Browse content similar to 02/07/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
It's Sunday morning and this is the Sunday Politics. | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
Her position may be safe for the time-being. | :00:44. | :00:44. | |
But what about Theresa May's policies? | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
As ministers drops hints about easing the public sector pay | :00:49. | :00:51. | |
cap, is the Conservative Party undergoing a rebrand? | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
Jeremy Corbyn takes to the streets to call for an end to austerity. | :00:56. | :00:58. | |
But with his party's divisions on Brexit thrust into the open | :00:59. | :01:01. | |
is his post-election honeymoon coming to an end? | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
And, with Brexit talks under way, we know there's plenty at stake | :01:07. | :01:11. | |
for Britain, as it negotiates a new relationship. | :01:12. | :01:13. | |
But what's at stake for the remaining EU countries? | :01:14. | :01:16. | |
We speak to a leading European politician. | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
And coming up here, the DUP's Simon Hamilton | :01:21. | :01:22. | |
and Sinn Fein's John O'Dowd will be here in the studio, | :01:23. | :01:25. | |
as talks at Stormont look like they could be fizzling out. | :01:26. | :01:27. | |
And, on the eve of Wimbledon, I'm joined by the three top seats | :01:28. | :01:40. | |
of political commentary, Tom Newton Dunn, Isabel Oakeshott | :01:41. | :01:42. | |
They'll be serving up aces throughout the programme. | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
Is the Government going to change its policy on public sector pay? | :01:48. | :01:50. | |
The Conservative manifesto stated that the 1% cap on annual pay rises | :01:51. | :01:53. | |
for public sector workers would remain in place | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
until 2020, saving up to ?5 billion a year by then. | :01:58. | :02:01. | |
Earlier this week there were rumblings that the policy | :02:02. | :02:06. | |
would be reviewed, before the Treasury weighed in to suggest | :02:07. | :02:09. | |
The new Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, was asked about it | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
on the Andrew Marr show earlier today. | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
I was Education Secretary and I know the schoolteachers pay review body | :02:19. | :02:21. | |
Not a poodle but they work underneath the overall strategy | :02:22. | :02:30. | |
set by the Chancellor, set by the government. | :02:31. | :02:32. | |
They take account of that, but they also take account | :02:33. | :02:34. | |
of other questions as well, including the number of people | :02:35. | :02:37. | |
who are entering the profession, whether we need to have an increase | :02:38. | :02:40. | |
in pay in order to ensure we get the best people in the profession. | :02:41. | :02:43. | |
These pay review bodies have been set up in order to ensure we can | :02:44. | :02:46. | |
have authoritative advice on what is required in order | :02:47. | :02:49. | |
to ensure the public services on which we rely are effectively | :02:50. | :02:51. | |
staffed and the people within them are effectively supported. | :02:52. | :02:59. | |
I think we should respect the integrity of that process. | :03:00. | :03:01. | |
I'm not an individual, I am a member of the government, | :03:02. | :03:04. | |
Michael Gove. Two U-turns in one day, maybe going for the hat-trick | :03:05. | :03:13. | |
this week. It sounds they are thinking of ways of loosening up the | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
pay freeze but Mr Hammond doesn't want it to come out until the autumn | :03:18. | :03:21. | |
budget. That is absolutely right. My understanding is the deal is already | :03:22. | :03:24. | |
done. We've reported this week that 20 quite senior Tory MPs went to see | :03:25. | :03:29. | |
the new chief of staff on Wednesday, to make it very clear indeed they | :03:30. | :03:34. | |
would be voting for a budget that allowed the public sector pay freeze | :03:35. | :03:37. | |
to continue. Fine, we're going to do this, we're going to give fresh | :03:38. | :03:44. | |
advice to the pay review bodies that there remit has been expanded but we | :03:45. | :03:48. | |
cannot do it today because it's a victory for comrades Jeremy Corbyn | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
if we do. There we see, in a sense, the weakness of ten Downing St. They | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
can't direct this policy themselves. They are overruled by Mr Hammond | :03:59. | :04:03. | |
from Mr 11, and it only takes about 20 Tory MPs to say, hey, this is | :04:04. | :04:06. | |
what we want and at the very least the government has to listen to them | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
very seriously. They have to listen to the man they have to act, because | :04:12. | :04:14. | |
that is the fragility of the new House of Commons. We saw it last | :04:15. | :04:18. | |
week on another issue. If you have 20 people saying hey has got to rise | :04:19. | :04:25. | |
in the public sector, beyond the cap, pay will rise in the public | :04:26. | :04:28. | |
sector beyond the cap, because they won't be up to get it through the | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
House of Commons. I think there are other issues involved beyond the | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
numerical situation in the Commons. Lots of MPs came back after that | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
election, including Gavin Barrell who is in number ten, who lost his | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
seat, saying teachers and others were saying we can't carry on with | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
the pay restraint up until 2020. I think it is going to happen for a | :04:50. | :04:55. | |
combination of reasons. What happens to deficit reduction? The deficit is | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
going to rise this year. There were a few Tory MPs but not many who feel | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
it is wrong for the party to capitulate, having made such a point | :05:05. | :05:07. | |
of principle about posterity, that it looks very, very week just to be | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
caving in. I think Steve is right. This isn't just about the maths and | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
the -- in the House of Commons, Tory MPs are frightened in a way I have | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
never known them frightened before, at the momentum behind Jeremy Corbyn | :05:21. | :05:26. | |
at the moment. There is a real feeling about the Tory brand being | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
really in a very, very difficult place at the moment, where Tories | :05:33. | :05:35. | |
look nasty, there isn't nearly enough sympathy and it feels | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
politically impossible to stick with the pay limits as they are. That may | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
be one reason that will keep Tory MPs in line, because the last thing | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
they want at the moment is an election. When they say the country | :05:51. | :05:54. | |
doesn't need on another election it means the Tory party doesn't mean | :05:55. | :05:59. | |
another election, isn't that right? That's right and I think the view is | :06:00. | :06:05. | |
settled. Notwithstanding frenzied speculation in Sunday newspapers, | :06:06. | :06:07. | |
the daily newspapers are a lot more responsible! LAUGHTER | :06:08. | :06:14. | |
But every Tory MP says to Reza until the end of Brexit, we don't want to | :06:15. | :06:20. | |
open Pandora's box. -- Theresa May until the end of Brexit. The problem | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
still remains, she does have a lot less authority, which is why you get | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
bigwigs left, right and Centre for Michael Gove to Damian Green and | :06:31. | :06:34. | |
Justine Greening rattling that instant more money. You have to keep | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
the balance by leaving by consensus and a general for all, which we are | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
in danger of looking like this morning. OK, we will see. | :06:44. | :06:45. | |
So it's not exactly what you might call "strong and stable", | :06:46. | :06:48. | |
but after a turbulent couple of weeks, it appears | :06:49. | :06:55. | |
the Prime Minister has brought less instability, | :06:56. | :06:56. | |
The Government's legislative programme is in place and Brexit | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
So has Theresa May done enough to steady the ship | :07:02. | :07:04. | |
It's been an action-packed story of suspense, drama and intrigue. | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
The latest instalment, hotly anticipated. | :07:11. | :07:19. | |
"I got us into this mess", she told her MPs after the election, | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
This week, Theresa May tried to do just that. | :07:24. | :07:26. | |
To get the Democratic Unionist Party's ten MPs to back | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
the minority government, the PM pledged ?1 billion | :07:31. | :07:32. | |
Opposition parties branded it a bung and as the week went on, | :07:33. | :07:41. | |
some have their own MPs who are less than enthusiastic. | :07:42. | :07:43. | |
Mr Speaker, I can barely put into words my anger at the deal | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
But having signed that piece of paper, the Tories now had a tight | :07:48. | :07:53. | |
working majority of 13 to pass key Commons votes. | :07:54. | :07:56. | |
It was, at the very least, breathing space. | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
So, a deep breath and, midweek, and Labour proposal that the cap | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
on public sector pay rises should be lifted. | :08:05. | :08:08. | |
Some Tory MPs, including ministers, agreed, in principle. | :08:09. | :08:15. | |
Labour's challenge failed, but the Government had | :08:16. | :08:17. | |
We will listen to what people in this house have said before | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
The public sector pay cap, by the way, was designed | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
to save ?5 billion for the public purse by 2020. | :08:26. | :08:27. | |
But the policy looks like it could be on its last legs. | :08:28. | :08:31. | |
Thursday was the big moment, the Queen's Speech, which passed, | :08:32. | :08:34. | |
Tory support for a Labour amendment led to a government pledge to front | :08:35. | :08:41. | |
abortions in England for women from Northern Ireland. | :08:42. | :08:44. | |
The ayes have it, the ayes have it, unlock. | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
The last-minute compromises in this Queen's Speech suggests | :08:50. | :08:52. | |
the Prime Minister is acutely aware of the arithmetic in Parliament. | :08:53. | :08:55. | |
She will have to listen more to her own MPs and they know that. | :08:56. | :08:59. | |
One former Cabinet minister told me every time seven of us get together, | :09:00. | :09:02. | |
And yet, after this week, the Prime Minister may not be such | :09:03. | :09:08. | |
I think the ship is certainly steadier. | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
I think there is a degree of what I call a rolling probation | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
for the Prime Minister at the moment. | :09:18. | :09:18. | |
And I think the Prime Minister's performances in the chamber, | :09:19. | :09:26. | |
Prime Minister's Questions, we had the first one back this | :09:27. | :09:28. | |
week, where she reasserted a deal of her authority. | :09:29. | :09:31. | |
And I think there is a great deal of relief and respect for that. | :09:32. | :09:37. | |
Others say the party should reflect on more | :09:38. | :09:39. | |
It doesn't matter if we have Alexander the great or the Ark | :09:40. | :09:47. | |
Angel Gabriel as leader, unless we have fundamental reform. | :09:48. | :09:49. | |
At the moment, often we have these policies but it's like a whole load | :09:50. | :09:52. | |
of clothes pegs without a washing line, bringing them together. | :09:53. | :09:55. | |
So we need to explain what we are about. | :09:56. | :09:57. | |
The Conservative Party is there to help working | :09:58. | :09:59. | |
The Conservative Party is there because we are the party | :10:00. | :10:02. | |
of the ladder of opportunity to get people up that ladder. | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
We have a moral purpose, too, just as the Labour Party do. | :10:06. | :10:08. | |
Several MPs told me the debate within the party is still when, | :10:09. | :10:13. | |
Anybody who says it will definitely be Theresa May as the leader | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
of the Conservative Party going into the next general election | :10:19. | :10:21. | |
It might be, I have to say at the moment it's | :10:22. | :10:28. | |
But conversely, there is absolutely no appetite whatsoever, | :10:29. | :10:36. | |
thre are no manoeuvres going on, no operations going on to instigate | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
a leadership challenge to have a new leader | :10:40. | :10:41. | |
of the Conservative Party in the immediate future. | :10:42. | :10:48. | |
One theory is that Theresa May stays on as PM to negotiate | :10:49. | :10:51. | |
To be something of a scapegoat for what will be, | :10:52. | :10:54. | |
at best controversial, at worst, deeply unpopular. | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
And then, to move aside to make way for a less tarnished leader, who can | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
take the Conservatives into the next general election. | :11:04. | :11:06. | |
It's the immediate future Theresa May will be focused on. | :11:07. | :11:14. | |
This week, a G20 meeting in Hamburg with other world leader chums. | :11:15. | :11:17. | |
Back home, she can't take her friends for granted | :11:18. | :11:19. | |
and told her own MPs, she'd serve as long | :11:20. | :11:21. | |
Joining me now is the Minister for International Trade Greg Hands. | :11:22. | :11:30. | |
Welcome to the programme. Good morning, Andrew. Do you agree with | :11:31. | :11:36. | |
your old Treasury boss, George Osborne, who said easing up on | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
austerity would risk the mistakes of the past which led Britain to the | :11:42. | :11:45. | |
point where there was no money left? There is no change in government | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
policy. We must live within our means. That is the right thing to | :11:50. | :11:53. | |
do. We have reduced the deficit by three quarters since 2010. That is | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
work that is still ongoing. It's very important that we keep budget | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
discipline, because it's impossible to pay for our public services | :12:02. | :12:05. | |
without having a growing economy, the taxes coming into pay for all | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
the services people want and expect. How can you continue to cut the | :12:10. | :12:12. | |
deficit, it's actually rising this year compared to last year, how do | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
you continue to cut the deficit? ?1 billion to find for the DUP, you | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
have to find the money you could in debt because you couldn't change | :12:22. | :12:24. | |
national insurance, and if you loosen up on the public sector pay | :12:25. | :12:26. | |
freeze, you have to find money for that as well, how do you do both? | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
It's important to have a prudent policy, a prudent fiscal budget | :12:32. | :12:36. | |
policy. The Chancellor will be laying out his budget in the | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
autumn... How do you square the circle and me all these demands? | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
Your own ministers are talking about them and yet continue with deficit | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
reduction? It's very important to consider what we have done on public | :12:50. | :12:53. | |
sector pay. Actually by having that cap in place we have saved around | :12:54. | :12:56. | |
200,000 public sector jobs. We have done a lot for the lower paid public | :12:57. | :13:01. | |
sector workers by raising the personal allowance... I'm not asking | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
about that, I'm asking how do you meet the demand for extra public | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
spending and continue with deficit reduction? I think over the last | :13:11. | :13:13. | |
seven years the government has had a very good record on this, Andrew. In | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
terms of being able to reduce the deficit... While still putting in | :13:19. | :13:21. | |
place increases in public funding. For example, in the Conservative | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
manifesto we pledged 4 billion extra on schools and 8 billion extra on | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
health. We can do the two together, but it does require that budget | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
discipline overall, making sure that something is to get out of control. | :13:36. | :13:38. | |
You were a number two in the Treasury during George Osborne's | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
tenure. You protected pensioners with triple lock, free bus passes, | :13:44. | :13:46. | |
the Winter fuel allowance but trebled tuition fees on young folk | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
made it impossible for many of them to get a foot on the property | :13:51. | :13:53. | |
ladder. Is it any wonder young people to vote for you? I think | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
that's an important question for us and an important question as we look | :13:59. | :14:02. | |
at the election. That's why I asked the question, what is the answer? We | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
have to improve our offer and young people and provide more housing. I | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
think we need to look at more money into schools, improving our schools | :14:11. | :14:13. | |
as we go forward and making sure that cities like mine in London are | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
made more liveable and more cost-effective for young people. Why | :14:19. | :14:21. | |
haven't you done that in the past seven years? Instead you have | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
secured the pensioners and you have knocked young folk may have turned | :14:26. | :14:30. | |
against you. Why should young people believe in capitalism if they have | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
no chance of accruing any capital? I think what we have done over the | :14:35. | :14:37. | |
last seven years has actually been to build more homes. We just need to | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
build the more quickly. Your record of building homes is even worse than | :14:42. | :14:44. | |
the last Labour government and you know that. 62% of 18-24 -year-olds | :14:45. | :14:53. | |
voted Labour. 62%. 56 of 25-35 -year-olds. You didn't build enough | :14:54. | :14:56. | |
houses for these people. That is one of the reasons why we are addressing | :14:57. | :15:02. | |
that. Why haven't you addressed it? 1.5 million new homes over the | :15:03. | :15:05. | |
course of this Parliament and what we have done that with things like | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
starter homes, shared ownership, it's much more flexible forms of | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
tenure to make sure homes are more attractive to younger people, | :15:14. | :15:15. | |
particularly younger people starting off in life. Ministers have bent | :15:16. | :15:19. | |
telling me this for seven years and you never do it. -- been telling me. | :15:20. | :15:23. | |
That is what the programme is designed to do. We have been | :15:24. | :15:26. | |
building more homes. We need to accelerate that. We'll phone need an | :15:27. | :15:31. | |
open conversation about how we improve elsewhere for young people | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
in schools and universities and so on that. OK, Brexit. You are the | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
International Trade Minister. Will the UK leave the customs union in | :15:42. | :15:49. | |
March 2019, and if it doesn't make its own trade deals? Our position on | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
exit and the customs union is unchanged. What is it? To leave the | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
single market and Customs union. But other components of free trade | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
agreement with the European Union and customs arrangements, so we have | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
frictionless free trade with the European Union. Will that happen by | :16:08. | :16:11. | |
March 2019? That is the negotiation that has just started. I am not | :16:12. | :16:15. | |
putting an end state on that. What I'm saying is the objective in this | :16:16. | :16:20. | |
is to make sure that we frictionless trade with the EU and come to a | :16:21. | :16:23. | |
future customs arrangements to buy it's not clear we will be able to | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
start making our own trade deals after March 2019? Once we leave the | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
European Union, yes, I am clear we will be able to make our own trade | :16:33. | :16:38. | |
deals. March 2019? When we leave the single union and the customs union | :16:39. | :16:41. | |
we come to an arrangement with the European Union. We will be able to | :16:42. | :16:44. | |
make free trade deals but at the moment we can't because we are in | :16:45. | :16:52. | |
the EU. Will you be able to make them if there is a transition | :16:53. | :16:55. | |
period? That remains to be seen. You might not. We have only just started | :16:56. | :16:58. | |
the negotiation. You had a year to think about it. To think about a | :16:59. | :17:00. | |
transition period and when it might start and then... What we are clear | :17:01. | :17:03. | |
about is there should be no cliff edge for businesses in the UK and | :17:04. | :17:08. | |
the European Union and to make sure the trade continues as frictionless | :17:09. | :17:11. | |
as possible. We don't yet know if we will be able to make our free trade | :17:12. | :17:14. | |
deals during the transitional period? It could be postponed until | :17:15. | :17:22. | |
2021 or 22? We don't yet know if we're going to have a transition | :17:23. | :17:26. | |
period, to be fair. The objection in all of this is to have frictionless | :17:27. | :17:30. | |
free trade with the European Union and come to a customs arrangement. | :17:31. | :17:31. | |
That is the objective. You are minister for London so let's | :17:32. | :17:47. | |
turn to the Grenfell Tower disaster. Kensington and Chelsea Council is in | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
chaos. The leader resigned on Friday and the chief executive has gone as | :17:53. | :17:59. | |
well. That is what I mean, it is in chaos. We're waiting for a new | :18:00. | :18:04. | |
leader for the council because it is important for local democracy to | :18:05. | :18:08. | |
have its say. It is quite a big thing for government to to go in and | :18:09. | :18:16. | |
put a Council on special measures. It is in a state, you have lost the | :18:17. | :18:23. | |
chief executive, you've lost the council leader, it is lacking in | :18:24. | :18:27. | |
experience and surely if there is ever a time to send in the | :18:28. | :18:31. | |
Commissioners to get a grip of this crisis, it is now? We are waiting | :18:32. | :18:38. | |
for a new leader. There is an interim chief executive coming over | :18:39. | :18:43. | |
from Lewisham Council. Clearly, there will be lessons to be learned | :18:44. | :18:46. | |
and that is a matter for the public enquiry. There will be an election | :18:47. | :18:54. | |
within the Conservative group on the council. There are very capable | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
councillors in Kensington and Chelsea. We haven't seen much sign | :18:59. | :19:06. | |
of that, did you have any involvement in the resignation of | :19:07. | :19:14. | |
the council leader? I spoke to him, like all council leaders do. I spoke | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
to him, I spoke to the previous leader and the leader of might of | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
the council. It is natural that MPs speak to their council leaders on an | :19:25. | :19:28. | |
ongoing basis. We know the Council opted for cheaper cladding because | :19:29. | :19:36. | |
they want good costs. So that cheese pairing is inevitable in town halls | :19:37. | :19:39. | |
when central government, has yours has done, cut their budget by 40%? I | :19:40. | :19:48. | |
don't accept the premise to that because a lot of financing has been | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
devolved back to local government. But you have cut local government | :19:54. | :19:59. | |
financing by 40%. There is 200 billion available over the rest of | :20:00. | :20:02. | |
this Parliament to the local councils and we believe that is | :20:03. | :20:09. | |
fair. Kensington and Chelsea Council spent ?8.6 million on this | :20:10. | :20:12. | |
refurbishment. It is not necessarily a shortage of funds. Indeed, they | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
have 274 million in reserves and they put people at risk to save | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
?300,000. If that is not a case of putting in the Commissioners, what | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
is? That is a matter for the ongoing enquiry and the lessons to be | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
learned from that and how it happened is a matter for the | :20:35. | :20:37. | |
different enquiries, including the public enquiries. Thank you. | :20:38. | :20:40. | |
Theresa May's stated aim in calling the election last month was to get | :20:41. | :20:43. | |
a stronger hand in the Brexit negotiations - in the end, the | :20:44. | :20:46. | |
But it's worth remembering that there's a lot at stake for both | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
After all, the UK is a major net contributor to the EU budget | :20:51. | :20:54. | |
and a big trading partner for the 27 countries remaining in the EU. | :20:55. | :20:58. | |
When Mr Davis and Mr Barnier kicked off the talk a couple of weeks ago, | :20:59. | :21:10. | |
the tone was businesslike and broadly constructive. | :21:11. | :21:11. | |
The two men agreed that the first age of the negotiation | :21:12. | :21:14. | |
The rights of EU citizens living here and British | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
The financial settlement that the UK will pay the EU, | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
On citizens rights, the EU published their proposals three weeks ago, | :21:24. | :21:27. | |
and the UK Government came forward with their plan last Monday. | :21:28. | :21:30. | |
The UK offer, however, was greeted with scepticism. | :21:31. | :21:34. | |
The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said... | :21:35. | :21:51. | |
But elsewhere, some EU figures have begun to worry about the financial | :21:52. | :21:53. | |
implications of Brexit for the remaining 27 countries. | :21:54. | :21:55. | |
Gunther Oettinger, the EU's budget Commissioner, said this week that | :21:56. | :21:58. | |
Brexit would leave a hole in the EU's finances of at least | :21:59. | :22:01. | |
That's because the UK is a net contributor to the budget. | :22:02. | :22:06. | |
The UK also runs a large trade deficit with the EU. | :22:07. | :22:09. | |
Last year we bought ?312 billion worth of goods | :22:10. | :22:12. | |
That is 71 billion more than we sold to the | :22:13. | :22:21. | |
So the introduction of trade tariffs would be costly for both sides. | :22:22. | :22:30. | |
The Brexit negotiations will continue every month. | :22:31. | :22:31. | |
Mr Davis and Mr Barnier will have their next face-to-face | :22:32. | :22:34. | |
meeting in Brussels on Monday the 17th of July. | :22:35. | :22:36. | |
Joining me now from Rome is Roberto Gualtieri. | :22:37. | :22:38. | |
He's a Socialist MEP, and part of the European | :22:39. | :22:40. | |
Welcome to the programme. The British government has published a | :22:41. | :22:51. | |
detailed plan to protect the rights of EU citizens living in the UK. The | :22:52. | :22:59. | |
EU response was highly critical, will that be the EU's response to | :23:00. | :23:06. | |
everything Britain proposes? First, we welcome the intention to protect | :23:07. | :23:14. | |
EU citizens. But, our reading of the plan is that it falls short of its | :23:15. | :23:19. | |
own ambitions, so there are a number of issues to be clarified. I think | :23:20. | :23:26. | |
also to be corrected. For instance, while our proposal is based on a new | :23:27. | :23:36. | |
low, this is based on a UK low and there are no guarantees that might | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
be changed in the future. Then there is the famous issue of enforcement, | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
which is based on UK courts. And third, there are a number of rights | :23:46. | :23:51. | |
which seem to be missing. For instance, a family member will have | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
to make his own request for settled status and we consider that an | :23:57. | :24:03. | |
conceivable there might be two different answers. My own child, for | :24:04. | :24:13. | |
instance. You are right, there are things to discuss. This wasn't a | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
take it or leave it offer by the British government, it was the | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
beginning of a negotiation. But Michel Barnier said it lacked | :24:24. | :24:27. | |
clarity and vision. Someone else said it was worrisome and the Dutch | :24:28. | :24:30. | |
Prime Minister said there were thousands of questions left | :24:31. | :24:34. | |
unanswered. These are not helpful responses? It is not an issue of | :24:35. | :24:40. | |
tones, it is an issue of the start of the negotiation, indeed. We are | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
commentating the paper, identifying what is good, and the rights | :24:46. | :24:52. | |
similar, there are a number of loopholes and there are some more | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
from the issues relating to the legal status... It just sounds very | :24:57. | :25:01. | |
constructive. Instead of saying, this is a good start, but there is | :25:02. | :25:08. | |
much more to do. But you just sound negative. No, I don't think so. My | :25:09. | :25:16. | |
first sentence was, I welcome the intention to protect the rights of | :25:17. | :25:21. | |
EU citizens. That is a very constructive sentence. Then one has | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
to be consistent and to find a mechanism which fully guarantees the | :25:27. | :25:30. | |
right and the negotiation, and they are exactly for this purpose. | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
Brussels is now worrying about how to fill the huge financial hole that | :25:35. | :25:38. | |
Britain's departure will create in EU revenues. There is a number of | :25:39. | :25:46. | |
ideas being floated at the moment, introduce an EU VAT supplement or | :25:47. | :25:49. | |
take an axe to the common agricultural policy which is about | :25:50. | :25:54. | |
40% of the budget. Does that appeal to you? There are two different | :25:55. | :26:02. | |
problems. The first is to define the settlement, which has to be an | :26:03. | :26:08. | |
integral part of the withdrawal agreement. We are not looking for | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
fines, we are looking for only commitment to be paid. Then there is | :26:13. | :26:19. | |
the issue for the future, were of course the union will have to | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
reassess and redefine and improve its mechanism in its own resources | :26:25. | :26:30. | |
so it can have an efficient finances in the future. So what do you want, | :26:31. | :26:38. | |
and EU VAT or cutting money to Italy? I think the union deserves a | :26:39. | :26:45. | |
better system of resources. This is for the future and we are working on | :26:46. | :26:50. | |
that. Do you agree with the bustle's commission every member of the EU | :26:51. | :26:55. | |
should adopt the euro by 2025? Yes, of course it is possible. Like it | :26:56. | :27:05. | |
was for the United Kingdom, for Denmark, but in principle, the | :27:06. | :27:10. | |
members of the union members of the union. So we think it would be good | :27:11. | :27:21. | |
to a allowed the euro. There is the political will of the country to be | :27:22. | :27:25. | |
taken into account but I think the euro has proven to be a successful | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
currency, protecting citizens. I expect the membership will be | :27:32. | :27:36. | |
broadened in the future. Why is it's GDP below what it was 15 years ago | :27:37. | :27:42. | |
and the industrial output is below them what it was in 1984 so the euro | :27:43. | :27:50. | |
hasn't been successful to you. You now run a massive deficit with | :27:51. | :27:56. | |
Germany, where is the success? It should not be confused, the currency | :27:57. | :28:02. | |
with the economic crisis we had. The also mistake in the conductor of the | :28:03. | :28:10. | |
economic policy. We are changing austerity politics for more growth | :28:11. | :28:15. | |
policies. Your country hasn't grown since you join the euro. The | :28:16. | :28:20. | |
economic policy is another thing, so we need to change the economic | :28:21. | :28:25. | |
policy. The common currencies is a strong protection for all of us. | :28:26. | :28:29. | |
Your country hasn't grown since you joined the euro. I don't think your | :28:30. | :28:40. | |
assessment is correct. Yes it is. By the way now, Italy is growing and | :28:41. | :28:47. | |
that is good. Europe is growing. In 2017 it is growing more than the US | :28:48. | :28:52. | |
and the UK. Do you accept if Britain had stayed in and been forced to | :28:53. | :29:00. | |
join the euro in 2025, there is no public opinion support for joining | :29:01. | :29:07. | |
the euro here? This is a joke. Whenever they say, if the UK had | :29:08. | :29:12. | |
stayed in the union, the UK would be forced to join the euro. This is not | :29:13. | :29:20. | |
true. That is what the Brussels delegation said. The Brussels | :29:21. | :29:26. | |
commission said it thinks everybody in the EU should adopt the euro by | :29:27. | :29:35. | |
2025. As I said, no. If you want to make a political statement, you are | :29:36. | :29:40. | |
free to do so. But the fact is, the member of the delegation to the euro | :29:41. | :29:45. | |
are supposed to join. Members who have decided to stay out of the | :29:46. | :29:48. | |
euro, are free to stay out of the euro whilst they are in the EU. That | :29:49. | :29:54. | |
is perfectly possible. Thank you for speaking to us from Rome today. | :29:55. | :29:57. | |
Jeremy Corbyn has had a bit of a spring in his step | :29:58. | :30:00. | |
since the election, after doing much better than pretty much | :30:01. | :30:02. | |
Indeed, despite the party's internal splits, Labour | :30:03. | :30:05. | |
But earlier this week, Labour's divisions on Brexit | :30:06. | :30:09. | |
were thrust into the open as 50 Labour MPs defied the party line | :30:10. | :30:12. | |
to vote in favour of a backbench amendment calling for the UK | :30:13. | :30:15. | |
to remain members of the EU single market and customs union. | :30:16. | :30:18. | |
One of those rebels was Labour MP Stella Creasy who had this to say | :30:19. | :30:21. | |
What a lot of us are saying is we want, in these negotiations, | :30:22. | :30:28. | |
To have a government that has forced through a hard Brexit, | :30:29. | :30:34. | |
especially in the light of the general election result, | :30:35. | :30:37. | |
with the public very clearly rejecting Theresa May's approach, | :30:38. | :30:39. | |
And across the house, again, there are MPs saying, | :30:40. | :30:44. | |
We don't know what is possible to achieve, but what we do know | :30:45. | :30:48. | |
is if you walk in the room and you throw away something | :30:49. | :30:51. | |
like single market membership, which 650,000 jobs in London alone | :30:52. | :30:54. | |
are part of that, it's irresponsible. | :30:55. | :30:56. | |
I'm joined now by the Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon. | :30:57. | :31:01. | |
Welcome to the programme. Thank you. On Thursday 49 MPs, almost a fifth | :31:02. | :31:11. | |
of the Parliamentary party, rebelled against the leadership over Brexit, | :31:12. | :31:16. | |
including three shadow ministers, were subsequently sacked by Jeremy | :31:17. | :31:19. | |
Corbyn. Labour is now more divided on Brexit than the Tories? I don't | :31:20. | :31:25. | |
think so. I think the amendment was regrettable and premature, and I | :31:26. | :31:28. | |
agree with the Labour deputy leader Tom Watson, when he said he was | :31:29. | :31:32. | |
disappointed about that. Actually, the difference in the Labour Party, | :31:33. | :31:35. | |
the difference of nuance on the single market between those who | :31:36. | :31:39. | |
definitely want to be a member of the single market, including some | :31:40. | :31:44. | |
people who backed that amendment, and those who want tariff free | :31:45. | :31:50. | |
access to the single market. The reality is, not just on Brexit, but | :31:51. | :31:54. | |
a whole host of issue, it's the Conservative government that is | :31:55. | :31:57. | |
completely divided and that odds with itself. If it is just nuance | :31:58. | :32:02. | |
and you are not divided, Mark our card. The Chancellor said single | :32:03. | :32:09. | |
access market mentorship is not on the table, the Brexit secretary said | :32:10. | :32:14. | |
it should be and another shadow ministers speaks about seeking | :32:15. | :32:16. | |
reformed membership of the European market and the customs union. Which | :32:17. | :32:23. | |
one is Labour policy? Brexit is a settled issue, in that Labour | :32:24. | :32:26. | |
accents Britain is leaving the European Union but we believe | :32:27. | :32:31. | |
Britain has to have a relationship with the institutions. Which one is | :32:32. | :32:34. | |
Labour policy of these three statements? Labour believes that we | :32:35. | :32:41. | |
should be having a job 's first Brexit. A Brexit that puts the | :32:42. | :32:45. | |
economy first. As our manifesto says, Britain's leaving the European | :32:46. | :32:49. | |
Union, for example that also means the freedom of movement of labour, | :32:50. | :32:56. | |
and the UK's part of that, will end when Britain leads the EU. Do you | :32:57. | :33:00. | |
want freedom of movement to end? What we do want to end is the | :33:01. | :33:05. | |
practice of unscrupulous employers, only recruiting workers from abroad | :33:06. | :33:11. | |
and also an scrupulous employers trying to use the free you movement | :33:12. | :33:17. | |
of labour to breakdown -- drag down terms and conditions. You can do | :33:18. | :33:20. | |
that if we are in or out of the single market. Do you want freedom | :33:21. | :33:26. | |
of movement to end? It is inevitable the freedom of movement will end. Do | :33:27. | :33:30. | |
you want it to do is a question that that is the difference. Your | :33:31. | :33:33. | |
manifesto said what you just said, I asked you if you want it to end? | :33:34. | :33:39. | |
What Labour wants is Brexit that puts jobs on the economy that is. | :33:40. | :33:45. | |
What Labour doesn't want is to put immigration and fall 's immigration | :33:46. | :33:48. | |
targets as the Conservatives did on the table. What is the answer? It's | :33:49. | :33:53. | |
quite simple, the free movement of labour will end in terms of when the | :33:54. | :33:57. | |
UK leads the European Union. Labour's priority is not any other | :33:58. | :34:02. | |
issue than jobs on the economy being put first and that is really | :34:03. | :34:05. | |
important. Putting jobs on the economy does, should we leave or | :34:06. | :34:09. | |
stay in the customs union? I think we need to leave all the options | :34:10. | :34:14. | |
open on that. We need to negotiate without putting options off the | :34:15. | :34:21. | |
table. You can't negotiate unless you know what your aim is, is it to | :34:22. | :34:25. | |
leave or stay in the customs union? British manufacturers gain a lot, | :34:26. | :34:31. | |
and their workers, in jobs, in terms of the current arrangement with a | :34:32. | :34:37. | |
customs union. What we want is an equivalent benefit. We want the | :34:38. | :34:40. | |
benefits of being in the customs union, even if when we leave the | :34:41. | :34:44. | |
European Union we can't be in the customs union. These are the kind of | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
demands that Theresa May should be making, and her ability to do so, | :34:49. | :34:52. | |
I'm afraid, has been severely weakened by the fact you can't even | :34:53. | :34:56. | |
command a majority now after she asked for a majority to do so. You | :34:57. | :35:00. | |
have criticised the government for saying no deal is better than a bad | :35:01. | :35:04. | |
deal, which I understand. But does that mean Labour's position is that | :35:05. | :35:08. | |
any deal is better than no Deal? Any deal better than no Deal? No, no. It | :35:09. | :35:13. | |
would be strange to say any deal is better than no Deal. We want a good | :35:14. | :35:17. | |
deal for Britain. But if you can't get that? We are confident a Labour | :35:18. | :35:25. | |
government could get that, we want a job 's first Brexit that puts jobs | :35:26. | :35:29. | |
first and puts living standards first and doesn't use, as the | :35:30. | :35:32. | |
Conservative government has tried to do, Brexit as a smoke screen to try | :35:33. | :35:36. | |
and create some kind of low regulated tax haven... You could be | :35:37. | :35:44. | |
in government for very shortly and the in these negotiations. If the EU | :35:45. | :35:48. | |
does not budge on demanding 1 billion euros divorce Bill, would | :35:49. | :35:53. | |
you just sack that for the sake of any deal or say no? -- suck it up? | :35:54. | :36:01. | |
Labour won't be sucking up to anyone, the EU or anyone else. A | :36:02. | :36:06. | |
Labour government would negotiate hard for Britain. What if they | :36:07. | :36:10. | |
wouldn't budge? On the demand for 100 billion euros? What would you | :36:11. | :36:15. | |
do? These are hypothetical scenarios, and these negotiations | :36:16. | :36:21. | |
are nuanced and compensated. Labour would campaign, in opposition, hold | :36:22. | :36:25. | |
the government to account for and in government deliver jobs first | :36:26. | :36:29. | |
Brexit, that puts the economy does. The kind of post-Brexit Britain we | :36:30. | :36:34. | |
want to see is one in which there is investment in industry, assistance | :36:35. | :36:37. | |
from the government in industry and are more equal society with high | :36:38. | :36:41. | |
wage jobs. Ian Wright Fricke, your new party says Labour is currently | :36:42. | :36:46. | |
too broad a church. Do you agree with him? I think the Labour Party | :36:47. | :36:53. | |
has always been a broad church. He says too broad? It has always been a | :36:54. | :36:58. | |
broad church, socialists and trade unionists and long may it be so. You | :36:59. | :37:03. | |
don't agree? The Labour Party is a broad church and it should be. Do | :37:04. | :37:06. | |
you support lowering the threshold of MPs needed, that you need to get | :37:07. | :37:11. | |
to stand for the Labour leadership? It is going to be debated at your | :37:12. | :37:15. | |
autumn conference? This question isn't seen as dead about the | :37:16. | :37:22. | |
leadership election many people predicted would occur after the | :37:23. | :37:25. | |
general election won't be occurring. Do you support? Tom Watson says | :37:26. | :37:29. | |
Jeremy Corbyn is secure for many years. I do believe all parties, | :37:30. | :37:33. | |
including the Labour Party, need to be made more democratic. We have a | :37:34. | :37:37. | |
membership of well over half a million and I would like the members | :37:38. | :37:42. | |
to have more say in our party's policies and in the way the party is | :37:43. | :37:47. | |
run. Jeremy Corbyn spoke at a left-wing rally in London yesterday. | :37:48. | :37:53. | |
Among the crowd there were placards calling Theresa May a murderer, | :37:54. | :37:59. | |
pictures of Mrs May's head on communist flags and Trotskyite | :38:00. | :38:02. | |
banners. Are these the kind of people Mr Corbyn should be | :38:03. | :38:05. | |
associating himself with, if he is a Prime Minister in waiting? The | :38:06. | :38:09. | |
reality is when you speak at an outdoor meeting, you have no control | :38:10. | :38:13. | |
who turns up or who is walking past. You have no control over the kind of | :38:14. | :38:17. | |
banners people make. I understand the hundred and 50,000 members of | :38:18. | :38:21. | |
the public at that event. No, there won't, 15,000. I spoke the night | :38:22. | :38:28. | |
before the general election, in an event in Leeds city centre. For all | :38:29. | :38:32. | |
I know, there could have been all sorts of people walking past, | :38:33. | :38:36. | |
watching. The key thing is to judge Jeremy by his words, Judge Labour by | :38:37. | :38:40. | |
our words on what we've done. We do believe in a new kind of politics. | :38:41. | :38:45. | |
Also politics committed to changing our society for the better. OK, | :38:46. | :38:50. | |
Richard Burgen, thank you for joining us today. | :38:51. | :38:58. | |
Hello and welcome to Sunday Politics in Northern Ireland. | :38:59. | :39:01. | |
Any chance of a deal at Stormont diminished | :39:02. | :39:03. | |
further over the weekend when the Sinn Fein President, | :39:04. | :39:05. | |
Gerry Adams, said he doesn't think there will be any | :39:06. | :39:08. | |
The DUP are showing no urgency, or no real inclination to deal with the | :39:09. | :39:24. | |
rights that are the crux, at the heart. | :39:25. | :39:26. | |
The party's John O'Dowd and Simon Hamilton of the DUP | :39:27. | :39:28. | |
My mother is gay and she is married to a woman in England. She cannot be | :39:29. | :39:39. | |
here because her marriage is not recognised in Northern Ireland. | :39:40. | :39:41. | |
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK | :39:42. | :39:43. | |
and Ireland where same sex marriage is still banned and pretty much | :39:44. | :39:46. | |
Thousands protested in Belfast yesterday to change that. | :39:47. | :39:49. | |
We'll be discussing that with an MLA who supports change and a campaigner | :39:50. | :39:52. | |
for the promotion of traditional marriage and religion who says same | :39:53. | :39:55. | |
sex marriage will weaken the natural ties between men, | :39:56. | :39:57. | |
our commentators Allison Morris and Professor Rick Wilford | :39:58. | :40:01. | |
The Sinn Fein President, Gerry Adams, pretty much confirmed | :40:02. | :40:11. | |
what very many people were thinking when he said a Stormont deal | :40:12. | :40:14. | |
There had been a flurry of activity over the weekend when Theresa May | :40:15. | :40:19. | |
had separate phone calls with Arlene Foster | :40:20. | :40:20. | |
and Michelle O'Neill, but it looks like the parties | :40:21. | :40:23. | |
will keep their distance on Monday and see what the Secretary of State, | :40:24. | :40:26. | |
Sinn Fein's John O'Dowd and Simon Hamilton of the DUP | :40:27. | :40:29. | |
So what 'profound and serious consequences' were outlined | :40:30. | :40:36. | |
by the SoS when the deadline on Friday was missed? | :40:37. | :40:46. | |
Let's begin by dispelling this nonsense that the DUP is not serious | :40:47. | :40:54. | |
about a deal. You will know that we have not drawn any red lines, we | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
have not set any preconditions. We want to see an executive and | :41:00. | :41:03. | |
assembly up and running as soon as possible. Do you believe Sinn Fein | :41:04. | :41:08. | |
wants a deal? I would hope that Sinn Fein want a deal to get devolution | :41:09. | :41:12. | |
up and running again so we can deal with pressing issues on matters of | :41:13. | :41:17. | |
health, education, they need to attract jobs and investment. Civil | :41:18. | :41:20. | |
servants are running the budget. There is a 5% cut to what | :41:21. | :41:25. | |
departments can spend. We need to get back in there, grapple those | :41:26. | :41:29. | |
issues, deal with those ages, deliver for people on the issues | :41:30. | :41:35. | |
that matter for them. That is being denied at this minute. We have not | :41:36. | :41:41. | |
set any preconditions, we are not going any red lines. We want to deal | :41:42. | :41:44. | |
with all of the issues that are important. You don't want any of | :41:45. | :41:51. | |
those cuts presumably to be commended in Northern Ireland. Does | :41:52. | :41:57. | |
your party want a deal? Devolution and the executive and the all | :41:58. | :42:01. | |
Ireland bodies that go with it are the only show in town but they have | :42:02. | :42:06. | |
to represent everybody. We have to have a government that represent all | :42:07. | :42:10. | |
people. People marched through the centre of Belfast yesterday. In | :42:11. | :42:13. | |
previous weeks we had 15,000 people marching through Belfast. These are | :42:14. | :42:19. | |
citizens who expect to have Wright, who should have rights, and they | :42:20. | :42:22. | |
should be protected by law and they should be protected by the executive | :42:23. | :42:26. | |
that is there to serve all the people. It is quite simple and | :42:27. | :42:29. | |
reasonable from many people's point of view. We want an executive built | :42:30. | :42:34. | |
on a rights basis which serves all the citizens of our society on an | :42:35. | :42:40. | |
equal and fair basis. But the way to sort those issues out is to get back | :42:41. | :42:43. | |
into the assembly, back into an executive and sort them out at | :42:44. | :42:49. | |
Stormont. We tried that over many years. Martin McGuinness tried that | :42:50. | :42:56. | |
as well. And with great patience and fortitude, Martin McGuinness worked | :42:57. | :43:00. | |
with the DUP to bring them over the line on the basis of equality | :43:01. | :43:04. | |
issues. The executive failed because of failure of a rights -based | :43:05. | :43:10. | |
society. It failed because of allegations of corruption at the | :43:11. | :43:14. | |
heart of government. We don't need to revisit all of that. We know all | :43:15. | :43:21. | |
of that. We need to know where we are starting from. Part of what Sinn | :43:22. | :43:27. | |
Fein wants is to elevate the Irish language over everything else. You | :43:28. | :43:29. | |
want some kind of cultural supremacy. No, we want equality for | :43:30. | :43:35. | |
everybody and when you have a rights -based Society for everybody, | :43:36. | :43:38. | |
People's rights, whether you are from the Orange tradition or any | :43:39. | :43:43. | |
other tradition, is protected from law -- in law. What is wrong with | :43:44. | :43:51. | |
that? It doesn't work like that. It doesn't operate like that. We want | :43:52. | :43:56. | |
to move forward. If a deal is required to get devolution up and | :43:57. | :44:02. | |
running, then we want a deal that is fair, that is sensible and that | :44:03. | :44:08. | |
doesn't reflect, elevate sorry, one side of the community or one | :44:09. | :44:14. | |
culture, above any other. As far as John O'Dowd and the people he | :44:15. | :44:19. | |
represents are concerned, they may feel that your party has been | :44:20. | :44:21. | |
distinctly lacking in its respect for those that are big supporters of | :44:22. | :44:28. | |
the Irish language? We want a deal that can be supported on all sides | :44:29. | :44:32. | |
of our community, not one that is seeing a culture or a language | :44:33. | :44:36. | |
elevated above any other. We do not wish to deny anybody who wants to | :44:37. | :44:39. | |
live their life or part of their life through the Irish language, we | :44:40. | :44:45. | |
don't want to denigrate... That is a shift in your position. We want to | :44:46. | :44:50. | |
be respectful of Irish language and Irish culture. Some of your members | :44:51. | :44:57. | |
have a track record. All of us want to see language and cultural issues | :44:58. | :45:01. | |
not being the political football that they have. We want to see them | :45:02. | :45:04. | |
dealt with properly. We want to see them dealt with respectfully. That | :45:05. | :45:10. | |
is what we are trying to do. Arlene Foster has been engaging with the | :45:11. | :45:13. | |
Irish language sector and has learnt a lot from that. We want to see that | :45:14. | :45:20. | |
continue. We want to see Ulster Scots for example recognised and | :45:21. | :45:26. | |
given... Compromise is not a dirty word, is that what you are saying? | :45:27. | :45:31. | |
We will look at a cultural Acrobat is not elevate any one culture or | :45:32. | :45:34. | |
language in our community about any others. It needs to be respectful of | :45:35. | :45:46. | |
all cultures. Does that help? It was said last week that an important | :45:47. | :45:52. | |
meeting, the associated costs with an Irish language act were | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
reasonable. Someone in the DUP suggesting that is progress, isn't | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
it? This idea that the Irish land which is to be elevated above all | :46:02. | :46:09. | |
others, -- language, we are going to go through a fortnight of oranges. | :46:10. | :46:17. | |
What I am saying is the Orange culture is well embedded in this | :46:18. | :46:23. | |
state. What the Good Friday Agreement was about was ensuring | :46:24. | :46:28. | |
there is equality of recognition. We have a deal. It is the Good Friday | :46:29. | :46:33. | |
Agreement. These negotiations are about implementation of outstanding | :46:34. | :46:37. | |
agreements which do not detract from the rights of anyone, but enshrine | :46:38. | :46:44. | |
in law the protection in rights for citizens whether they be from the | :46:45. | :46:47. | |
Irish land which tradition, whether they be from the LGBT tradition, -- | :46:48. | :47:00. | |
language. How do you respond to that? It is very simple, it is about | :47:01. | :47:04. | |
respecting the rights of everybody. I am happy to go through previous | :47:05. | :47:10. | |
agreements and point out why what Sinn Fein is demanding now is not | :47:11. | :47:18. | |
part of previous agreements. That was not promised by the DUP, and you | :47:19. | :47:21. | |
know that well. It has not been delivered. We want to see respect | :47:22. | :47:27. | |
for all cultures in Northern Ireland. We done upon to see the | :47:28. | :47:29. | |
Irish language elevated above other languages. | :47:30. | :47:39. | |
You might have two spruce up on your Irish language of Sinn Fein got | :47:40. | :47:46. | |
their way. That is not the sort of robust muscular... There is | :47:47. | :47:51. | |
obviously not a huge amount of common ground at this stage. There | :47:52. | :47:56. | |
are other issues that we need to catch on. What about the role of | :47:57. | :48:02. | |
James Brokenshire and all of this? Do you think that he can sort this | :48:03. | :48:08. | |
issue out, that he is in a position to help you to reach agreement | :48:09. | :48:11. | |
sooner rather than later? We are expecting a big announcement from | :48:12. | :48:18. | |
him later. We are not relying on James Brokenshire to sort anything | :48:19. | :48:26. | |
out. It needs to set aside its relationship with the DUP and | :48:27. | :48:32. | |
Theresa May needs to act as a co-guarantor, along with the | :48:33. | :48:38. | |
Taoiseach. It looks like he has three options tomorrow. Direct rule, | :48:39. | :48:46. | |
or another election. He does not have an option for direct rule | :48:47. | :48:49. | |
because then he would be in breach of another agreement. There is no | :48:50. | :48:54. | |
option of direct rule. What we want to see over the next of days is an | :48:55. | :48:58. | |
agreement which sees... Continue talking? We want to see agreement. | :48:59. | :49:04. | |
We want to see a step change in the negotiations. We want to see all the | :49:05. | :49:11. | |
local political parties reaching an intimidation ordeal. -- | :49:12. | :49:23. | |
implementation. We make no apology for the deal we did with the | :49:24. | :49:27. | |
Conservative Party. It has brought ?1 billion to Northern Ireland. It | :49:28. | :49:34. | |
has altered the relationship between the DUP and the Conservatives. What | :49:35. | :49:43. | |
we can't have is ongoing stasis, we cannot have those important reforms | :49:44. | :49:48. | |
required health and education, we need to attract more jobs and | :49:49. | :49:53. | |
investment and whilst not we don't Odyssey is a return to direct rule, | :49:54. | :49:56. | |
we cannot have a situation where we have more stasis and more delay and | :49:57. | :50:01. | |
those important decisions that matter to people's lives every | :50:02. | :50:09. | |
single day delayed any further. Do you want to see direct rule or | :50:10. | :50:13. | |
another election? We are prepared to work and roll up our sleeves, any | :50:14. | :50:20. | |
metaphor that you want, to build on the progress we have been making. | :50:21. | :50:27. | |
Could you be involved in a deal that required serious compromise by the | :50:28. | :50:31. | |
DUP on the eve of the 12? Calendar dates don't matter. Of course they | :50:32. | :50:37. | |
matter. If you have a good deal that is there to be done, at this moment | :50:38. | :50:43. | |
in time, that requires Sinn Fein to change its attitude and its approach | :50:44. | :50:48. | |
to these talks and not demand what it is looking for. Instead, work | :50:49. | :50:53. | |
with us together and build on the progress we have been making over | :50:54. | :50:56. | |
the talks to get a fair and sensible and balanced deal that can be | :50:57. | :51:02. | |
supported by all sides. Are you quite happy to see the DUP under | :51:03. | :51:06. | |
pressure in Westminster, as it was this week, Army issue of abortion? | :51:07. | :51:16. | |
Is that a comfortable issue? The pressure is off as far as doing a | :51:17. | :51:22. | |
deal at Stormont is concerned? No, I agree with Ian Paisley when he said | :51:23. | :51:27. | |
we are better governing ourselves. But it has to be on the basis of the | :51:28. | :51:34. | |
outstanding agreements. It is absolutely ridiculous. The Good | :51:35. | :51:36. | |
Friday Agreement and the St Andrews agreement were massive compromises | :51:37. | :51:42. | |
for unionism and republicanism. They came about because there were | :51:43. | :51:45. | |
understandings of change in the society. That change has to take | :51:46. | :51:49. | |
place for those agreements to deliver the social economic changes | :51:50. | :51:54. | |
that Simon talks about, the stable government Simon talks about. It is | :51:55. | :52:01. | |
the first I have had to talk with sound from the DUP. Was it is bigger | :52:02. | :52:11. | |
surprise as you were for the rest of us Chris Wilder you get a heads up | :52:12. | :52:15. | |
it was coming? It is a matter for the government at Westminster. It is | :52:16. | :52:23. | |
not what you wanted. At the same time, we had a court judgment which | :52:24. | :52:26. | |
ruled in a way which I thought was proper. That said this was an issue | :52:27. | :52:31. | |
for Northern Ireland on the Northern Ireland assembly to deal with and no | :52:32. | :52:34. | |
one wants to see... It is a matter for NHS England. It is a matter for | :52:35. | :52:39. | |
the Westminster government. It is positive that the positioning | :52:40. | :52:44. | |
Northern Ireland has been affected by the court case. No party wants to | :52:45. | :52:51. | |
see an extension of the 1967 act to Northern Ireland. You are not | :52:52. | :52:57. | |
uncomfortable about it? We would rather not... There will be a range | :52:58. | :53:10. | |
of issues... We will deal with that on a case-by-case basis. That does | :53:11. | :53:12. | |
not take away from the positivity we have had in securing... Will we know | :53:13. | :53:21. | |
about the meetings that take place? I think it is good that Northern | :53:22. | :53:24. | |
Ireland has an influence in Westminster at what is a crucial | :53:25. | :53:32. | |
time for our country. I know you think that, not everyone else | :53:33. | :53:37. | |
agrees. You will seem from the financial measures, we have | :53:38. | :53:42. | |
sought... It will benefit everyone in Northern Ireland. Another | :53:43. | :53:50. | |
interesting development, James Brokenshire is going to make an | :53:51. | :53:54. | |
announcement about transparency and critical donations. I am not sure | :53:55. | :53:57. | |
that is something the DUP are happy about. What do you make of it? Let's | :53:58. | :54:03. | |
see what James Brokenshire says. He should open that up. The public | :54:04. | :54:09. | |
should be aware of who is donating two critical parties. We have said | :54:10. | :54:15. | |
that over a member of years -- two political parties. We would be | :54:16. | :54:21. | |
comfortable with that. How uncomfortable or relax would you | :54:22. | :54:26. | |
about it but Iraq is not at all uncomfortable with it. We would be | :54:27. | :54:34. | |
relaxed with it. On the same footing as across the United Kingdom, we | :54:35. | :54:41. | |
want to see that. You're at critics have said you have been anything but | :54:42. | :54:48. | |
transparent. You can look at previous manifestos. We want to see | :54:49. | :54:52. | |
transparency in Northern Ireland, in keeping with the rest of the United | :54:53. | :54:56. | |
Kingdom and all of the rules in respect of political donations in | :54:57. | :54:58. | |
line with the rest of the United Kingdom. I don't know what he will | :54:59. | :55:04. | |
say. Have your colleagues had a conversation? We will look forward | :55:05. | :55:08. | |
to see what the Secretary of State brings forward. Thanks very much for | :55:09. | :55:11. | |
joining us. Let's hear what our | :55:12. | :55:13. | |
commentators make of that. Professor Rick Wilford | :55:14. | :55:15. | |
and Allison Morris of Glass half full, glass half empty? I | :55:16. | :55:29. | |
am naturally pessimistic. I am going to say the glass is half empty. But | :55:30. | :55:34. | |
I am a hot the sort of pessimists. Partly because I think we are | :55:35. | :55:42. | |
accustomed to this impasse which is now prevailing -- happy sort of | :55:43. | :55:50. | |
pessimistic. What is important is if we can... We can try to detect the | :55:51. | :55:53. | |
toll of the exchanges between the two major parties. It has been | :55:54. | :56:00. | |
worse. It has been much worse in the past. In that respect maybe there is | :56:01. | :56:06. | |
a glimmer of hope. It is not terrible bouts of finger wagging. | :56:07. | :56:10. | |
And people being particularly rude to each other. The mood is far more | :56:11. | :56:13. | |
tempered than we might have anticipated. I am a simple-minded | :56:14. | :56:19. | |
person. On this issue of the Irish language, what the assembly should | :56:20. | :56:25. | |
have done years ago was preceded with a single equality at. You could | :56:26. | :56:27. | |
have bundled into that single equality and they whole raft of | :56:28. | :56:31. | |
issues including language. That seems to have gone by the by. Sinn | :56:32. | :56:36. | |
Fein are determined to get a freestanding language act and I | :56:37. | :56:38. | |
don't think that is pitifully helpful. Are you optimistic after | :56:39. | :56:46. | |
what we have heard? -- particularly helpful. There's not going to be a | :56:47. | :56:54. | |
deal by tomorrow. We are all aware of that. The language has softened. | :56:55. | :57:01. | |
I think with regards to the DUP and their views on the Irish language, | :57:02. | :57:05. | |
remember the crocodile, it was only in January of this year, and there | :57:06. | :57:08. | |
has been an amazing change in language since then. There is a | :57:09. | :57:13. | |
change to the DUP 's language in relation to a lot of things. You | :57:14. | :57:19. | |
wonder how much of an influence their new employers in the Tory | :57:20. | :57:27. | |
party have had on that. I think that in that respect we will see a | :57:28. | :57:33. | |
massive change in the DUP 's language. Do you think Sinn Fein and | :57:34. | :57:40. | |
the DUP want a deal? I think all the parties are committed to the | :57:41. | :57:45. | |
principle of devolution, it is a matter of finding a means to that | :57:46. | :57:49. | |
end. There are variants of direct rule. There is going to be have -- | :57:50. | :58:02. | |
there is good have to be some sort of direct rule because we no budget. | :58:03. | :58:07. | |
The politicians are all going on holiday now. It is good to have to | :58:08. | :58:11. | |
come from Westminster. Whatever you want to call out, that is direct | :58:12. | :58:12. | |
rule. Now, I've been saying this | :58:13. | :58:15. | |
for quite a few months now, Here's a look back at the week in 60 | :58:16. | :58:18. | |
seconds, with Gareth Gordon. The DUP signed up to support the | :58:19. | :58:30. | |
Conservatives and were delighted with what they got in return. | :58:31. | :58:33. | |
Spending power of almost ?1.5 billion will be available to address | :58:34. | :58:38. | |
the unique circumstances of Northern Ireland. Welsh and Scottish | :58:39. | :58:44. | |
neighbours did not see it that way. This is cash for votes. If there is | :58:45. | :58:49. | |
investment coming to Northern Ireland, Scotland should be getting | :58:50. | :58:54. | |
its fair share. Another deadline slipped away. Much progress has been | :58:55. | :58:59. | |
made but a number of issues remain outstanding. The government | :59:00. | :59:04. | |
announced that women from Northern Ireland could have abortions in | :59:05. | :59:07. | |
England on the NHS. Pro-life campaigners weren't happy. It is | :59:08. | :59:12. | |
anti-democratic really. If you look at the mainstream parties in | :59:13. | :59:14. | |
Northern Ireland, none of them wanted the abortion act. The judges | :59:15. | :59:22. | |
gathered to decide who will be crowned politicians of the year. It | :59:23. | :59:26. | |
has to be Arlene Foster, for very bad reasons. | :59:27. | :59:29. | |
Now, if campaigners for same sex marriage got the law changed, | :59:30. | :59:33. | |
they probably wouldn't care whether it was done | :59:34. | :59:35. | |
Their focus is on bringing Northern Ireland into line | :59:36. | :59:38. | |
A big protest rally held in Belfast yesterday comes at a time, however, | :59:39. | :59:43. | |
when they say there is majority support now among MLAs for change. | :59:44. | :59:46. | |
We'll be discussing the case for same sex marraige | :59:47. | :59:48. | |
here with one of those MLAs, and a campaigner against the idea. | :59:49. | :59:51. | |
First, here's Catherine Morrison's report from the rally. | :59:52. | :00:04. | |
They came in their thousands, braving the rain to make their | :00:05. | :00:13. | |
voices heard. Campaigners want to change in the law to bring Northern | :00:14. | :00:16. | |
Ireland into line with elsewhere. This is the only part of the UK and | :00:17. | :00:20. | |
Ireland where same-sex marriage remains outlawed. We have kept the | :00:21. | :00:27. | |
tone of this campaign positive. It is about love and equality and | :00:28. | :00:30. | |
making sure this is about civil marriage equality. It is nothing to | :00:31. | :00:34. | |
do with what happens in churches. They are free to make their own | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
rules. The state should provide equally for all members of its | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
society. Today's march takes place against a backdrop of continuing | :00:44. | :00:47. | |
political disagreement over same-sex marriage equality. The DUP remain | :00:48. | :00:53. | |
opposed to any change in the law and the issue has become one of the | :00:54. | :00:56. | |
stumbling blocks in the current negotiations to restore part area. | :00:57. | :01:06. | |
Our politicians need to get with -- get with the 21st-century. It is | :01:07. | :01:10. | |
like dealing with dinosaurs. It is time to get to the streets. We don't | :01:11. | :01:13. | |
want to be left behind on this issue. The rest of the world is | :01:14. | :01:19. | |
moving on. The march made its way to the City Hall. It was led by amongst | :01:20. | :01:28. | |
others the... It is a personal issue for me. Her marriage -- my mother 's | :01:29. | :01:35. | |
marriage is not recognised in Northern Ireland. She chooses to | :01:36. | :01:38. | |
live in England. Supporters of marriage equality will be following | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
events at Stormont closely. If a deal is not struck, direct rule | :01:44. | :01:49. | |
could be imposed and a decision could be handed to the government in | :01:50. | :01:50. | |
Westminster. Catherine Morrison reporting there, | :01:51. | :01:51. | |
and I'm joined now by one of the many MLAs who was on that | :01:52. | :01:54. | |
march, Kellie Armstrong of Alliance and by Tracy Harkin | :01:55. | :01:57. | |
from the Iona Institute, an organisation formed to promote | :01:58. | :01:59. | |
the place of marriage To date, MLAs have voted five | :02:00. | :02:01. | |
times on whether or not I think yesterday's protest march | :02:02. | :02:16. | |
helped to solidify our cause that we are looking for same-sex marriage in | :02:17. | :02:19. | |
Northern Ireland. It is time and is also a call for a protection in | :02:20. | :02:26. | |
concerned. If we reform the petition concerned last time, made 2016, we | :02:27. | :02:33. | |
could have had to same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland by now. That did | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
not happen. I was absolutely determined with the crew delighted | :02:39. | :02:41. | |
to hear those calls for reform saw minority groups can take that | :02:42. | :02:48. | |
forward. Mike Nesbitt talked about people who oppose same-sex marriage | :02:49. | :02:51. | |
being on the wrong side of history. Do you get the sense that you are | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
now on the wrong side of history on this one? Not at all. It is | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
important to remember we all love rainbows and equality. I think that | :03:02. | :03:04. | |
the problem with this whole debate is we have not really talked about | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
the issues and the opposition is often nothing to do with the quality | :03:11. | :03:13. | |
or whether you like or don't like gay people. That is besides the | :03:14. | :03:20. | |
point. The heart of this to point -- this point, when you redefine | :03:21. | :03:28. | |
marriage, you redefine the rights of children. Two men and two women | :03:29. | :03:32. | |
cannot make a child. That is basic biology. When you redefine marriage, | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
you give them the same rights in law to have a child and there is a huge | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
problem with that. The rights and the equal rights of the child to | :03:42. | :03:48. | |
know and to be raised by design and circumstance... My mother died of | :03:49. | :03:54. | |
cancer when I was quite young and I was raised by a single father. There | :03:55. | :03:57. | |
is nothing wrong with a father raising his child. If you listen to | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
me, I am actually not saying that at all. There are lots of variations. | :04:04. | :04:14. | |
Absolutely. But throughout Ireland, north and south, children are being | :04:15. | :04:19. | |
raised in all sorts of circumstances and we all do the best we can. That | :04:20. | :04:26. | |
undermines your argument entirely. No, when you legalise same-sex | :04:27. | :04:29. | |
marriage, you were doing it by design so it is no longer | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
circumstance, it is by design. In Ireland we are very family | :04:35. | :04:44. | |
orientated. We all love programmes like the BBC One where people go off | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
to great lengths and were raised, they find out who... We only have to | :04:51. | :04:57. | |
look at organisations like sperm donors anonymous and to listen to | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
the children of gay couples... Let's just deal with the facts. Same-sex | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
marriage was introduced and the sky did not fall down. There is no | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
evidence that if that change came here, society would change | :05:13. | :05:18. | |
dramatically. And in a bad way. There is only 22 countries that have | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
legalised same-sex marriage. And how many countries are there in the | :05:24. | :05:26. | |
world? It is still quite new. What we do know is that once you redefine | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
marriage, the redefinitions have no end. For example, in Colombia, we | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
just had a three-man couple relationship... Nobody is talking | :05:37. | :05:42. | |
about that. This is the thin end of the wedge. That is the argument. I | :05:43. | :05:48. | |
have to say that we have already redefined marriage. If you go back | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
to the Bible, then are plenty of situations where there are men with | :05:53. | :05:59. | |
multiple wives. It did not work out too well. What is the problem with | :06:00. | :06:05. | |
men and women being married? My husband is not going to take off and | :06:06. | :06:08. | |
get married to a man if same-sex marriage comes in tomorrow. There | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
are certain people who believe they can control society and society is | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
moving on beyond that. As a legislator, I have to take account | :06:18. | :06:22. | |
of people who are not Christian and to have different lifestyles. I | :06:23. | :06:24. | |
cannot impose my religious views or anybody else's on that. I have to | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
say, to turn round and say that same-sex marriage is a problem with | :06:29. | :06:35. | |
children, what are we going to say next? This is the problem with this | :06:36. | :06:45. | |
whole debate... Let's think about where marriage came from. The state | :06:46. | :06:54. | |
only intervenes... A man and a woman make a baby. I had infertility | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
problems for seven years and I was delighted to finally have my | :07:01. | :07:03. | |
daughter. Did that mean for seven years my marriage was worthless? So | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
why do you keep bringing it back to children? Because when you | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
legislate, you give the same rights to two men and two women. That's the | :07:13. | :07:20. | |
point about the legislation. I would rather have a child that is being | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
loved by two parents... Do you think that a man and a woman, a mother and | :07:25. | :07:35. | |
a father don't matter? Just to be clear, what the suggestion seems to | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
be is that by allowing same-sex marriage, you somehow diminish | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
heterosexual marriage? Where is the evidence for that? Explain what you | :07:45. | :07:56. | |
mean by a natural tie. My father was a fantastic father. Why are you | :07:57. | :07:59. | |
saying that two men cannot be good fathers? They can. We are | :08:00. | :08:05. | |
creating... We are giving state blessing where children are by | :08:06. | :08:09. | |
design not just circumstance will actually be deprived of the love of | :08:10. | :08:17. | |
a mother. Do you think that a family that is brought up that is not the | :08:18. | :08:20. | |
normal family as you would describe it is in some way diminished? | :08:21. | :08:33. | |
To be brought up without a mother or a father is a huge loss. I was | :08:34. | :08:42. | |
brought up by a single father. Did you miss your mother? Would you have | :08:43. | :08:48. | |
like that to have been deliberately inflicted on you by design? But I | :08:49. | :09:00. | |
don't diminish my father 's role. Whether or not I had a mother is not | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
in my gift but I wouldn't diminish my family as being less because it | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
was not... Let me ask you, whether you like it or whether you don't | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
like it, there will be people who agree wholeheartedly, and Angela | :09:15. | :09:21. | |
Merkel voted against same-sex marriage in Germany just within the | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
past week, so how do you start to try to persuade people like Tracy | :09:26. | :09:28. | |
that they have got it wrong and they need to look at it in a different | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
way? We have carefully considered this and we'll are taking forward | :09:33. | :09:40. | |
proposals. We consulted with people. We talked to churches. And what we | :09:41. | :09:46. | |
have is to say that we won protections for churches so that no | :09:47. | :09:49. | |
church will be forced to perform a ceremony of that is not within the | :09:50. | :09:57. | |
Church or that religious groupings. Does that reassure you at all? Other | :09:58. | :10:05. | |
relationships, they should be allowed to live, everybody should be | :10:06. | :10:09. | |
allowed to live every way they want big because of the nature of | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
marriage, it is all to do with the natural ties. Children will lose out | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
and we only have two Google... You have made that point. We need to | :10:21. | :10:27. | |
leave out there. What do you want to hear from the Secretary of State | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
tomorrow? Confirming that devolution will be back on track again. It may | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
well require more talks but I don't want to see as mood into direct | :10:37. | :10:42. | |
rule. And good news if he moves on political donations? Absolutely. | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
That'll a fantastic world. Let's hear more from Rick Wilford | :10:47. | :10:49. | |
and Allison Morris. This is an issue which clearly | :10:50. | :11:03. | |
divides people. Are our legislators likely to be able to resolve this | :11:04. | :11:09. | |
issue? What we saw in the last assembly when it was functioning was | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
that there would have been same-sex marriage, had the DUP not use the... | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
It is lovely to be able to persuade people to move over to the other | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
side and accept equality but if they cannot BX -- persuaded, they will | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
have to accept Democratic rule. We have seen that in the south. The sky | :11:27. | :11:37. | |
does not falling. The fact that we don't have same-sex marriages | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
terrible. I agree. I think marriage is such a plastic concept and it | :11:42. | :11:49. | |
evolves over time. There is no one fixed view of marriage. I take a | :11:50. | :11:56. | |
much more pleural view. It is a social construction. And certainly | :11:57. | :11:58. | |
public opinion in Northern Ireland seems to move in the direction of | :11:59. | :12:03. | |
adding this to the repertoire of the kinds of marriages there can be. I | :12:04. | :12:05. | |
certainly don't think that children's rights are in any way | :12:06. | :12:13. | |
impaired. A quick word about the political donations and the | :12:14. | :12:20. | |
Secretary of State? It'll be incredibly positive. We would love | :12:21. | :12:23. | |
to see where all this money has been coming from all these years. It is | :12:24. | :12:31. | |
about time. I think the Brexit fold highlighted that it needs to be open | :12:32. | :12:35. | |
and transparent. The parties could have done it voluntarily. The fact | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
it is taking legislation to get them to think about it is rather | :12:40. | :12:45. | |
disappointing. They could have just said, these are the papers, these | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
are the donors. What do you expect to hear from the Secretary of State? | :12:51. | :12:57. | |
None of us have managed to understand what those serious and | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
dire consequences are. I think they will change the legislation for an | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
extended period. Yes, September, probably. We will see. | :13:09. | :13:13. | |
That's it from Sunday Politics for this week. | :13:14. | :13:15. | |
Keep across all the political developments on TV, radio | :13:16. | :13:17. | |
and digital as they unfold in the coming days and I'll be back | :13:18. | :13:20. | |
For now, though, from everyone in the team - goodbye. | :13:21. | :13:55. | |
The Irish Open is coming back to the north coast. | :13:56. | :13:59. | |
For the first time, Portstewart Golf Club plays host, | :14:00. | :14:04. |