actually they would look at restoring the possibility, for | :21:22. | :21:24. | |
example, of local councillors to be able to open schools. That seems | :21:25. | :21:26. | |
eminently sensible. If they are not going to move back from the free | :21:27. | :21:28. | |
schools and academies programme at the very least they need to say that | :21:29. | :21:31. | |
academy chains will be inspected because at the moment they are not. | :21:32. | :21:34. | |
Labour have balls in the air on education and are still throwing | :21:35. | :21:36. | |
around precise policy detail. There are areas that they could grab hold | :21:37. | :21:39. | |
of and seize possession. A focus on the rounding of the people, | :21:40. | :21:41. | |
developing character, the impact of digitalisation on the classroom | :21:42. | :21:43. | |
Also the role and handling of teachers in the system and the | :21:44. | :21:46. | |
interdependence of schools. That is all still to play for. Currently I | :21:47. | :21:52. | |
think the difference between the parties is that the coalition | :21:53. | :21:55. | |
policies, while we do not agree with all of them, are clear and explicit, | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
and Labour's policies are yet to be formulated in a way that everybody | :22:01. | :22:07. | |
can understand clearly. I don't think that Tristram Hunt or Miliband | :22:08. | :22:10. | |
will want to pick unnecessary fights before the election. I think we will | :22:11. | :22:18. | |
have quite a red, pinkish fuzziness around the whole area of policy but | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
after the election there will be grey steel from Tristram Hunt. But | :22:24. | :22:30. | |
if fuzzy policy before the election is the lesson plan, it does rather | :22:31. | :22:34. | |
risk interested voters being left in the dark. | :22:35. | :22:38. | |
Tristram Hunt joins me now for the Sunday interview. | :22:39. | :22:50. | |
Welcome. Thank you. Which of Michael Gove's school reforms would you | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
repeal? We are not interested in throwing a change for the sake of | :22:56. | :22:58. | |
it. When I go round schools, teachers have been through very | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
aggressive changes in the last three years, so when it comes to some of | :23:03. | :23:05. | |
the curriculum reforms we have seen, we are not interested in changing | :23:06. | :23:09. | |
those for the sake of it. Where we are interested in making change is | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
having a focus on technical and vocational education, making sure | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
that the forgotten 15% is properly addressed in our education system. | :23:19. | :23:23. | |
What we saw in your package was an interesting description of how we | :23:24. | :23:26. | |
have seen structural reforms in the names of schools. Academies, free | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
schools, all the rest of it. International evidence is clear that | :23:31. | :23:34. | |
it is the quality of leadership of the headteachers and the quality of | :23:35. | :23:36. | |
teaching in the classroom that transforms the prospects of young | :23:37. | :23:40. | |
people. Instead of tinkering around the names of schools, we focus on | :23:41. | :23:45. | |
teacher quality. Viewers will be shocked to note that this Government | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
approves of unqualified teachers in the classroom. We want to have fully | :23:50. | :24:04. | |
qualified, passionate, motivated teachers in the classroom. It sounds | :24:05. | :24:06. | |
like you might not repeal anything. You might build on it and you might | :24:07. | :24:09. | |
go in a different direction, with more emphasis on technological | :24:10. | :24:11. | |
education but no major repeal of the reforms of Michael Gove? I don't | :24:12. | :24:14. | |
think you want to waste energy on undoing reforms. In certain | :24:15. | :24:18. | |
situations they build on Labour Party policy. We introduced the | :24:19. | :24:24. | |
sponsored academy programmes and we began the Teach First programmes, | :24:25. | :24:27. | |
and we began the London challenge which transformed the educational | :24:28. | :24:33. | |
prospects of children in London We want to roll that out across the | :24:34. | :24:37. | |
country. You have said there will be no more free schools, which Michael | :24:38. | :24:43. | |
Gove introduced, but you will allow parents let academies, which just | :24:44. | :24:45. | |
means free schools by a different name. No, because they will be in | :24:46. | :24:55. | |
certain areas. We want to create new schools with parents. What we have | :24:56. | :24:59. | |
at the moment is a destructive and market-driven approach to | :25:00. | :25:03. | |
education. I was in Stroud on Thursday and plans for a big new | :25:04. | :25:07. | |
school, in an area with surplus places, threatened to destroy the | :25:08. | :25:11. | |
viability of local, rural schools. We want schools to work together in | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
a network of partnership and challenge, rather than this | :25:16. | :25:19. | |
destructive market-driven approach. You say that, but your version of | :25:20. | :25:45. | |
free schools, I think, would only be allowed where there is a shortage of | :25:46. | :25:48. | |
places. That means that where there is an excess of bad schools, parents | :25:49. | :25:50. | |
will have no choice. They still have to send their kids to bad schools. | :25:51. | :25:53. | |
And we have to transform bad schools and that was always the Labour way | :25:54. | :25:56. | |
in Government. At the moment we just have an insertion of new schools. | :25:57. | :25:58. | |
Schools currently underperforming are now underperforming even more. | :25:59. | :26:00. | |
Children only have one chance at education. What about their time in | :26:01. | :26:02. | |
school? Our focus is on the leadership of the headteacher and | :26:03. | :26:05. | |
having quality teachers in the classroom. So they cannot set up new | :26:06. | :26:07. | |
better schools and they have to go to the bad schools. Tony Blair said | :26:08. | :26:10. | |
it should be easier for parents to set up new schools where they are | :26:11. | :26:12. | |
dissatisfied with existing schools. You are not saying that. Even where | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
they are dissatisfied with existing schools, they cannot set up free | :26:17. | :26:19. | |
schools and you are reneging on that. We live in difficult economic | :26:20. | :26:25. | |
circumstances where we have got to focus public finances on the areas | :26:26. | :26:31. | |
of absolute need. We need 250,0 0 new school places. 150,000 in London | :26:32. | :26:37. | |
alone. We have to focus on building new schools and where we have to put | :26:38. | :26:44. | |
them. And secondly... Absolutely not. Focusing on those schools. | :26:45. | :26:48. | |
Making sure we turned them around, just as we did in Government. We | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
have had a remarkable degree of waste under the free school | :26:54. | :26:57. | |
programme. If you think of the free school in Derby, the Academy in | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
Bradford, and as we saw in the Telegraph on Friday, the free | :27:03. | :27:06. | |
schools in Suffolk, a great deal of waste of public money on | :27:07. | :27:09. | |
underperforming free schools. That is not the Labour way. We focus on | :27:10. | :27:12. | |
making sure that kids in schools at the moment get the best possible | :27:13. | :27:18. | |
education. Except that in your own backyard, in Stoke, only 34% of | :27:19. | :27:24. | |
secondary school pupils attend a good or outstanding school. 148 out | :27:25. | :27:32. | |
of 150 of the worst performing local authorities and it is | :27:33. | :27:34. | |
Labour-controlled. Still terrible schools and yet you say parents | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
should not have the freedom to start a better school. We have great | :27:40. | :27:43. | |
schools in Stoke-on-Trent as well. We face challenges, just as | :27:44. | :27:46. | |
Wolverhampton does and the Isle of Wight and Lincolnshire. Just like | :27:47. | :27:52. | |
large parts of the country. What is the solution to that? Making sure we | :27:53. | :27:57. | |
share excellence among the existing schools and making sure we have | :27:58. | :28:01. | |
quality leadership in schools. Those schools in Stoke-on-Trent are all | :28:02. | :28:04. | |
academies. It is not a question only of structure but of leadership. It | :28:05. | :28:09. | |
is also a question of going back to the responsibility of parents to | :28:10. | :28:12. | |
make sure their kids are school ready when they get to school. To | :28:13. | :28:16. | |
make sure they are reading to their children in the evening. We can t | :28:17. | :28:50. | |
put it all on teachers. Parents have responsibilities. I understand that | :28:51. | :28:53. | |
but you have told me Labour's policy would not be to set up new schools | :28:54. | :28:55. | |
which parents hope will be better. Parents continue to send their kids | :28:56. | :28:58. | |
to bad schools in areas like Stoke. Labour has had plenty of time to | :28:59. | :29:01. | |
sort out these schools in Stoke and they are still among the worst | :29:02. | :29:03. | |
performing in the country. You are condemning these parents to having | :29:04. | :29:06. | |
to send their kids to bad schools. Where we have seen the sett ing up | :29:07. | :29:09. | |
of Derby, Suffolk, we have seen that is not the simple solution. Is | :29:10. | :29:11. | |
simply setting up a new is not a successful model. What works is good | :29:12. | :29:14. | |
leadership. I was in Birmingham on Friday at a failing comprehensive is | :29:15. | :29:16. | |
not a successful model. What works is good leadership. I was in | :29:17. | :29:19. | |
Birmingham on Friday at a failing comprehensive school and now people | :29:20. | :29:21. | |
are queueing round the block to get into it. You can turn around schools | :29:22. | :29:23. | |
with the right leadership, passionate and motivated teachers, | :29:24. | :29:25. | |
and parents engaged with the learning outcome of their kids. In | :29:26. | :29:30. | |
the last few years of the Labour Government, only four kids from your | :29:31. | :29:36. | |
this Government would set up the new school. In Birmingham, they got in a | :29:37. | :29:38. | |
great headmaster and turned the school around and now people are | :29:39. | :29:41. | |
queueing round the block to get into it. You can turnaround schools with | :29:42. | :29:43. | |
the right leadership, passionate and motivated teachers, and parents | :29:44. | :29:45. | |
engaged with the learning outcome of their kids. In the last few years of | :29:46. | :29:48. | |
a Labour Government, only four kids from your area of and you had plenty | :29:49. | :29:51. | |
of chances to put this right but only four got to the two and you had | :29:52. | :29:54. | |
plenty of chances to put this right but only four got to the two leading | :29:55. | :30:00. | |
universities. Traditionally young people could leave school at 16 and | :30:01. | :30:04. | |
walking two jobs in the potteries, the steel industry, the | :30:05. | :30:07. | |
traditionally young people could leave school at 16 and walking two | :30:08. | :30:09. | |
jobs in the potteries, the steel industry, the but also to get an | :30:10. | :30:16. | |
apprenticeship at Jaguar Land Rover, JCB, Rolls-Royce. That is why | :30:17. | :30:22. | |
Ed Miliband's focus on the forgotten 15%, which we have just not seen | :30:23. | :30:28. | |
from this Government, focusing on technical and vocational pathways, | :30:29. | :30:39. | |
is fundamental to Your headmaster was guiles Slaughter. Was he a good | :30:40. | :30:55. | |
teacher? He He never taught me. Over 90% of teeners in the private | :30:56. | :31:03. | |
sector are qualified. They look for not simply teachers with qualified | :31:04. | :31:06. | |
teacher status. Teachers with MAs. Teachers who are improving them | :31:07. | :31:10. | |
cephalitis. Becoming better educators. | :31:11. | :31:19. | |
cephalitis. Becoming better teaching. You were taught by | :31:20. | :31:20. | |
unqualified teachers. Your parents paid over ?15,000 a year for you | :31:21. | :31:25. | |
being taught by unqualified teachers. Why did you make such a | :31:26. | :31:30. | |
big deal of it? Because we've seen right around the world those | :31:31. | :31:34. | |
education systems which focus on having the most qualified teachers | :31:35. | :31:40. | |
perform the best. It cannot be right that anyone can simply turn up, as | :31:41. | :31:47. | |
at the moment, have schools at veritising for unqualified teachers | :31:48. | :31:50. | |
teaching in the classroom. We want the best qualified teachers with the | :31:51. | :31:57. | |
deepest subject knowledge, for the passion in learning for their kids. | :31:58. | :32:03. | |
It is absurd we are having arguments about this. Simply having a paper | :32:04. | :32:07. | |
qualification doesn't make you a great teacher. Let me take you to | :32:08. | :32:13. | |
Brighton college. It is gone from the 147th to the 18 18th best | :32:14. | :32:19. | |
private school in the land. Fllt the headmaster says: | :32:20. | :32:34. | |
This is the top Sundaytimes school of the year. The school in derby | :32:35. | :32:46. | |
where this Government allowed unqualified teaching assist taints. | :32:47. | :32:49. | |
We had teachers who could barely speak English. That is because if | :32:50. | :32:53. | |
you have unqualified teachers you end up with a dangerous situation. | :32:54. | :32:58. | |
The problem with that school was not unqualified teachers. People were | :32:59. | :33:02. | |
running that school who were unfit to run a school. We have an issue | :33:03. | :33:08. | |
about discipline and behaviour management in some of our schools. | :33:09. | :33:12. | |
Some of the skills teachers gain through qualifications and learning | :33:13. | :33:16. | |
is how to manage classes and get the best out of kids at every stage It | :33:17. | :33:20. | |
doesn't end with a qualified teacher status. That's just the beginning. | :33:21. | :33:26. | |
We want our teachers to have continue it will development. It is | :33:27. | :33:31. | |
not good enough to have your initial teacher trainingaged work through | :33:32. | :33:37. | |
your career for 30 years. You need continual learning. Learning how to | :33:38. | :33:42. | |
deal with digital technology. Refresh your subject knowledge. As | :33:43. | :33:46. | |
an historian I help teachers. You've taught as an unqualified teacher. | :33:47. | :33:52. | |
Not in charge of a subject group. I give the odd lecture. I'm-y to go to | :33:53. | :33:58. | |
as many schools as possible. I don't blame you. It is uplifting. Would | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
you sack all unqualified teachers? We'd want them all to gain teacher | :34:04. | :34:11. | |
status. What if they say no? If they are not interested in improving | :34:12. | :34:16. | |
skills and deepening their knowledge they should not be in the classroom. | :34:17. | :34:23. | |
If a free school or academy hired a teach thinking they are a great | :34:24. | :34:28. | |
teacher but unqualified, if they are then forced by you to fire them | :34:29. | :34:33. | |
they will be in breach of the law. They are being urged by us to make | :34:34. | :34:37. | |
sure they have qualified teacher status. We've lots of unqualified | :34:38. | :34:42. | |
teachers as long as they are on the pathway to making sure they are | :34:43. | :34:46. | |
qualified. But if they say they don't want to do this, will you fire | :34:47. | :34:51. | |
them? It is not an unreasonable suggestion is that the teachers in | :34:52. | :34:55. | |
charge of our young people have qualifications to teach and inspire | :34:56. | :34:59. | |
our young people particularly when we face global competition from | :35:00. | :35:05. | |
Shanghai, Korea and so on. The head teacher of Brighton college finds | :35:06. | :35:10. | |
incredibly inspeechational teachers who don't' necessarily have a | :35:11. | :35:16. | |
teaching qualifications. It is a different skill to teach ten young | :35:17. | :35:23. | |
nice boys and girls in Brighton to teaches 20 or 30 quids with | :35:24. | :35:27. | |
challenging circumstances, special educational needs, different | :35:28. | :35:31. | |
ability. Being a teacher at Brighton college is an easy gig in comparison | :35:32. | :35:36. | |
to other schools. Where we want teachers to have a capacity to teach | :35:37. | :35:43. | |
properly. Do you think Tristram could ever lead the Labour Party? I | :35:44. | :35:50. | |
think Ed is a great leader, the reforms yesterday were a real sign | :35:51. | :35:55. | |
for his leadership. And the fact David Owen, the man with a | :35:56. | :35:58. | |
pre-history with our party is back with us. It is great. Even Gideon | :35:59. | :36:03. | |
had to change his name to George. Have you thought of switching to | :36:04. | :36:12. | |
Tommy or Tony? Maybe not Tony! Michael Foot was called Dingle Foot. | :36:13. | :36:17. | |
I love the Labour because it accepts everybody from me to Len McCluskey. | :36:18. | :36:21. | |
We are a big, broad happy family on our way to Government. Thank you | :36:22. | :36:24. | |
very much. our way to Government. Thank you | :36:25. | :36:29. | |
You're watching The Sunday Politics. We say goodbye to viewers in | :36:30. | :36:34. | |
Scotland who leave us for Sunday politics Scotland. In over 20 | :36:35. | :36:51. | |
A warm and springlike welcome to you. This week are government | :36:52. | :36:57. | |
welfare reforms increasing poverty? We asked the Archbishop of | :36:58. | :37:05. | |
Newcastle. We are in Cumbria meeting residents who say they are getting a | :37:06. | :37:10. | |
raw deal. We have the man recently named a rising star, James Wharton. | :37:11. | :37:18. | |
With him the woman tried to hit the high spots, . The government's | :37:19. | :37:32. | |
welfare reforms are causing concerns. 27 Anglican bishops signed | :37:33. | :37:37. | |
a letter blaming welfare cuts and failure is in the benefit system for | :37:38. | :37:40. | |
the increase in the use of the banks. Now the Bishop of Newcastle | :37:41. | :37:45. | |
has also signed a letter and he as been speaking to us. I believe one | :37:46. | :37:50. | |
of the marks of a civilised society is how well we care for the progress | :37:51. | :37:58. | |
and most fun rubble and midst. `` vulnerable. The fact that people are | :37:59. | :38:02. | |
having to resort to such measures, they are on the breadline, that is | :38:03. | :38:08. | |
an indictment on is all I think. Part of me thinks to myself we | :38:09. | :38:12. | |
should be ashamed of ourselves to allow this to happen. Yes, we have | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
got a crisis. And I think that the food banks are merely putting as `` | :38:18. | :38:29. | |
a plaster over the wound. If you have David Cameron note `` standing | :38:30. | :38:35. | |
in front of you, what would you say to him? Please take a look at it. | :38:36. | :38:43. | |
The government says it's reforms are giving people new hope and freeing | :38:44. | :38:50. | |
them from a cycle of dependency. One MP said that David Cameron should | :38:51. | :38:54. | |
make that clear to critics in the clergy. There is nothing | :38:55. | :39:09. | |
particularly wrong about pouring more even borrowed money into | :39:10. | :39:12. | |
systems which contract people in poverty and trap them into | :39:13. | :39:19. | |
dependence. Is the church right to get involved in such a controversial | :39:20. | :39:23. | |
and political debate? Who has the moral high ground when it comes to | :39:24. | :39:33. | |
these changes? Punishing the Pru, do you take note of them? `` the poor. | :39:34. | :39:43. | |
Relative child poverty has decreased to the lowest level since 1986. We | :39:44. | :39:48. | |
have to reform welfare because it was trapping people on benefits. | :39:49. | :39:54. | |
There is nothing dispiriting than getting trapped on benefits and | :39:55. | :39:58. | |
state holding you back rather than helping you go forward. It is right | :39:59. | :40:03. | |
that benefit should be there for those who need it. The clergy may be | :40:04. | :40:12. | |
more clued up than the government. They are seeing in reality what is | :40:13. | :40:18. | |
happening with your policies. No one is arguing that we have gone through | :40:19. | :40:24. | |
a very difficult economic period. The poorest have been made to | :40:25. | :40:30. | |
suffer. 1.3 million people I know in work. We see relative child poverty | :40:31. | :40:35. | |
decreasing to levels not seen before the 1980s. The government is helping | :40:36. | :40:41. | |
those who want to get into work, get into work. Are they wrong? They are | :40:42. | :40:48. | |
telling one side of the story. There is nothing moral and leaving people | :40:49. | :40:54. | |
and welfare. It is good for the people and the taxpayer. There is | :40:55. | :40:57. | |
nothing moral about leaving people in welfare. They want to change a | :40:58. | :41:05. | |
system that will lift people with no incentives to get out of benefits. | :41:06. | :41:09. | |
Everyone wants to bring the welfare bill down. The way we do it as the | :41:10. | :41:16. | |
key. Bedroom tax, people have been forced to use the food bank is a | :41:17. | :41:20. | |
moral in my opinion. For the first time ever, there are more children | :41:21. | :41:25. | |
living in poverty and working families than ever before. After | :41:26. | :41:30. | |
Labour took 1 million people out of poverty, there are more no going | :41:31. | :41:34. | |
back into poverty. The focus is getting people back into work. That | :41:35. | :41:39. | |
is the key route out of getting people `` of getting people out of | :41:40. | :41:44. | |
poverty. It is the right type of work as well. It is not people in | :41:45. | :41:49. | |
part`time jobs looking for full`time jobs. Not having working tax | :41:50. | :42:05. | |
benefits paying as... It is not just people and work `` out of work true | :42:06. | :42:15. | |
in poverty, it is people who are in work. We want more, we have a long | :42:16. | :42:23. | |
way to go, particularly in regions in the north`east where unemployment | :42:24. | :42:28. | |
has been high for generations. Steel`making is back in Teeside. | :42:29. | :42:32. | |
This government is bringing jobs to this region. The bishops are still | :42:33. | :42:37. | |
concerned. They are concerned that the system is not working right. | :42:38. | :42:40. | |
There are gaps were people get no benefits. Nobody should be left with | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
a gap where they do not get any benefits. It is not happening on a | :42:46. | :42:51. | |
huge scale, where it is happening, people should get advice and sort | :42:52. | :42:55. | |
out what the problem is. We have a functioning welfare system that | :42:56. | :42:58. | |
looks after people who need it. It does not do everything it needs to | :42:59. | :43:03. | |
do to help people get into work. If somebody finds that it does not work | :43:04. | :43:07. | |
for them, it is important they go and see their MP or citizens and | :43:08. | :43:13. | |
bass to get help. `` citizens advice. Do you think people should | :43:14. | :43:30. | |
be paid more? There are people being attacked by their welfare reforms. | :43:31. | :43:33. | |
It is standing up for everybody. James talks about all these jobs | :43:34. | :43:37. | |
that have been created. If they are not enough to subsidise a family and | :43:38. | :43:41. | |
paid for your family, it is not a good enough job. | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
If you live in a rural area like Cumbria, Northumbria or North | :43:47. | :43:51. | |
Yorkshire, you will earn less than you live in a city. The amount spent | :43:52. | :43:56. | |
on your local services will be lower as well. MPs representing these a | :43:57. | :44:03. | |
want that to change and they are supporting a rural campaign for | :44:04. | :44:07. | |
fairer share. This is one of the's jobs. She runs | :44:08. | :44:13. | |
a mobile hairdressing business, works as a provincial photographer | :44:14. | :44:22. | |
and is a trained firefighter. `` professional. Most people like you | :44:23. | :44:28. | |
talk to now have more than one job. The reason is because bills are | :44:29. | :44:33. | |
high, fuel is a huge thing. You have to spend a lot on fuel to travel | :44:34. | :44:38. | |
around remote areas. To make ends meet you need four or five jobs to | :44:39. | :44:42. | |
pay the wages because nobody takes people on full time any more. They | :44:43. | :44:47. | |
are all part`time jobs, there is nothing permanent and full`time. | :44:48. | :44:50. | |
That is why I have four different jobs. This is the most sparsely | :44:51. | :44:57. | |
populated district. Council tax is high and so is the cost for | :44:58. | :45:04. | |
providing local services. It is a basic service but it eats up council | :45:05. | :45:08. | |
cash. What we want is a level playing field. I think it is not | :45:09. | :45:15. | |
difficult to see how the costs of services in our area differ if you | :45:16. | :45:19. | |
take collecting refuse. The truck that has been down here to do `` | :45:20. | :45:25. | |
today will have travelled 75 miles today. There are plenty of benefits | :45:26. | :45:29. | |
to living in the countryside, all this praise glorious views and fresh | :45:30. | :45:34. | |
air. But there are downsides to when it comes to local services. Rural | :45:35. | :45:39. | |
councils receive far less funding than their urban counterparts. | :45:40. | :45:43. | |
Cumbria and Northumberland to get just over ?940 a head. Well | :45:44. | :45:52. | |
Newcastle and its `` Gateshead get 1040. This man travels around the | :45:53. | :45:56. | |
region doing sheep shearing. He is fed up getting a raw deal. Not | :45:57. | :46:02. | |
getting as good as service as urban areas as the county the county. No | :46:03. | :46:06. | |
street lights, bus routes are nonexistent. The do not run that | :46:07. | :46:14. | |
often, our closest is 2.5 miles away, it is potentially going to | :46:15. | :46:19. | |
close. Our roads of the last ones to get gritted and called weather. With | :46:20. | :46:24. | |
all local authorities losing money in the recent years, the argument | :46:25. | :46:31. | |
for equality is clear, the fight to win it could get messy. | :46:32. | :46:37. | |
The MP for Penrith is supporting rural fairer share campaign. What | :46:38. | :46:44. | |
changed you want to see here? What we would like is a commitment from | :46:45. | :46:48. | |
the government that over a five`year period they rebalance this, they | :46:49. | :46:53. | |
begin to get a fairer deal for rural areas so we get something closer | :46:54. | :46:58. | |
power had to what urban areas get. We understand this will be difficult | :46:59. | :47:01. | |
for urban areas because they will lose. We would like to see a | :47:02. | :47:04. | |
direction of travel, we would like to see the government say this is | :47:05. | :47:11. | |
planned over the five years and we want to close up the gap. Are you | :47:12. | :47:18. | |
going to say that you are going to take money from the urban areas and | :47:19. | :47:23. | |
give it to the countryside? We have to be clear that these things are | :47:24. | :47:27. | |
difficult to measure. There is deprivation in urban areas but you | :47:28. | :47:30. | |
must not underestimate the problem is rural areas are facing. Our homes | :47:31. | :47:35. | |
are very difficult to heat because they are old`fashioned homes. We pay | :47:36. | :47:41. | |
more on fuel, people are far away from schools and shops. We pay more | :47:42. | :47:47. | |
in council tax and we receive less and services. So we cannot get into | :47:48. | :47:52. | |
a world where we feel that the only people who are struggling urban | :47:53. | :47:55. | |
areas. Rural areas also have a tough time. Your government is full of | :47:56. | :48:01. | |
rural representatives, they would say they are parties of the | :48:02. | :48:12. | |
countryside, one council lost ?800,000 from this one. It was ?24 | :48:13. | :48:16. | |
million in funding this year. It will not make a lot of difference. | :48:17. | :48:20. | |
The amount of government money we get is not enough. We need to change | :48:21. | :48:24. | |
the formula. The way the decisions are made need to change. In the long | :48:25. | :48:31. | |
run I believe that we need to take more control of our own finances. We | :48:32. | :48:35. | |
need a more clear relationship between the amount of money we pay a | :48:36. | :48:40. | |
tax and the services we receive. The time is coming when we need to look | :48:41. | :48:45. | |
more at an American model where we have more localism, where we have | :48:46. | :48:48. | |
more control in an area of our finances. The key is the money. Your | :48:49. | :48:54. | |
government has been in power three years, and so far it is chicken | :48:55. | :48:58. | |
feed. That is the message. And it is not changing. Exactly will stop and | :48:59. | :49:03. | |
we need them to change. Why are they not changing? It is because the | :49:04. | :49:08. | |
urban areas are saying we have huge deprivation and they are reluctant | :49:09. | :49:13. | |
to lose anything. If you look at NHS funding at the moment, it is | :49:14. | :49:17. | |
difficult to change the status quo, because every time to `` you make it | :49:18. | :49:24. | |
more equitable, the people who lose that are very angry. We have this | :49:25. | :49:28. | |
incredible problem that will only be resolved when we get out of central | :49:29. | :49:32. | |
government playing God and deciding how much an urban or rural area gets | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
I'm giving more control to the local area saw local councils raised local | :49:38. | :49:43. | |
taxes and to local spending. I know you feel passionately about this. It | :49:44. | :49:51. | |
was dominated lately by the bedroom tax, whether Scotland should be | :49:52. | :49:56. | |
independent. You think it is between love between the two countries and | :49:57. | :50:00. | |
sentiment. The only thing that will keep us together as remembering we | :50:01. | :50:05. | |
are family. You cannot say when a family is breaking apart that you | :50:06. | :50:09. | |
say it is going to be too expensive. You need to be to say we | :50:10. | :50:13. | |
will miss you. What I would like to see where everybody, Northumbria and | :50:14. | :50:19. | |
Cumbria, finds a way of saying, in an understated, funny, British way, | :50:20. | :50:27. | |
not pompous, we may have our differences, but in the end we love | :50:28. | :50:31. | |
you. Rory Stewart, thank you. This week the government revealed | :50:32. | :50:35. | |
its new strategy on child poverty and says it is still committed to | :50:36. | :50:40. | |
eliminating it by 2020. But Labour is not convinced. Alan Milburn says | :50:41. | :50:46. | |
coalition policy is making it worse. It is a target that will be | :50:47. | :50:53. | |
missed by a country mile. Here we have some of the highest levels of | :50:54. | :51:01. | |
child poverty. This is where I `` average incomes are less than | :51:02. | :51:06. | |
national incomes. 67% of children live in poverty. In Newcastle's | :51:07. | :51:16. | |
Westgate Ward, the figure is 59%. In Cumbria, four out of ten children in | :51:17. | :51:24. | |
one area live in poverty. The work and pensions Secretary Iain Duncan | :51:25. | :51:26. | |
Smith said those figures are discredited because they are linked | :51:27. | :51:31. | |
to average incomes which go up and recently have gone down. He wants a | :51:32. | :51:37. | |
better way of measuring child poverty. Money is always going to be | :51:38. | :51:51. | |
an issue about what you do with that money is important. If you do not | :51:52. | :51:56. | |
get your kids to school, if you do not get children to school, they do | :51:57. | :51:59. | |
not have a way out of poverty any way. We have to start with where | :52:00. | :52:04. | |
these children are and help their parents to getting them to school in | :52:05. | :52:08. | |
the morning. They need to know it is the most important thing they can do | :52:09. | :52:12. | |
for them, safety and schooling, that is what it is all about. That is not | :52:13. | :52:17. | |
about a check, that is about a way of life. To have one child poverty | :52:18. | :52:23. | |
measure light Labour dead, is simplistic. Relative income can | :52:24. | :52:27. | |
change according to circumstances. It does not matter if a mother has a | :52:28. | :52:32. | |
heroin addiction, you cannot use just that. We need to do something | :52:33. | :52:41. | |
about child poverty instead and something more practical. The | :52:42. | :52:45. | |
projected figures there, there will be another 400,000 children in | :52:46. | :52:48. | |
poverty by the end of this government. I was talking to someone | :52:49. | :52:53. | |
from my local food bank and there are 300 referrals that the moment to | :52:54. | :52:58. | |
the food bank in parallel. We need to do something about it because | :52:59. | :53:02. | |
there are children involved and that as well. James Wharton, the | :53:03. | :53:06. | |
statistics we had about this region are depressing. There are no size it | :53:07. | :53:12. | |
is getting better, is there? 100,000 fewer children in relative poverty. | :53:13. | :53:19. | |
We are all being paid less. This is what Iain Duncan Smith is saying. | :53:20. | :53:25. | |
The whole measure is wrong. Money is important but if we need to look at | :53:26. | :53:28. | |
a whole range of factors that influence how a child is made `` | :53:29. | :53:33. | |
brought up. If you have more money, whether your parents spend it on | :53:34. | :53:38. | |
alcohol, drugs or satellite television, that will not let you | :53:39. | :53:42. | |
out of poverty. We need an intelligent and sensible approach. | :53:43. | :53:51. | |
It is going to get `` to be about getting people off benefits. We have | :53:52. | :53:57. | |
the Universal Credit which is in chaos. It is not in courage in, is | :53:58. | :54:07. | |
it? You cannot have it both ways. The reality is that we are seeing | :54:08. | :54:10. | |
people being lifted out of poverty by getting people back into work. | :54:11. | :54:15. | |
That is what we have to do as a government. We are heading in the | :54:16. | :54:20. | |
right direction, we have to continue to do that. Where people need | :54:21. | :54:24. | |
support, the welfare system must give them that. Lee Sheriff, your | :54:25. | :54:32. | |
government `` party wants to be in government beyond 2015. With the | :54:33. | :54:40. | |
welfare reform, if their family have sanctioned their benefits, it is the | :54:41. | :54:46. | |
children that will suffer. There is no more money. Can you eradicate | :54:47. | :54:52. | |
child poverty by 2020? The last Labour government proved it. There | :54:53. | :54:57. | |
were 1 million children taken out by `` out of poverty. There are 400,000 | :54:58. | :55:08. | |
going back in there. Where you have working people who are still in | :55:09. | :55:13. | |
poverty. So more state subsidy? Again it comes down to the | :55:14. | :55:17. | |
employees. If people are working, they need to have waged to allow the | :55:18. | :55:22. | |
family to live so there is less need for tax credits which brings down | :55:23. | :55:28. | |
the welfare as well. You are never going to reach this target, so why | :55:29. | :55:32. | |
bother with it? It is never a bad thing to have a target to reduce | :55:33. | :55:37. | |
child poverty. We must understand child poverty in a mature and they | :55:38. | :55:44. | |
are away. It is about what it means to that child and what it means to | :55:45. | :55:49. | |
that child's life. I would not like the government to scrap it. Some | :55:50. | :55:53. | |
signs are that it is getting better. The solution will not be | :55:54. | :55:57. | |
Labour's solution to throw more money at it. There is no money | :55:58. | :56:02. | |
there. One police force covers the whole of Scotland. Do we need three | :56:03. | :56:06. | |
in the north`east? That is one question being at as the area is | :56:07. | :56:12. | |
looking at ways of reducing costs in this region. | :56:13. | :56:23. | |
Labour's floating the idea of merging police forces. Chris Leslie | :56:24. | :56:27. | |
said the current structure 43 separate forces may not be | :56:28. | :56:33. | |
affordable in the future. Robert Goodwill who is the MP for | :56:34. | :56:37. | |
Scarborough and Whitby was at Newcastle airport to launch a new | :56:38. | :56:44. | |
business park. It is a good example of how an effective and successful | :56:45. | :56:47. | |
regional airport can be part of the whole economy. The water in `` this | :56:48. | :56:59. | |
MP said selling services should have an impact on jobs in Durham. It | :57:00. | :57:04. | |
could lose more jobs and its new budget. The north`east is to get an | :57:05. | :57:13. | |
extra ?7 million to extensive fast broadband. Extend its. | :57:14. | :57:27. | |
Would you be prepared to see police forces merged if it would save | :57:28. | :57:37. | |
jobs? We need to find out how it will work most effectively. It is it | :57:38. | :57:42. | |
`` is it something you could stomach if it was merged? It is something we | :57:43. | :57:46. | |
have said we would look at. But you personally, would you justify that | :57:47. | :57:52. | |
to your constituents? If the consultation said it was the best | :57:53. | :57:56. | |
way to go forward, then yes. You said Cleveland police are in the | :57:57. | :58:01. | |
last chance alone. I am not convinced about having saying a `` | :58:02. | :58:16. | |
is single regional police force. Their management has staggered from | :58:17. | :58:21. | |
one disaster to another. He seems more interested in appointing people | :58:22. | :58:29. | |
at ?85,000 a year to manage it. The public generally do not want to see | :58:30. | :58:41. | |
the `` their police forces merged. In Cleveland police force, we are | :58:42. | :58:49. | |
still seeing problems. The new chief constable is trying to get to grips | :58:50. | :58:52. | |
with that. If there are more problems there, there may be a need | :58:53. | :59:00. | |
for change and this could be it. Could you merge police forces and | :59:01. | :59:04. | |
still keep the local knowledge? If you have a police constable based in | :59:05. | :59:10. | |
Lancaster, it could be a problem? It is a case of looking at it and | :59:11. | :59:15. | |
seeing how it could work. If we can work together without merging that | :59:16. | :59:18. | |
could be the way to do it. It is something to look at, there are no | :59:19. | :59:23. | |
definite and so is there, no definite decisions been made. That | :59:24. | :59:28. | |
is it from us. If you want more from me, check out my blog. Next week we | :59:29. | :59:36. | |
will be asking if the government's Government to change it. Thank you | :59:37. | :59:41. | |
both for being here. Andrew, back to you. | :59:42. | :59:49. | |
This week grant Shap said he wanted to rebrand the Tories as the | :59:50. | :59:57. | |
workers' party to show it can reach out to | :59:58. | :00:00. |