Browse content similar to 30/04/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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It's Sunday Morning, and this is the Sunday Politics. | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
Theresa May says she has no plans to increase tax levels, | :00:41. | :00:42. | |
but refuses to repeat David Cameron's 2015 manifesto | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
promise ruling out hikes in VAT, national insurance and income tax. | :00:47. | :00:53. | |
The leaders of the EU's 27 member states unanimously | :00:54. | :00:56. | |
agree their negotiating strategy for the upcoming Brexit talks, but | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
And in the last of our series of interviews ahead of Thursday's | :01:01. | :01:10. | |
We are in Middlesbrough with the to the leader of Plaid Cymru Leanne | :01:11. | :01:20. | |
We are in Middlesbrough with the four candidates who want to be the | :01:21. | :01:22. | |
first elected mayor for the Tees They hit an all-time low | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
after coalition government, but are the Lib Dems | :01:28. | :01:48. | |
poised to bounce back, And with me to analyse | :01:49. | :01:49. | |
the week's politics, Isabel Oakeshott, Steve Richards, | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
Tom Newton-Dunn. They'll be tweeting | :01:55. | :01:55. | |
using the hashtag #bbcsp. So when Theresa May was interviewed | :01:56. | :01:57. | |
just over an hour ago on The Andrew Marr Show, | :01:58. | :02:00. | |
the Prime Minister was asked to confirm that she would repeat | :02:01. | :02:03. | |
David Cameron's 2015 election promise not to raise VAT, | :02:04. | :02:05. | |
national insurance and income tax We have absolutely no plans | :02:06. | :02:07. | |
to increase the level of tax, but I'm also very clear that I don't | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
want to make specific proposals on taxes unless I'm absolutely sure | :02:13. | :02:15. | |
that I can deliver on those. But it is, would be my intention | :02:16. | :02:17. | |
as a Conservative Government and a Conservative Prime Minister, | :02:18. | :02:20. | |
to reduce the taxes The Tories like to have a clear tax | :02:21. | :02:30. | |
message in elections, are they getting into a bit of a mess? That | :02:31. | :02:34. | |
method wasn't clear, but does it mean, saying they have no plans to | :02:35. | :02:38. | |
increase the level of tax? We are clear there will not be a rise in | :02:39. | :02:42. | |
VAT, a lot of commentators will get overexcited about that, but there | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
was no great expectations there would be a rise in VAT. Tempting as | :02:47. | :02:52. | |
it is, because even one percentage point on VAT rate is 4.5 billion for | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
the exchequer so it is tempting but there has been no speculation that | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
would happen. We can see that she clearly wants to reiterate the | :03:02. | :03:07. | |
language about hard-working families but I don't think we are that much | :03:08. | :03:12. | |
the wiser. Even if she does not put up rates, according to projections | :03:13. | :03:18. | |
the overall tax burden, as a percentage of GDP, is rising, will | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
rise in the years ahead. That is why it was an odd phrase, I know she is | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
doing it to be evasive but to say they have no plans to raise the | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
general level of taxation, they do have. We also know they have | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
specific plans because it was in the last budget, they had a tax rise | :03:36. | :03:42. | |
which they had to revise, National Insurance rises, so very wisely in | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
my view they are keeping options open, the 2015 tax-and-spend debate | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
was a fantasy world, totally unrelated to the demands that would | :03:54. | :03:59. | |
follow. They now have the flexibility, one of the arguments | :04:00. | :04:02. | |
you had heard last time was Philip Hammond saying to her, we have to | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
break away from the 2015 manifesto commitment and we can only do it | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
this way, that is one of the better arguments. The Tories like to talk | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
about tax cuts in elections, whether they do it is another matter, but | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
they are not being allowed to talk about tax cuts, they are now on the | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
defensive over whether they will raise taxes. That is not a healthy | :04:26. | :04:31. | |
position for the campaign to be in. If you look at the numbers, quite | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
frankly, if you will not do this at this election with eight 20 point | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
lead over Labour, then when will you take these tough decisions? Reading | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
between the lines of what Theresa May has said all over different | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
broadcasters this morning, income tax will go down for low-income | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
families, such as the threshold rise that microbes that was already | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
factored in. She has had to commit to it again. VAT will be fat, | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
national insurance contributions will go up. Do you think they will | :05:02. | :05:08. | |
go up? I think so, she had plenty of opportunity to rule it out and she | :05:09. | :05:14. | |
didn't. There was a terrible mess with the budget, it is a good tax | :05:15. | :05:17. | |
argument but not a good electoral argument that you are eroding the | :05:18. | :05:21. | |
base so heavily with people moving into self-employment that as you | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
raise national insurance contributions for everybody but the | :05:27. | :05:28. | |
self-employed, it is something the Treasury will have to look at. The | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
other triple lock on pensions, we don't know if they will keep to that | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
either? If they are sensible they will find a form of words to give | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
them flexibility in that area as well. I would say there is no | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
question over that, that has gone. As Mrs May would say, you will have | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
to wait for the manifesto. That is what all the party leaders tell me! | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
Labour have spent the weekend pushing their messages | :05:57. | :05:57. | |
Speaking at a camapign rally in London yesterday, | :05:58. | :06:00. | |
Jeremy Corbyn promised a Labour government would fix what he called | :06:01. | :06:03. | |
People are fed up, fed up with not being able to get somewhere to live, | :06:04. | :06:11. | |
fed up waiting for hospital appointments, fed up with 0-hours | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
contracts, fed up with low pay, fed up with debt, fed up with not being | :06:16. | :06:20. | |
able to get on in their lives because we have a system that is | :06:21. | :06:22. | |
rigged against so many. I've been joined from Newcastle | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
by Labour's elections and campaigns co-ordinator, | :06:27. | :06:28. | |
Ian Lavery. Good morning. To deal with this | :06:29. | :06:39. | |
rigged economy, as Mr Corbyn calls it, the Shadow Chancellor John | :06:40. | :06:42. | |
McDonnell has a 20 point plan for workers out today. When you add up | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
everything he plans to do to help workers, how much will it cost? The | :06:47. | :06:52. | |
full costings, one thing I need to say at the very beginning, the | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
costings of any policy which we have already ruled out and any policy we | :06:58. | :07:00. | |
will be ruling out in the next few days and weeks will be fully costed | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
in the manifesto and in addition to the fact that it will be fully | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
costed, we will see it in the manifesto how indeed it has been | :07:12. | :07:14. | |
funded, so we are very clear, anything we have seen already, and | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
there are some exciting policy releases and there will be more in | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
the future, anything we are going to do will be fully costed and in the | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
manifesto. You announced a 20 point plan but cannot tell me what the | :07:29. | :07:31. | |
costs will be this morning so at the moment it is a menu without prices? | :07:32. | :07:37. | |
It is not a menu without prices, it is a fantastic opportunity. This 20 | :07:38. | :07:41. | |
point plan is something which will transform the lives of millions of | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
millions of people in the workplace... But what is the cost? | :07:46. | :07:51. | |
It will be welcomed by many people across the UK. The fact the costings | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
have not been released, you will have to be patient, it will be | :07:56. | :07:58. | |
released very clearly, it will identify that in the manifesto. Let | :07:59. | :08:04. | |
me come down to one of the points, the end of the public sector pay | :08:05. | :08:08. | |
freeze. Can you give us any idea how much that will cost? The end of the | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
public sector pay freeze, so important to the future of the | :08:14. | :08:19. | |
Labour Party, it is an massive policy decision. Let me say at this | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
stage, Theresa May, the Prime Minister, this morning, on The | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
Andrew Marr Show, did not have the common decency, courtesy all respect | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
to condone the fact that nurses, the heroes of the NHS, have had a | :08:35. | :08:38. | |
reduction of nearly 14% in their wages since 2010 and are using food | :08:39. | :08:44. | |
banks to feed themselves! Does that not say everything that is wrong | :08:45. | :08:50. | |
with today's society? So can you tell me what it will cost, which is | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
what my question was? What I will say is everything the Labour Party | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
pledges, everything that we come out with, what we will roll out between | :08:59. | :09:03. | |
now and the 8th of June, will be fully costed, people will be very | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
much aware of how much the costings will be, where the funding will come | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
from, when the manifesto is published. What about doubling | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
paternity leave, nu minimum wage, four new bank holidays, any idea | :09:17. | :09:18. | |
what it will cost? These are exciting new | :09:19. | :09:31. | |
proposals and of course today cost money but we are the sixth richest | :09:32. | :09:34. | |
economy in the world. It is about redistribution of the wealth we | :09:35. | :09:36. | |
create. We are seeing growth in the economy, it is how we utilise the | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
finances in the best way we possibly can for a fairer society for the | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
many and not the few. You just can't tell me how much it will cost? That | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
is why I will repeat again that you need to be very patient. Do you know | :09:50. | :09:54. | |
the cost yourself? You are the head of the campaign, do you know the | :09:55. | :09:58. | |
cost of these things yourself? I am very much aware of how much the | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
costings are likely to be, they have been identified, they will be | :10:04. | :10:07. | |
published in the manifesto. You really do understand I would not be | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
releasing today, live on your show, any costings or predictions with | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
regards the manifesto. Why not? You have released the policy, why not | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
the cost? Because there is a fine detail and we will identify it to | :10:23. | :10:26. | |
the general public in the manifesto. We not only explain how much it will | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
cost but we will explain where the funding comes from. Be patient. Will | :10:31. | :10:37. | |
some of the costs be met by increasing taxes? I would think at | :10:38. | :10:44. | |
this point in time there is not any indication to increase basic taxes | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
and again the taxes and spending of the Labour Government with the | :10:50. | :10:53. | |
proposals of the 20 point plan, the issues we have got, housing, the | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
NHS, crime, education will all be identified with the costings in the | :11:00. | :11:05. | |
publication. Can you tell us this morning, we'll tax for most people | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
rise or not to finance this? We in the Labour Party are looking to a | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
fair tax system which will be clearly identified in the manifesto. | :11:16. | :11:24. | |
Mr McDonnell also wants to ban all 0-hours contracts. Would that | :11:25. | :11:27. | |
include those who actually like those contracts? There are nearly 1 | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
million, depending on which figured you'd use, there are nearly 1 | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
million people on zero-hours contract and the vast proportion of | :11:39. | :11:41. | |
those want to be able to live a decent life, a secure life, they | :11:42. | :11:45. | |
want to understand whether they will be at work the next day, they're | :11:46. | :11:52. | |
included hours... I understand a lot of people don't like zero-hours | :11:53. | :11:55. | |
contract and your proposal will address that, but there are those, I | :11:56. | :12:01. | |
saw one survey where 65% of people on zero-hours contract like the | :12:02. | :12:05. | |
flexibility it gives them. Will you force them off zero-hours contract | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
or if they like them will they continue with them? We will discuss | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
it with employee is to make sure individuals in the workplace have | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
the right to negotiate hours in that workplace. Guaranteed hours is very, | :12:19. | :12:25. | |
very important. Zero-hour contracts are an instrument in which employers | :12:26. | :12:30. | |
abuse and exploit mainly young people, mainly female people in the | :12:31. | :12:34. | |
workplace. We would be banning zero-hour contract. But there are | :12:35. | :12:40. | |
those, students for example, who like them, would they be forced off | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
zero-hour contracts in your proposal? Our proposal would be | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
banning zero-hour contract and introducing contracts which have set | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
hours in the workplace. You also say no company will be able to bid for a | :12:55. | :12:57. | |
public contract unless the boss earns no more than 20 times the | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
lowest paid, or the average wage, I'm not quite sure which. What would | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
happen if British Aerospace bids to build more joint strike Fighters and | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
the boss is paid more than 20 times? I understand the point you raise but | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
we have an obscene situation in this country, Andrew, in which the bosses | :13:17. | :13:24. | |
at the very top make an absolute fortune... But what would happen | :13:25. | :13:30. | |
then? Who would build joint strike Fighters... The difference in wages | :13:31. | :13:34. | |
between the top earners in the country and the people in the | :13:35. | :13:40. | |
factories, in the workshops, producing the goods, is vast. I | :13:41. | :13:44. | |
understand that is the reason you want a ratio. What I am saying is, | :13:45. | :13:49. | |
what happens if the ratio is greater? Who gets the contract if | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
not British Aerospace? Who else builds the planes? We are going to | :13:54. | :14:01. | |
introduce a wage rate CEO of one to 20. -- wage ratio. We want to close | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
the gap between the people at the very top and people who produce the | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
goods. Let me try one more Time, who would build the joint strike | :14:11. | :14:14. | |
fighter? We would look at the issue as it came along but the policy is | :14:15. | :14:21. | |
clear... Can you name a single defence contractor weather boss' | :14:22. | :14:24. | |
salary is less than 20 times average earnings? We are not reducing, we | :14:25. | :14:31. | |
have rolled that out as part of this fantastic plan to transform society | :14:32. | :14:39. | |
to get rid of discrimination, to try and bring together our communities. | :14:40. | :14:45. | |
We will introduce a pay ratio of one to 20. Fair enough, thank you very | :14:46. | :14:47. | |
much. It's a month after the triggering | :14:48. | :14:49. | |
of Article 50, and EU leaders - with the exception of Britain - | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
met in Brussels this weekend to agree their opening negotiating | :14:54. | :14:55. | |
stance, to get the divorce It is inside this psychedelic | :14:56. | :15:11. | |
chamber where Britain's 'Grexit' future will be decided over the next | :15:12. | :15:17. | |
two years, but there is a vast gulf in rhetoric coming from the UK and | :15:18. | :15:21. | |
the EU. With parallel narratives emerging for both sides. There is | :15:22. | :15:30. | |
broad agreement that an orderly withdrawal is in the interests of | :15:31. | :15:34. | |
both sides. But Theresa May's position is that the terms of our | :15:35. | :15:38. | |
future trade deal should be negotiated alongside the terms of | :15:39. | :15:42. | |
our divorce. Meanwhile the EU says the terms of the UK's exit must be | :15:43. | :15:48. | |
decided before any discussion on a future trade deal can begin. But | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
don't forget that divorce settlement. Don't remind me. In | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
Brussels, many think written should pay even more, while in the UK | :15:58. | :16:01. | |
ministers said the divorce bill should be capped at 3 billion. After | :16:02. | :16:03. | |
you. Thank you. For are you looking forward to it? | :16:04. | :16:16. | |
Isn't that divorce bill a bit high? Isn't this about punishing Britain? | :16:17. | :16:22. | |
We are very united, you all seem so surprised but it's a fact. How soon | :16:23. | :16:29. | |
can we get a deal? We have to wait for the elections. It was the | :16:30. | :16:34. | |
decision of Mrs May. It took over an hour for the leaders to make their | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
entrances but once inside it's just a few minutes to agree the | :16:39. | :16:44. | |
negotiating guidelines. They set out three main areas. The first phase of | :16:45. | :16:47. | |
talks on the divorce settlement will deal with the existing financial | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
commitments to the EU, the Northern Ireland border and the rights of EU | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
citizens in the UK. They said a UK trade agreement can be discussed | :16:57. | :17:00. | |
when the first phase of talks reaches significant progress. And | :17:01. | :17:05. | |
that there must be unity in the negotiations, that individual EU | :17:06. | :17:08. | |
members won't negotiate separately with the UK. They are quite good | :17:09. | :17:15. | |
here at negotiating because they are used to it. They set a maximum and | :17:16. | :17:20. | |
then they have to recede a little bit depending on what the other side | :17:21. | :17:24. | |
is prepared to offer. I think there is room for manoeuvre in some | :17:25. | :17:29. | |
issues, but I don't think some of the baseline things will change that | :17:30. | :17:35. | |
much. For example I don't think the European Union will concede on the | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
rights of citizens who are already in the UK. It will be very difficult | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
for them to accept that they will not be any exit bill, and the | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
question of Northern Ireland is very important as well, the hard order | :17:50. | :17:52. | |
question. The baseline things are not going to move that much, then | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
you have room for manoeuvring between. On security, defence and | :17:58. | :18:01. | |
the fight against terrorism, the guidelines said the EU stands ready | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
to work together. And after lunch, friendly signs from some EU leaders | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
as they gave individual press conferences. Paul and said the talks | :18:11. | :18:15. | |
should open doors to new opportunities and even German | :18:16. | :18:18. | |
Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had earlier said some in Britain were | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
deluded about Brexit, softened her tone saying there was no conspiracy | :18:25. | :18:26. | |
against the UK. Unity was the buzzword at this summit and for once | :18:27. | :18:33. | |
everybody seemed to be sticking to the script. That unity is not only | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
amongst the 27 states, it's also among the institutions so many of | :18:39. | :18:41. | |
the divisions we have seen in the past at European level do not exist. | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
That is very important and it's not be unity that is directed somehow | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
against the UK because I think we all want this to be an orderly | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
process and part of that is that the EU side is unified. So although | :18:56. | :19:06. | |
there are no surprises here, what took place in this room was a | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
significant step towards the real Brexit negotiations which will begin | :19:12. | :19:14. | |
soon after the general election in June, said to be the most complex | :19:15. | :19:17. | |
the UK has faced in our lifetimes. Isabel, Steve and Tom | :19:18. | :19:21. | |
are still with me. Isabel, doesn't the British media | :19:22. | :19:32. | |
have to be a bit careful here? We would never take at face value | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
anything a British politician tells us. We would question it, put it in | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
context and wonder if they are bluffing, but we seem to take at | :19:43. | :19:46. | |
face value anything a European politician says about these | :19:47. | :19:49. | |
negotiations. You only have to look at the front page of the Sunday | :19:50. | :19:55. | |
Times today to see that. They quoted at length Juncker, who didn't like | :19:56. | :19:59. | |
the food at the reception and this and that, and I think the mood is | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
very optimistic. The key thing is the EU trade Commissioner has said | :20:05. | :20:08. | |
we will get a free trade deal and a lot of people seem to be wilfully | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
ignoring that incredibly big concession. That is what will happen | :20:14. | :20:16. | |
in their view. Everything that is said at the moment needs a slight | :20:17. | :20:23. | |
rerun over. They are all in negotiating positions, plus we seem | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
to be completely unaware that they all have their own domestic | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
constituencies as well. Angela Merkel has an important election | :20:33. | :20:36. | |
coming up in September, Euroscepticism is quite different | :20:37. | :20:39. | |
from Britain of course, but there's a different kind of euro scepticism | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
in Germany, she has got to deal with that. Of course she has, which is | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
why you are right, nothing should be taken too seriously out of the | :20:49. | :20:55. | |
mouths of British politicians or European politicians until October | :20:56. | :20:58. | |
this year. We have got to wait for the French elections, then German | :20:59. | :21:01. | |
elections, and if you look through this you can see a way forward. | :21:02. | :21:07. | |
There's no trade talks until pay up, but what was actually written was no | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
trade talks until we make significant progress on the money. | :21:13. | :21:15. | |
You can define significant progress in a lot of ways but come December, | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
fireworks over the summer, we all get very excited about it, in these | :21:21. | :21:24. | |
chairs I'm sure, come December things will look a lot smoother. The | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
German elections are at the end of September but I've seen reports in | :21:30. | :21:33. | |
German press, depending how it goes it could take until Christmas before | :21:34. | :21:37. | |
a new coalition government is put together. The Brussels long-standing | :21:38. | :21:43. | |
negotiating tactic of nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
then I guess the British could say we agree a certain sum of money if | :21:49. | :21:51. | |
that's what it takes but that depends on them, what good trade | :21:52. | :21:56. | |
deal we get. If we don't get that, the sum of money is off the table. | :21:57. | :22:02. | |
In that sense, the two are going parallel. However, I wouldn't | :22:03. | :22:07. | |
entirely dismiss what people are saying in their pre-election periods | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
to their own electorates because they have to some extent to deliver | :22:13. | :22:17. | |
subsequently. Of course Angela Merkel is campaigning and | :22:18. | :22:20. | |
electioneering, who wouldn't, she has a tough election to fight, but | :22:21. | :22:24. | |
she is measured and thoughtful and when she says things like some of | :22:25. | :22:28. | |
the British are delusional, that is unusually strong language for her. | :22:29. | :22:36. | |
What was she referring to? I don't know, it wasn't specific. Have the | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
cake and eat it perhaps the sequencing the British don't want. | :22:42. | :22:43. | |
When they thought the British government was going to effectively | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
demand membership of the single market, that's not going to happen | :22:48. | :22:54. | |
now. Unless you sign up to the four pillars, that's the cake and eat it | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
proposition, which they are right in saying Theresa May has made. But | :23:00. | :23:03. | |
everybody has access, even with no deal you have access. The other side | :23:04. | :23:11. | |
of it is I think there will be a united position from them. And so, | :23:12. | :23:18. | |
as somebody pointed out in that report, they are experienced, tough | :23:19. | :23:23. | |
negotiators, so I don't think it will be quite as easy as some think. | :23:24. | :23:33. | |
I spoke to one of those who drew up Article 50 and they said to me they | :23:34. | :23:37. | |
deliberately put this two year timetable in to make it impossible | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
for anybody to think about leaving. This is really tight, this | :23:44. | :23:46. | |
negotiation. Easy, it isn't. This coming Thursday, | :23:47. | :23:49. | |
voters up and down the country will be going to the polls in this | :23:50. | :23:51. | |
year's local elections. Over the past few weeks I've | :23:52. | :23:54. | |
interviewed representatives of the Conservative Party, | :23:55. | :23:56. | |
Labour, the Liberal Democrats, Today it's the turn | :23:57. | :23:58. | |
of Plaid Cymru and the SNP. A little earlier I spoke | :23:59. | :24:01. | |
Alex Salmond, who until 2014 I started by asking him why Scots | :24:02. | :24:03. | |
should vote SNP in local elections when the Scottish Government had | :24:04. | :24:08. | |
just cut central Government funding It's actually a funding increase | :24:09. | :24:23. | |
going into Scottish councils this year, and if you look at the funding | :24:24. | :24:28. | |
position for example between Scottish councils and those in | :24:29. | :24:31. | |
England, which are obviously directly related through the Barnett | :24:32. | :24:36. | |
formula, the funding in Scotland has been incomparably better than that | :24:37. | :24:41. | |
in England so there's a whole range of the -- of reasons... What's | :24:42. | :24:50. | |
happening south of the border indicates the protection the | :24:51. | :24:52. | |
Scottish Parliament has been able to put in that helps vital services in | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
Scotland. But there hasn't been a funding increase, the block grant | :24:57. | :25:01. | |
from Westminster to Edinburgh was increased by 1.5% in real terms but | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
the grant to councils was cut by 2.6%. It was going to be a cut of | :25:07. | :25:12. | |
330 million, the Greens got you to reduce it to 170 million but it is | :25:13. | :25:25. | |
still a cut of 2.6%. Your own Aberdeenshire Council has had a cut | :25:26. | :25:28. | |
to 391 million. You have cut the money to councils. Yes, but councils | :25:29. | :25:32. | |
have available to them more resources this year, and as you say | :25:33. | :25:35. | |
the budget increased that further which is why we put forward an | :25:36. | :25:41. | |
excellent local government budget in Aberdeenshire and resisted a Tory | :25:42. | :25:44. | |
attempts to knock ?3 million off... You asked me about Aberdeenshire, | :25:45. | :25:50. | |
and Aberdeenshire has put forward a budget for investment expansion and | :25:51. | :25:56. | |
resisted a Tory attempts to knock ?3 million off the education budget, | :25:57. | :25:59. | |
and I'm very grateful you have given me the opportunity to make that | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
point. The Government in Edinburgh has cut the money to Aberdeenshire | :26:05. | :26:12. | |
by ?11 million. It is a cut. But there is an investment budget in | :26:13. | :26:15. | |
Aberdeenshire that has been made available by the ability to increase | :26:16. | :26:20. | |
the council tax by 2.5% after a nine-year freeze in Scotland, and | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
that has brought more resources into local government and that's why the | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
butchered in Aberdeenshire has been an investment budget including | :26:30. | :26:32. | |
protection of the education budget in the face of a Tory and liberal | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
attempt to cut bit. You have to compare what is happening in | :26:38. | :26:41. | |
Scotland and England, and there's no doubt Scottish local authorities | :26:42. | :26:44. | |
have been much better funded than those in England over the last few | :26:45. | :26:50. | |
years and that's been the ability of the Scottish Government to protect | :26:51. | :26:52. | |
the services at local level. A good reason for voting SNP. If they have | :26:53. | :27:00. | |
been so well funded, why after a decade of SNP rule do one in five | :27:01. | :27:05. | |
Scottish pupils leave primary school functionally illiterate? You have | :27:06. | :27:13. | |
got to take these things... Nicola Sturgeon has made it a top priority | :27:14. | :27:16. | |
to address these challenges but let's take another statistic. 93% of | :27:17. | :27:22. | |
Scottish kids are now emerging from school to positive destinations, | :27:23. | :27:26. | |
that means to further education, apprenticeships or work. Why are one | :27:27. | :27:35. | |
in five functionally illiterate? You argue one statistic, I'm arguing | :27:36. | :27:38. | |
Scottish education is putting in some substantially good performances | :27:39. | :27:44. | |
like the 93% going on to positive destinations. You can't have a | :27:45. | :27:49. | |
failing education system if you have got that 93%, and incidentally a | :27:50. | :27:53. | |
record low youth unemployment in Scotland without the second lowest | :27:54. | :27:57. | |
unemployment rate in Europe. These pupils are being prepared by the | :27:58. | :28:01. | |
Scottish education system. Let's take the figures in the round on | :28:02. | :28:08. | |
education. It's so important. Under your watch, under your government, | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
the Scottish schools in the most important global comparison have | :28:14. | :28:22. | |
fallen from tenth to 19th in science, and 11 to 24th in maths, | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
that is a record of decline and failure. That is by the OECD and | :28:28. | :28:35. | |
first questions about that, but the OECD has also described Scotland is | :28:36. | :28:38. | |
one of the best educated societies in the world. That was from the | :28:39. | :28:43. | |
school system in previous years gone by. For those who are currently in | :28:44. | :28:49. | |
Scottish schools, you have fallen from 11th to 24th in mathematics. | :28:50. | :28:54. | |
The OECD was commenting on introduction of the new curriculum | :28:55. | :28:57. | |
for excellence in which they have given a resounding thumbs up to it, | :28:58. | :29:03. | |
and that's the same source as the rankings which you are comparing. | :29:04. | :29:08. | |
Nicola Sturgeon has said there are challenges on Scottish education, | :29:09. | :29:10. | |
particularly the access through the education system and the attainment | :29:11. | :29:15. | |
gap but don't tell me it's failing when 55% of our pupils have gone on | :29:16. | :29:19. | |
to higher education. That's one of the most impressive figures in the | :29:20. | :29:24. | |
world. Why have you cut 4000 teachers? The pupil numbers in | :29:25. | :29:29. | |
Scotland have been falling over recent years as well and now of | :29:30. | :29:33. | |
course we are increasing the number of people going through teachers | :29:34. | :29:36. | |
training so we can make sure that number increases, but listen, the | :29:37. | :29:41. | |
Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament, as you very well know, | :29:42. | :29:46. | |
are subject to real terms spending cuts over the last few years and all | :29:47. | :29:50. | |
public services have been under pressure. The main reason in terms | :29:51. | :29:54. | |
of teacher numbers has been an attempt on the Scottish Government | :29:55. | :29:57. | |
to protect the teacher pupil ratio, and that will now be enhanced by a | :29:58. | :30:05. | |
further taker -- intake. You promised you would reduce primary | :30:06. | :30:12. | |
class sizes to 18 and instead they are now 23.5 and rising. You broke | :30:13. | :30:18. | |
that promise. You didn't mention where we started from. We have kept | :30:19. | :30:22. | |
the teacher pupil ratio very solid in Scotland and that's been against | :30:23. | :30:26. | |
a range of public expenditure cuts but the new intake of teachers into | :30:27. | :30:30. | |
the new teacher training in Scotland I think will enhance the system. | :30:31. | :30:35. | |
You have spent in the pasty in Hollywood 43 hours on Government | :30:36. | :30:43. | |
time debating independence. How many hours have you debated education on | :30:44. | :30:47. | |
Government time? I don't have that they get a hand... The answer is | :30:48. | :30:53. | |
zero, you have spent zero-hours debating education on Government | :30:54. | :30:57. | |
time. Isn't it time the SNP got back to concentrating on the day job? | :30:58. | :31:03. | |
Andrew, as you very well know Nicola Sturgeon has identified a key | :31:04. | :31:07. | |
priority, closing the attainment gap in Scottish education. That is | :31:08. | :31:10. | |
exactly what she has done. Let me answer the question, it is difficult | :31:11. | :31:18. | |
to be in a remote location, if you talk before I answer the question | :31:19. | :31:21. | |
then the view was will not be able to listen. I let you answer that | :31:22. | :31:29. | |
without saying a word. Is this general election about independence, | :31:30. | :31:33. | |
as you say it is, or not about independence, as Mrs Sturgeon says | :31:34. | :31:38. | |
it is? No, I have said exactly the same as Nicola Sturgeon on that. The | :31:39. | :31:43. | |
issue what independence will be decided in a national referendum of | :31:44. | :31:46. | |
the Scottish people. The mandate for that referendum was gained in last | :31:47. | :31:51. | |
year's Scottish elections. What this election is about is backing the | :31:52. | :31:55. | |
right of the Scottish parliament to exercise that mandate and also | :31:56. | :31:58. | |
providing real opposition to this Tory Government and allowing the | :31:59. | :32:02. | |
Scottish Parliament to reverse austerity and some of the public | :32:03. | :32:05. | |
expenditure cutbacks you have been talking about, that is what this is | :32:06. | :32:09. | |
about, backing our Scottish Parliament. | :32:10. | :32:11. | |
Alex Salmond, speaking to me earlier. | :32:12. | :32:13. | |
I'm now joined by the leader of Plaid Cymru, Leanne Wood. | :32:14. | :32:16. | |
You accuse the Government of wanting an extreme Brexit, those are your | :32:17. | :32:22. | |
words. What is the difference between hard Brexit and extreme | :32:23. | :32:27. | |
Brexit? My concern is the way in which we leave the European Union | :32:28. | :32:31. | |
could be very damaging to Wales if, for example, there are tariffs | :32:32. | :32:34. | |
introduced then that would have a real impact in terms of Welsh jobs, | :32:35. | :32:42. | |
and I want to make sure that we have a Brexit that doesn't cause the | :32:43. | :32:45. | |
damage to Wales that could be caused. But what is the difference | :32:46. | :32:50. | |
between extreme and hard? Anything that puts Welsh jobs at risk is | :32:51. | :32:54. | |
either extreme or hard and unacceptable to Plaid Cymru, and we | :32:55. | :32:58. | |
will do what we can to protect those jobs. You want Wales to remain a | :32:59. | :33:03. | |
member of the single market even if the UK isn't, which would mean Wales | :33:04. | :33:07. | |
having to accept the free movement of people, still being under the | :33:08. | :33:19. | |
jurisdiction of the European Court, and you also want to stay in the | :33:20. | :33:22. | |
customs union which means you could not do your own free trade deals. | :33:23. | :33:24. | |
What is the difference between that and being a member of the European | :33:25. | :33:27. | |
Union? We would be like Norway, outside the European Union and | :33:28. | :33:29. | |
inside the single market. The key question is the issue of jobs and | :33:30. | :33:33. | |
the ability to continue to trade. Wales exports, we are the biggest | :33:34. | :33:38. | |
exporter in the whole of the UK, so there are many jobs reliant upon | :33:39. | :33:41. | |
those goods being able to be sold to the single market. Is it central to | :33:42. | :33:51. | |
the UK? Out of the four countries that make up the UK... | :33:52. | :33:59. | |
Proportionally, yes. If you remain in the single market, it is hard to | :34:00. | :34:03. | |
see how Wales could stay in the single market if the UK -- when the | :34:04. | :34:07. | |
rest of the UK was not, you cite Norway, that has free movement, it | :34:08. | :34:13. | |
has to be said, it effectively have to accept the jurisdiction of the | :34:14. | :34:16. | |
European Court, it is not in the customs union so it can do some of | :34:17. | :34:24. | |
its own free trade deals, but the Welsh people voted to leave. We have | :34:25. | :34:28. | |
to accept the principle of free movement if there is not going to be | :34:29. | :34:32. | |
a hard border between the north and south of Ireland. There is going to | :34:33. | :34:37. | |
be free movement within Ireland and therefore freedom of movement, as we | :34:38. | :34:40. | |
said in the referendum campaign, would be very, very difficult to | :34:41. | :34:47. | |
rule out. You lost that campaign, as you know, Wales voted to leave, 17 | :34:48. | :34:51. | |
Council areas voted to leave, only five voted to remain. Doesn't it | :34:52. | :34:59. | |
explain why your party is going nowhere? A majority in Wales voted | :35:00. | :35:03. | |
to leave but you effectively want to support that and de facto remain in | :35:04. | :35:09. | |
the EU? I don't accept that, we accepted the result but Plaid Cymru | :35:10. | :35:13. | |
now is about defending Wales. There are so many risks facing our people | :35:14. | :35:18. | |
from the jobs perspective, the privatisation perspective, the cuts | :35:19. | :35:22. | |
perspective, and from the fact that the Tories would like to grab power | :35:23. | :35:26. | |
was back from our National Assembly, so the key point... If you look at | :35:27. | :35:31. | |
the Wales bill that went through recently, the list of reserved | :35:32. | :35:35. | |
powers there suggests there are some powers currently within the Welsh | :35:36. | :35:39. | |
Assembly jurisdiction that would be dragged back. Which power was will | :35:40. | :35:45. | |
Westminster take back? They could take powers back over the NHS, for | :35:46. | :35:49. | |
example. There is no indication they want to do that. The Tories have | :35:50. | :35:58. | |
attacked the Welsh NHS. That is my point! Quite viciously. If they | :35:59. | :36:05. | |
increase their mandate, I wouldn't put it past them to try to take | :36:06. | :36:09. | |
power was back over the NHS and then of course we risk our NHS being | :36:10. | :36:15. | |
privatised though this election is all about defending Wales, | :36:16. | :36:18. | |
protecting Welsh people from further privatisation and cuts and a power | :36:19. | :36:23. | |
grab from the Tories. Why is there never a breakthrough for your party, | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
Plaid Cymru? Labour dominated in Wales for years, the Tories do quite | :36:28. | :36:31. | |
well, Ukip had a surge for a while, it looks like the Tories will have | :36:32. | :36:35. | |
another surge, never you, always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Wait | :36:36. | :36:40. | |
until Thursday and I think you will see that in many parts of Wales we | :36:41. | :36:43. | |
will increase our representation at a local council level. In the | :36:44. | :36:50. | |
Rhondda, where I am assembly member, we are looking to increase our | :36:51. | :36:55. | |
representation... You are only 13% in the polls will stop which is half | :36:56. | :37:03. | |
of even the Tories in Wales! If you don't breakthrough in the selection, | :37:04. | :37:10. | |
if the real problem is going nowhere, do you think you will pack | :37:11. | :37:14. | |
it in? Robert Green not, I have a job to do, a vision of Wales which | :37:15. | :37:19. | |
is about building up our nation and standing on our own two feet and my | :37:20. | :37:23. | |
job is not done yet. Thank you for being with us as part of your job, | :37:24. | :37:24. | |
we will see how it goes on Thursday. It's just gone 11.35, | :37:25. | :37:28. | |
you're watching the Sunday Politics. We say goodbye to viewers | :37:29. | :37:30. | |
in Scotland who leave us now Hello and welcome to your | :37:31. | :37:33. | |
local part of the show. The clue is in the iconic | :37:34. | :37:58. | |
transporter Bridge. We have come out of the studio | :37:59. | :37:59. | |
and we are in Middlesbrough. Voters across much of the Northeast | :38:00. | :38:02. | |
and all of Cumbria will go to the polls on Thursday | :38:03. | :38:05. | |
to elect local councillors. But something different | :38:06. | :38:07. | |
is happening here. People will be choosing | :38:08. | :38:09. | |
the first ever elected mayor But are people | :38:10. | :38:11. | |
interested in the role? Will they engage in a contest | :38:12. | :38:15. | |
which could be drowned out by the hubbub of | :38:16. | :38:19. | |
the general election campaign. Who better to ask than the four | :38:20. | :38:24. | |
candidates who are standing who have hopefully talked to lots of voters | :38:25. | :38:27. | |
over the last couple of weeks. Sue Jeffrey, Labour | :38:28. | :38:33. | |
candidate, first of all. Now, it is a tough sell with any | :38:34. | :38:35. | |
new job, but voters interested in this when you talk | :38:36. | :38:39. | |
to them about it? In the first couple | :38:40. | :38:41. | |
of weeks, perhaps not. But now I'm knocking on doors | :38:42. | :38:43. | |
and getting a lot of responses People are actually seeing | :38:44. | :38:46. | |
the benefits of us standing together, 660,000 people, | :38:47. | :38:49. | |
actually starting to do something for the Tees Valley around jobs, | :38:50. | :38:51. | |
the economy, skills, transport. So, yes, I think people | :38:52. | :38:55. | |
are getting it now. Chris Foote Wood for the Liberal | :38:56. | :38:58. | |
Democrats, you are a veteran What is engagement like in this one, | :38:59. | :39:01. | |
compared to others? It is obvious that there | :39:02. | :39:04. | |
is going to be a low turnout. It is something new and people don't | :39:05. | :39:07. | |
understand what it is about. But I want to get across the point | :39:08. | :39:11. | |
that this is something real. Scotland and Wales have done | :39:12. | :39:14. | |
very well on devolution. Now Tees Valley is getting | :39:15. | :39:16. | |
its own form of devolution. This is happening, | :39:17. | :39:19. | |
whether you agree with it or not. You have an opportunity to choose | :39:20. | :39:21. | |
someone who will have real power and bring real, | :39:22. | :39:24. | |
new money into the area. Let's talk now to John Tennant, | :39:25. | :39:26. | |
the Ukip candidates. You have said that you would hold | :39:27. | :39:28. | |
a referendum on whether So presumably, you are not convinced | :39:29. | :39:31. | |
the public are on board with this? Because we were never asked | :39:32. | :39:35. | |
whether we wanted to be part I am the only candidate | :39:36. | :39:44. | |
here offering a referendum to give people a chance to have their say | :39:45. | :39:48. | |
on whether they want First and foremost, | :39:49. | :39:50. | |
that is democracy. It should be upheld and I am | :39:51. | :39:53. | |
the democracy candidate. We may discuss later whether that | :39:54. | :39:56. | |
referendum would be binding But Ben Houchen, | :39:57. | :39:58. | |
for the Conservatives, of course Theresa May called | :39:59. | :40:00. | |
this general election. Does that make it a tougher | :40:01. | :40:02. | |
sell for use yet people interested in your candidacy | :40:03. | :40:05. | |
all the election in general? On top of my key pledge to buy | :40:06. | :40:07. | |
back Teesside airport, We find that people are really | :40:08. | :40:13. | |
engaging in it because we are now at a point, given that it is Sunday | :40:14. | :40:17. | |
today, that we have less than a week We have had for too long, | :40:18. | :40:22. | |
Labour politicians, local authorities that have destroyed | :40:23. | :40:29. | |
the area for decades and no better example of that and the ruination | :40:30. | :40:31. | |
of Teesside airport. So that has really engaged people | :40:32. | :40:33. | |
and I think people have really Another issue on which we will be | :40:34. | :40:36. | |
hearing from Labour later on that. Deals could not be agreed to bring | :40:37. | :40:41. | |
these mayors to either Cumbria or the North East with ministers, | :40:42. | :40:43. | |
but Tees Valley will join the likes of Manchester and the West Midlands | :40:44. | :40:46. | |
who will be getting this new role. David McMillan has | :40:47. | :40:49. | |
been taking a look. What is this place | :40:50. | :40:52. | |
called the Tees Valley? Stockton and Middlesbrough | :40:53. | :40:54. | |
in the middle, Cleveland in the east, Hartlepool in the north | :40:55. | :40:57. | |
and in the west, Darlington. And the new mayor is going to get | :40:58. | :41:00. | |
new powers over things I transport, skills and the economy and also | :41:01. | :41:03. | |
getting new money. The mayor needs to engage | :41:04. | :41:05. | |
in a new kind of conversation with electors in the region so that | :41:06. | :41:14. | |
residents have really got a voice in how some part of that | :41:15. | :41:20. | |
mayoral budget is spent. So what could the mayor do with this | :41:21. | :41:22. | |
new money and power? Many people would like to | :41:23. | :41:25. | |
see a new road bridge But the budget is not | :41:26. | :41:28. | |
going to stretch that far. What it will pay for are detailed | :41:29. | :41:35. | |
plans and architectural designs, giving the mayor more clout | :41:36. | :41:37. | |
when they ask the government There are things that the mayor has | :41:38. | :41:40. | |
direct control over. They can take charge of the buses | :41:41. | :41:44. | |
if they want to and they will be in charge of adult skills, | :41:45. | :41:47. | |
deciding what has to be taught to meet the demands | :41:48. | :41:50. | |
of the local job market. The mayor will also be the face, | :41:51. | :41:52. | |
the name, the chief ambassador of the Tees Valley, selling | :41:53. | :41:55. | |
the region to potential visitors, The Tees Valley makes | :41:56. | :41:57. | |
an important contribution It's part of the really successful | :41:58. | :42:00. | |
story of exports of the North East. If we have a mayor who can talk | :42:01. | :42:05. | |
about the whole of the Tees Valley, about all the places, | :42:06. | :42:10. | |
their contributions, Finally, the mayor is a kind | :42:11. | :42:11. | |
of Tees Valley tactician, deciding what sort of development | :42:12. | :42:15. | |
should go where to benefit So they will need a strategy | :42:16. | :42:17. | |
for business and industry. They will need a plan | :42:18. | :42:20. | |
for culture and tourism. They will have to decide what sort | :42:21. | :42:23. | |
of housing is required The mayor will be based | :42:24. | :42:25. | |
here at Cavendish House in Stockton and ultimately, | :42:26. | :42:29. | |
all of this is about insuring more of the decisions that matter | :42:30. | :42:32. | |
to the Tees Valley are made We move inside to the Transporter | :42:33. | :42:34. | |
Bridge Visitor Centre, Let's explore some of the issues | :42:35. | :42:41. | |
and powers involved in this new job. Chris Foote Wood, we have already | :42:42. | :42:47. | |
talked about a worrying lack of engagement from the public, | :42:48. | :42:51. | |
but you have three years in your What is the one thing that | :42:52. | :42:54. | |
you would say you could achieve in those three years that would make | :42:55. | :42:58. | |
a difference to people's lives? There are so many things that | :42:59. | :43:01. | |
you can do, even in three years. But in the first year, | :43:02. | :43:05. | |
even in the first week, there are things that can be done, | :43:06. | :43:08. | |
for example, the South Tees Development Corporation, | :43:09. | :43:10. | |
which is one of a number which the mayor will be able to set | :43:11. | :43:13. | |
up, it is already in being but it I want to see something happening | :43:14. | :43:16. | |
on the SSI site of Redcar. We really need to get | :43:17. | :43:23. | |
moving on that. And we need to lay plans | :43:24. | :43:27. | |
for these new bridges across the Tees which will, | :43:28. | :43:30. | |
in a few years' time, make a complete transformation | :43:31. | :43:32. | |
for people to travel around the Tees Valley. | :43:33. | :43:35. | |
OK. We will return to some | :43:36. | :43:38. | |
of those is use. Ben Houchen, what is | :43:39. | :43:44. | |
the one thing... I have a feeling I know | :43:45. | :43:46. | |
what the answer is going to be! What is the one thing you think | :43:47. | :43:49. | |
you can achieve in three years? Apart from the combined authorities' | :43:50. | :43:53. | |
target that they have set themselves to create 25,000 jobs over the next | :43:54. | :43:55. | |
period, I think we have But as a personal commitment that | :43:56. | :43:58. | |
I want to achieve over the next three years, | :43:59. | :44:02. | |
it is to buy back Teesside airport. I think the absolute disgrace | :44:03. | :44:05. | |
that this has become under Labour run local authorities, | :44:06. | :44:12. | |
the sell-off in the mid-2000s, has ruined our local airport | :44:13. | :44:14. | |
and we are at the final stage where we have a last chance | :44:15. | :44:17. | |
and within this week we have a final The service is going | :44:18. | :44:21. | |
from the airport already. You don't know whether you can | :44:22. | :44:31. | |
deliver it and there are other ways of getting that airport | :44:32. | :44:35. | |
revived, aren't there? No, I think we really | :44:36. | :44:36. | |
are at that last chance saloon. We have had for too long, | :44:37. | :44:39. | |
Labour and authorities, for which all the leaders | :44:40. | :44:41. | |
of the council says on the board authorities, for which the leaders | :44:42. | :44:51. | |
of the council sit on the board, of the council sit | :44:52. | :45:02. | |
on the board, of the airport, If we let this chance go, | :45:03. | :45:05. | |
the airport will go. I have said it before, | :45:06. | :45:08. | |
and I will say it again. We need a new, fresh idea and if I'm | :45:09. | :45:11. | |
elected on the 4th of May, Sue Jeffrey for Labour, | :45:12. | :45:14. | |
you might want to deal with that, but let's also hear what is the one | :45:15. | :45:18. | |
thing you think you could deliver in three years that would make | :45:19. | :45:22. | |
a difference to people? I have made it absolutely clear | :45:23. | :45:24. | |
that my key priority is jobs, bringing jobs back to the Tees | :45:25. | :45:27. | |
Valley. 25,000 new jobs over | :45:28. | :45:29. | |
the next ten years. It is already in place, | :45:30. | :45:32. | |
we have a strategic economic plan But more importantly, | :45:33. | :45:35. | |
I have been working, leading the team that is revitalising | :45:36. | :45:38. | |
the South Tees steel site And I am working with a range | :45:39. | :45:40. | |
of business leaders, industrialists, to try and find ways to get | :45:41. | :45:45. | |
that investment in. And I am also working | :45:46. | :45:47. | |
with government on that and I think that is a key role for the mayor, | :45:48. | :45:50. | |
work with partners, what with government, | :45:51. | :45:53. | |
key people in the area This is crucial, can a mayor | :45:54. | :45:55. | |
actually deliver jobs? Can it get somebody into work? | :45:56. | :45:58. | |
Yes. Or can they just sit | :45:59. | :45:59. | |
around planning things? What I'm already doing is I'm | :46:00. | :46:01. | |
talking to the industry that are likely to want to come | :46:02. | :46:05. | |
and invest on that site. I'm encouraging them to come | :46:06. | :46:08. | |
and look at that site and work with me and to pull together | :46:09. | :46:10. | |
packages of incentives that will enable them | :46:11. | :46:13. | |
to want to bring their investment But I can't stop without | :46:14. | :46:15. | |
mentioning the airport. The fact is, the airport | :46:16. | :46:18. | |
is going to be a thriving airport. It will be one that will work | :46:19. | :46:21. | |
with the people of the Tees Valley. But we won't do that by wasting | :46:22. | :46:24. | |
the money of the Tees Valley people by buying that airport, | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
we will do it by using the money of the Tees Valley people | :46:29. | :46:31. | |
to invest in that airport. Where is the evidence that | :46:32. | :46:33. | |
Durham Tees Valley Airport, Teesside Because we have seen | :46:34. | :46:36. | |
a dramatci fall in passengers At least there is a plan there, | :46:37. | :46:39. | |
your plan is just hope and wait for private companies | :46:40. | :46:43. | |
to do something? I have a very clear plan, | :46:44. | :46:45. | |
not just about investing in the airport itself, | :46:46. | :46:48. | |
about investing in the business So there are a whole range | :46:49. | :46:50. | |
of business opportunities. They can grow and thrive if we get | :46:51. | :46:53. | |
the right incentives packages there. There is the whole issue around | :46:54. | :46:56. | |
transport links to that airport, Already there are proposals | :46:57. | :46:59. | |
on the cards for investment in that station to make sure that it comes | :47:00. | :47:03. | |
back to a situation where we can start getting people | :47:04. | :47:07. | |
going back to the airport. But most importantly, | :47:08. | :47:09. | |
it is the links to the Heathrow expansion and again, | :47:10. | :47:11. | |
I have been talking to people about how we can link | :47:12. | :47:13. | |
into the Heathrow expansion But that won't happen | :47:14. | :47:16. | |
in the first three years. Things are starting | :47:17. | :47:19. | |
to happen around that now, since the decline started | :47:20. | :47:21. | |
at Teesside airport. It is only now that she is standing | :47:22. | :47:25. | |
at me that for some reason Can I say that that | :47:26. | :47:29. | |
is complete nonsense. We have been working to deliver | :47:30. | :47:31. | |
improvements in that airport over the last number of years | :47:32. | :47:34. | |
and the fact is, we have been having to deal with a very | :47:35. | :47:37. | |
difficult economic situation. We are now in a circumstance | :47:38. | :47:39. | |
where we can see an opportunity It has been a one-party | :47:40. | :47:42. | |
state in Teesside... There is no evidence of you guys | :47:43. | :47:46. | |
ever doing anything. You, Sue, gave planning permission | :47:47. | :47:49. | |
for 350 houses to be built right next to the airport, | :47:50. | :47:53. | |
which is going to stop expansion of the airport. | :47:54. | :47:55. | |
You are on the board. You made the application, | :47:56. | :47:57. | |
and you are going to ruin I was not on the board | :47:58. | :48:00. | |
when the decision was made to secure The issue is how do we invest | :48:01. | :48:06. | |
in the airport to deliver a thriving airport that will secure the future | :48:07. | :48:11. | |
that we all want for it? John Tennant, we will let you talk | :48:12. | :48:14. | |
about the airport as well, but again, if you get this job, | :48:15. | :48:19. | |
you have raised doubts about whether you think | :48:20. | :48:22. | |
it is a worthwhile job, but let's say that | :48:23. | :48:24. | |
you have to do it. What is the one thing you think | :48:25. | :48:26. | |
you could achieve in three years First of all, I think it's very | :48:27. | :48:29. | |
important that everybody has a say in whether they want to be part | :48:30. | :48:33. | |
of this combined authority, so I would deliver that referendum | :48:34. | :48:36. | |
before I was given a mandate... I want to check with | :48:37. | :48:39. | |
you on that before we move on. It would not be binding, | :48:40. | :48:42. | |
it would cost money. Because the government | :48:43. | :48:47. | |
have the decision in the end. So you can give an indication of it, | :48:48. | :48:49. | |
but what a waste of money. You have got two ways | :48:50. | :48:52. | |
of looking at this. Either we use taxpayers' money | :48:53. | :48:58. | |
to give people a real voice, all we waste it | :48:59. | :49:09. | |
on buying an airport. Or we try and build a super bridge | :49:10. | :49:11. | |
that we cannot afford. Or do we use some of that money | :49:12. | :49:13. | |
to give people a voice? I think that is the most | :49:14. | :49:17. | |
important thing. And you would be handing back | :49:18. | :49:19. | |
this ?15 million a year ?15 million a year is a drop | :49:20. | :49:21. | |
in the ocean for the entire region. Let's say you hold a referendum | :49:22. | :49:26. | |
and people are suddenly enthusiastic about this job, | :49:27. | :49:29. | |
you have to do it. What is the one thing you would do | :49:30. | :49:32. | |
to make a difference in three years? I would like to see a Metro system | :49:33. | :49:35. | |
delivered in this area. Obviously that will take | :49:36. | :49:38. | |
longer than three years but I would like to get | :49:39. | :49:43. | |
the groundwork going on that and that will help industry starts | :49:44. | :49:45. | |
thriving again and get You would have to speak to various | :49:46. | :49:48. | |
different companies, different parts of the private | :49:49. | :49:53. | |
sector and speak to Westminster to put together a credible plan | :49:54. | :49:55. | |
for building a Metro system. Somebody has to get it | :49:56. | :50:00. | |
started and that can be me. But, John, you can't have a metro | :50:01. | :50:02. | |
system without a bridge. You have rubbished the bridge, | :50:03. | :50:05. | |
but without the bridge, we cannot have a Metro loop system | :50:06. | :50:07. | |
around the Tees Valley. Chris Foote Wood, let's | :50:08. | :50:10. | |
deal with the bridge. We are sat next to | :50:11. | :50:12. | |
the Transporter Bridge. A Middlesbrough company started | :50:13. | :50:13. | |
last century to fund But the truth is that | :50:14. | :50:15. | |
you cannot fund a bridge You still have to go cap | :50:16. | :50:19. | |
in hand to the government. Where is the power and independence | :50:20. | :50:24. | |
of a mayor who says, I would like a bridge, | :50:25. | :50:26. | |
I can draw up a plan, but I still have to persuade | :50:27. | :50:29. | |
ministers to fund it? Well, whoever builds a bridge, | :50:30. | :50:31. | |
it has got to come primarily I would say, look at | :50:32. | :50:34. | |
the Humber Bridge which goes from nowhere to nowhere, | :50:35. | :50:39. | |
which was still built. We have a bridge here that | :50:40. | :50:41. | |
could bring prosperity to the region and have everybody travelling around | :50:42. | :50:44. | |
on a Metro system. Every successful city | :50:45. | :50:47. | |
as a Metro system. We need that, and to get that, | :50:48. | :50:50. | |
we must have a bridge. It is an irrefutable argument | :50:51. | :50:54. | |
and as long as we make that argument stronger, | :50:55. | :50:57. | |
we have as much right as anybody else to have one | :50:58. | :50:58. | |
of these structures built. We have built bridges all over | :50:59. | :51:02. | |
the world, why can't Can I tell you the actual | :51:03. | :51:04. | |
circumstances about the bridge? What has happened is that we have, | :51:05. | :51:09. | |
as part of our involvement in an organisation called Transport | :51:10. | :51:11. | |
for the North, we have secured funding from government | :51:12. | :51:14. | |
to do a feasibility study Once we have completed | :51:15. | :51:16. | |
that feasibility study, we will be making a bid | :51:17. | :51:20. | |
to government for the It is really important | :51:21. | :51:23. | |
that as the Tees Valley, we stand together and say that | :51:24. | :51:27. | |
that is an essential part It is not about going cap in hand | :51:28. | :51:29. | |
anywhere, we have already got ourselves in a situation | :51:30. | :51:35. | |
that we have the I am now absolutely funding | :51:36. | :51:38. | |
that we had to make their bid -- I am now absolutely certain that | :51:39. | :51:56. | |
we have to make the bed and we will get the funding. | :51:57. | :51:58. | |
Ben Houchen, it was the Conservative government to try to sell his idea | :51:59. | :52:01. | |
But John Tennant is right, ?15 million a year in this fund | :52:02. | :52:06. | |
In isolation, ?15 million a year is not a amount when you take | :52:07. | :52:10. | |
But a lot of that money can be front-loaded. | :52:11. | :52:13. | |
We are looking at leveraging that against the Northern | :52:14. | :52:15. | |
I will be speaking to the operators of the Teesside pension fund. | :52:16. | :52:19. | |
I think we can build a war chest of more than half ?1 billion | :52:20. | :52:23. | |
which then gives us a critical mass to invest across the region. | :52:24. | :52:26. | |
That sounds like a hell of a lot of borrowing. | :52:27. | :52:28. | |
I thought the Conservatives didn't like borrowing. | :52:29. | :52:30. | |
The borrowing is guaranteed against income the government | :52:31. | :52:32. | |
So in the same way that if you know you have guaranteed income over 30 | :52:33. | :52:36. | |
years of which we get ?15 million a year, then what we are saying | :52:37. | :52:40. | |
is that we are going to borrow that to get it sooner, | :52:41. | :52:43. | |
to be able to invest more heavily in the short-term, | :52:44. | :52:45. | |
knowing that we can guarantee that income in the long-term. | :52:46. | :52:47. | |
John Tennant, you were not convinced by that? | :52:48. | :52:49. | |
I'm not convinced because it is more borrowing while there are paying | :52:50. | :52:52. | |
Debts to invest in the infrastructure of the area | :52:53. | :52:58. | |
and benefit the economy, that has got to be a good thing? | :52:59. | :53:00. | |
And you are in favour of turning them down and saying I don't | :53:01. | :53:04. | |
No, I am in favour of saying that people have a voice first. | :53:05. | :53:08. | |
We know that you personally am not convinced by the role. | :53:09. | :53:12. | |
So you would turn down, if you had the choice, | :53:13. | :53:14. | |
that ?15 million a year and powers to make a difference | :53:15. | :53:17. | |
Know, in the short term I would have to accept it and get | :53:18. | :53:21. | |
But crucially, people must have their say | :53:22. | :53:25. | |
And there is no point all of us burying our heads in the sand | :53:26. | :53:33. | |
First of all, a referendum would cost us ?1 million. | :53:34. | :53:39. | |
And I firmly believe that that million pounds can be spent | :53:40. | :53:42. | |
But secondly, there seems to be a complete misunderstanding | :53:43. | :53:46. | |
about the money that is available to the combined authority | :53:47. | :53:48. | |
There is actually an investment pot of ?450 million before we even start | :53:49. | :53:54. | |
And that is made up of a range of funding pots including European | :53:55. | :54:00. | |
money, skills money, money to support people | :54:01. | :54:02. | |
A whole range of things and that ?450 million is earmarked, | :54:03. | :54:06. | |
much of it, for schemes which I will be promoting | :54:07. | :54:09. | |
In terms of the 15 million, that can be used to borrow, | :54:10. | :54:14. | |
but unfortunately, this Conservative government has failed to give us | :54:15. | :54:17. | |
the power to enable that borrowing to take place yet. | :54:18. | :54:20. | |
And I have been talking to ministers over the last six months or so, | :54:21. | :54:23. | |
saying, when we going to get these powers, and they | :54:24. | :54:26. | |
I think one of the first thing is that the mayor will have to do | :54:27. | :54:32. | |
is put pressure on the Conservative government, if there is one, | :54:33. | :54:35. | |
to ensure that we get the borrowing powers. | :54:36. | :54:37. | |
The next thing I was going to raise with Chris Foote Wood, is... | :54:38. | :54:40. | |
We all accept that I have the mayor has not got the powers | :54:41. | :54:43. | |
they need to do everything, but what is the one power | :54:44. | :54:46. | |
unit of the government for if you were to become Mayor? | :54:47. | :54:55. | |
-- what is the one power you would ask the government for? | :54:56. | :55:00. | |
The extra power, and extra is quite right, we do need the power | :55:01. | :55:03. | |
to borrow and every organisation that develops does it by borrowing. | :55:04. | :55:06. | |
There is nothing wrong with that as long as it is secured. | :55:07. | :55:09. | |
If you look at Scotland and Wales, they were set up with a certain | :55:10. | :55:14. | |
They have both increased their powers and I'm certain that | :55:15. | :55:17. | |
We are a long way from Scotland and Wales, we are a long way | :55:18. | :55:22. | |
from London, in terms of the powers on offer! | :55:23. | :55:24. | |
What I'm saying is, they increased those powers. | :55:25. | :55:26. | |
And when we get this new system going and it is real devolution, | :55:27. | :55:29. | |
not as much as Scotland and Wales but will make a difference, | :55:30. | :55:33. | |
when we proven and I think three of the people around this table | :55:34. | :55:38. | |
think it is going to work, and make it work, then we can say | :55:39. | :55:41. | |
History has shown that when you set something up, extra powers come. | :55:42. | :55:48. | |
Ben Houchen, you have heard the criticism of the government | :55:49. | :55:50. | |
Would there be a power you would see? | :55:51. | :56:01. | |
-- would that be a power that you would seek? | :56:02. | :56:04. | |
What would be the extra power you would see? | :56:05. | :56:06. | |
That is definitely a power that I would seek but it is important | :56:07. | :56:09. | |
to look at as part of this package, rather than looking at specific | :56:10. | :56:12. | |
Sue is in denial, on the 8th of June, we will re-elect | :56:13. | :56:18. | |
the Conservative government with a vast increase majority. | :56:19. | :56:19. | |
That means we will have a Conservative government | :56:20. | :56:21. | |
and the best opportunity for this region to gain even more powers | :56:22. | :56:24. | |
and more autonomy is to elect a Conservative mayor. | :56:25. | :56:26. | |
So they will only deal with Conservatives? | :56:27. | :56:28. | |
No, I don't think that is true at all. | :56:29. | :56:30. | |
But I think anybody would be remiss to think that it would be easier | :56:31. | :56:37. | |
into Whitehall with Conservative colleagues and say, I am leader | :56:38. | :56:46. | |
across the Tees Valley, these are the powers that we need. | :56:47. | :56:50. | |
It is easier putting out an open door rather than a closed door. | :56:51. | :56:53. | |
You would, because you are head of the combined authority! | :56:54. | :56:57. | |
I'm already having those conversations and I think the key | :56:58. | :56:59. | |
is you that a mayor is having to deal with is dealing with people | :57:00. | :57:02. | |
from all colours of the political spectrum and all places | :57:03. | :57:05. | |
And that pragmatism to negotiate with whoever you need to is very | :57:06. | :57:08. | |
important and I think that needs to be recognised. | :57:09. | :57:11. | |
John Tennant, you're not a fan, but if there was one power | :57:12. | :57:15. | |
you could deliver that would persuade you that the mayor | :57:16. | :57:18. | |
It's not about powers, it's about representation. | :57:19. | :57:23. | |
we have the Conservatives talking about having colleagues in | :57:24. | :57:28. | |
Westminster, that means they will do their bidding. We have Labour who | :57:29. | :57:37. | |
worry 1-party state in teeth Valley. -- in the Tees Valley. We have the | :57:38. | :57:42. | |
ability to put pressure on to the government. We have succeeded in the | :57:43. | :57:49. | |
past and we can do it again. In terms of my extra power... ? I think | :57:50. | :57:55. | |
you told us! Very briefly. The really important one is funding for | :57:56. | :58:00. | |
skills. We need to have control over skills funding if we are to give our | :58:01. | :58:04. | |
young people opportunities to get the jobs we will create. Also, if | :58:05. | :58:10. | |
you ask for more powers, you have to ask for a greater salary to deal | :58:11. | :58:14. | |
with those powers... Lets not deal with that. Can I just say? No, | :58:15. | :58:22. | |
because there is another issue I want to. The electoral system means | :58:23. | :58:29. | |
that the voters have two votes. Who would be your second choice, Chris | :58:30. | :58:34. | |
Foote Wood? Who would you advise voters to vote for? That is entirely | :58:35. | :58:41. | |
for people to decide. Who is your personal preference? Everybody has a | :58:42. | :58:46. | |
first and second preference. Would you cast your vote for the person | :58:47. | :58:50. | |
you want to be mayor, then you look at the other three and by | :58:51. | :58:54. | |
definition, you choose the least worst option. And in your view, who | :58:55. | :59:02. | |
is that? I won't answer that but I urge people to use both their votes | :59:03. | :59:06. | |
otherwise it will be danger -- there will be a danger as happened in | :59:07. | :59:12. | |
Middlesbrough because the Labour candidate got one third of the boat | :59:13. | :59:15. | |
and got elected because other people did not use their second boat. Full | :59:16. | :59:21. | |
out of these esteemed colleagues would you put second? I think the | :59:22. | :59:25. | |
people the watch and vote for it if you wouldn't believe is... Who would | :59:26. | :59:30. | |
be your second choice? I wouldn't offer advice. Ben Houchen,? I don't | :59:31. | :59:41. | |
do tactical voting. What I would say is if you want to have a sieve | :59:42. | :59:46. | |
ensures it is overseeing the Labour Party because it is between me and | :59:47. | :59:53. | |
the Labour Party. The Labour Party already run the five local | :59:54. | :59:56. | |
authorities. If people are happy with the way the area has been run | :59:57. | :00:00. | |
over the last 30 to 40 years, we need to look at that again. John | :00:01. | :00:07. | |
Tennant? I take a similar view to Chris. You have to use your second | :00:08. | :00:13. | |
vote. It should be the least worst. But you don't want them to vote | :00:14. | :00:17. | |
Labour? I would urge feeble not to. And not Conservative either, because | :00:18. | :00:24. | |
I don't -- I would urge people not to. And not Conservative either | :00:25. | :00:27. | |
because I don't believe in wasting money on airport. | :00:28. | :00:32. | |
Next week, there will be another election intruding on our | :00:33. | :00:35. | |
we will take the mandate that we want. To all three of you, thank | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
you. Andrew, back to you. So, how will Thursday's local | :00:41. | :00:52. | |
election results affect Who's winning the | :00:53. | :00:54. | |
election ground war? And as he celebrates 100 | :00:55. | :00:56. | |
days in the White House, We have the local elections, Metro | :00:57. | :01:14. | |
elections in Liverpool, greater Birmingham, West Midlands, how will | :01:15. | :01:19. | |
they play into the general election? Significantly, it is very unusual. | :01:20. | :01:22. | |
People keep comparing this with the election in 83, not! Margaret | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
Thatcher was nervous and to wait until after the local elections to | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
call the election to see the result. We are getting these result in the | :01:32. | :01:35. | |
middle of an election campaign so it will be important, whoever does | :01:36. | :01:41. | |
badly will suffer a dent in confidence in terms of how they | :01:42. | :01:44. | |
approach the election and we are also going to have mayoral figures | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
as a reminder of another big difference with the 80s that however | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
big, say, the Conservatives win in Westminster, there are now sectors | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
of power in other parts of the United Kingdom which were not there | :01:59. | :02:01. | |
in the 80s. One of the reasons niches that are rated in 83 was | :02:02. | :02:06. | |
memories were still alive in political circles of 1970, Wilson | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
saw the local election results and thought, I can win, he was told he | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
would win by the Economist magazine, who had done the analysis, and of | :02:17. | :02:20. | |
course he lost, so that is why she waited, Mrs May does not need to | :02:21. | :02:28. | |
wait for that at all now, and on the Metro elections, the one she will be | :02:29. | :02:31. | |
looking at is the West Midlands, that is the one that is a | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
competition. I think she can really lose on Thursday in the local | :02:36. | :02:38. | |
elections, governing parties are supposed to take effect again, | :02:39. | :02:42. | |
losing lots of council seats. She is projected to put on 100 or so seats, | :02:43. | :02:49. | |
Labour projected to lose around 200, the first time the main opposition | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
party has shed seats since something like 83 so clearly the local | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
elections give Mrs May great momentum going into the general | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
election campaign but there is a downside in that, which is what we | :03:01. | :03:03. | |
have already heard fighting about this morning, if it looks like it is | :03:04. | :03:09. | |
going too well for the Tories, it says to voters, why bother turning | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
up? Sushi comes up with totally unbelievable sound bites this | :03:14. | :03:16. | |
morning that this is the most important general election in her | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
lifetime. Really?! For her it is! It always is until the next one! I | :03:23. | :03:29. | |
wonder if voter turnout is a problem? Tory voters are more likely | :03:30. | :03:33. | |
to vote than Labour voters. If there is a sense that it is all over bar | :03:34. | :03:39. | |
the shouting, the overall turnout will be low that Tory voters are | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
still likely to turn out more than Labour voters so she would still win | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
some. I don't think she needs to be too worried, I think there will be a | :03:48. | :03:52. | |
significantly low turnout, even I am finding it hard to be that excited | :03:53. | :03:59. | |
about this general election. Really, the policies, we have spent a lot of | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
time talking about them today and we have to examine them, but all this | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
is about is, do you want Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn in Number Ten? | :04:09. | :04:12. | |
Those are the only question is, apart from possibly how strong do | :04:13. | :04:15. | |
you feel about Brexit, that will be on the voters' minds. You may say | :04:16. | :04:21. | |
that but I will not be put off from going through a list of policies | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
that we have already had in the last 24 hours. On the Conservatives, more | :04:26. | :04:31. | |
powers to stop company bosses under pensions, of course Philip Green was | :04:32. | :04:39. | |
in mind there. Labour has come up with quite a few policies, actually, | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
give all work of equal rights, whether part-time or full-time, | :04:45. | :04:53. | |
temporary or permanent. Ukip, scrap VAT or takeaway -- on takeaway food | :04:54. | :04:58. | |
and end the BBC licence fee. The Liberal Democrats have come out | :04:59. | :05:04. | |
posed to the runway at Heathrow. I thought I knew that already? Will | :05:05. | :05:11. | |
any of these policies make a difference? They are all nice handy | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
things that people quite liked but probably not, is the answer. They | :05:18. | :05:21. | |
are an awful way away from polling day now for people to remember and | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
latch onto. I don't think you make your mind up on small issues like | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
Heathrow, unless you live in Richmond-upon-Thames, maybe, but the | :05:32. | :05:34. | |
problem Labour have got with unfailing a lot of these retail type | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
policies which, in themselves, are very popular, is no one will listen | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
to them until they get over the leadership credibility issue. Jeremy | :05:44. | :05:47. | |
Corbyn could the world on a stick, but if no one believes he can | :05:48. | :05:50. | |
deliver it then he will not be listened to and he has not done much | :05:51. | :05:53. | |
apart from a speech yesterday in which is claim to fame was getting | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
arrested, I don't see how that would work for him getting to Number Ten. | :05:58. | :06:03. | |
They are not making progress on it. Labour has rolled out a number of | :06:04. | :06:09. | |
policies which, taken individually, would have certain traction in | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
normal times, quite interesting ideas, this sense of unfairness, a | :06:15. | :06:17. | |
feeling that ordinary workers have not done well out of the recovery, | :06:18. | :06:23. | |
those who caused the crash have, 20 points, I went through some of them | :06:24. | :06:26. | |
earlier, putting aside they are not costed, we are assured they will be. | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
The problem I suggest is not the costing but the cut through? Every | :06:32. | :06:38. | |
election has a context which is determined by opinion polls, however | :06:39. | :06:41. | |
sceptical we are these days, and if one party is way ahead it is | :06:42. | :06:44. | |
difficult for the other party to appear relevant, because if people | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
assume they are not going to win, even some of its own MPs are saying, | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
we are not going to win this, so you can vote for us, it is very hard to | :06:55. | :07:01. | |
get attention and relevance. Where I think all the parties are bad with | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
their current leaders is framing arguments, so those policies you | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
have highlighted makes sense. The best leaders are brilliant framers | :07:12. | :07:14. | |
of an argument and neither Theresa Maynor Jeremy Corbyn R. They have | :07:15. | :07:21. | |
been campaigning, their manifestos are not out yet, both sides have | :07:22. | :07:25. | |
been telling us we have to wait for costings, but it has not stopped | :07:26. | :07:29. | |
them campaigning. Let's remind you of where they have been and what | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
they have been doing so far. Let's start with Jeremy Corbyn, his | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
first official visit was in the ultra-marginal Conservative seat of | :07:40. | :07:43. | |
Croydon Central where the MP Gavin Barwell has a lead of just 165. That | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
is not the only Conservative seat he has visited, along the way he popped | :07:49. | :07:52. | |
in on Bristol North West, a Conservative majority of nearly | :07:53. | :07:59. | |
5000. The Tory seat of Cardiff North, a lead of just over 2000, | :08:00. | :08:06. | |
Warrington South, just over 2700, and Crewe and Nantwich, Tory | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
majority of three and a half thousand. Yesterday he visited | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
Bethnal greed and Bob, a Labour lead of 20 4000. Theresa May kicked off | :08:17. | :08:22. | |
her campaign in Bolton, Labour majority of over 4000. On her way | :08:23. | :08:26. | |
round the UK she had a comfy stop in her own maidenhead seat, where she | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
is defending a majority of nearly 30,000, before travelling to other | :08:32. | :08:34. | |
Labour marginals including Dudley North, a Labour lead of 4000. | :08:35. | :08:42. | |
Bridgend, a lead of just under 2004 Labour, before becoming ambitious | :08:43. | :08:43. | |
and visiting shadow minister Richard Bergen's Leeds East seat, which he | :08:44. | :08:59. | |
won by over 12,500 votes. Yesterday she went north of the border to | :09:00. | :09:02. | |
Aberdeenshire, where amongst other places she visited the SNP seat of | :09:03. | :09:04. | |
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, where the Tories would have to gain | :09:05. | :09:05. | |
over 7000 votes to unseat the NP. What do you make of it all so far? | :09:06. | :09:13. | |
It is remarkable she is doing these visits in Scotland. Past but even | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
five years and the idea of a Tory Prime Minister going round Scotland | :09:18. | :09:20. | |
would be utterly counter-productive, and actually they are ambitious for | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
Scotland now under with Davidson, a prospect of multiple seats, and that | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
would be a real genuine shift in Scottish politics, the likes of | :09:30. | :09:32. | |
which we have not seen for 15 or 20 years. If she gets that, that helps | :09:33. | :09:42. | |
towards 100 seats, because if she wins ten in Scotland, it is | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
effectively 20, the SNP lose ten, she gains ten, she wants to do that | :09:48. | :09:51. | |
in the Midlands with Labour, and the North. To get the 100 majority, | :09:52. | :09:57. | |
other than Scotland, she has to win Labour seats, that is all that is | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
there. And clearly she has been told, it is obvious, that she has a | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
chance of doing so, otherwise you don't go to these parts of the | :10:07. | :10:09. | |
country in the first few days of the campaign. All logic points to her | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
being able to pull it off as well. The opinion polls, the state of the | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
Labour Party. The only qualification I have in this is that politics is | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
so wild and free Braille at the moment, it doesn't feel like | :10:24. | :10:30. | |
landslide to rain. That is true, it doesn't. It is early days, we | :10:31. | :10:36. | |
haven't yet had the manifestos, the campaign is yet to gather momentum. | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
It doesn't feel like landslide territory. I disagree, look at every | :10:40. | :10:48. | |
single poll, the Tory lead is 10% in Wales, you can see her picking up 20 | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
seat there. Put this together, I am told by the way she is going into | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
traditional Labour heartland again tomorrow, the key is the Ukip vote. | :10:58. | :11:03. | |
That will implode... Crumble towards Tories? If she can hoover that up | :11:04. | :11:22. | |
and retain the Tory vote, she will have a majority of 150. | :11:23. | :11:22. | |
I cannot let you go without reminding you that it is Donald | :11:23. | :11:23. | |
Trump's 100 days. He's not making a lot of it now, this is what he said | :11:24. | :11:24. | |
last night. We are just beginning in our fight | :11:25. | :11:26. | |
to make America great again. Now, before we talk about my first | :11:27. | :11:29. | |
100 days, which has been very exciting and very productive, | :11:30. | :11:38. | |
let's rate the media's 100 days. Because, as you know, | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
they are a disgrace. There you go, still bashing the | :11:44. | :12:03. | |
media, that was at a rally in Virginia, the 100 days was last | :12:04. | :12:08. | |
night. He seems happier campaigning than running the country. You each | :12:09. | :12:11. | |
have 20 seconds to give me your board on the first 100 days. | :12:12. | :12:20. | |
Remarkable, he will not stop slagging off the media but America | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
first has not meant America first in terms of national policy, he has | :12:26. | :12:28. | |
reneges on what he said about Nato being obsolete. He is moving from | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
the old right to the centre because that is where you get things done, | :12:34. | :12:41. | |
he is a pragmatist, also is about's friend Nigel Parrott is no longer | :12:42. | :12:47. | |
welcome, we read this morning! Allegedly! He loves campaigning but | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
finds governing much more difficult. Who would have thought being | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
president of the United States was a difficult job?! He loves rallies but | :12:57. | :13:00. | |
being president and politics is a very difficult thing indeed. Thank | :13:01. | :13:05. | |
you, there we go, Mr Trump's 100 days, we will see what the next 100 | :13:06. | :13:07. | |
brings. The Daily Politics is back | :13:08. | :13:10. | |
on BBC Two after the bank holiday on Tuesday at midday, | :13:11. | :13:13. | |
with all the latest And I'll be back here | :13:14. | :13:15. | |
on BBC One next Sunday Remember - if it's Sunday, | :13:16. | :13:18. | |
it's the Sunday Politics. The East End girl who became the | :13:19. | :14:25. | |
nation's favourite. We don't know what it is, | :14:26. | :14:27. | |
but she definitely has... Something. From stage to screen | :14:28. | :14:32. | |
and into our hearts. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
Ooh, in't she wonderful? If you're not careful, you'll end up | :14:38. | :14:44. | |
playing this sexy little blonde | :14:45. | :14:49. |