Browse content similar to 13/04/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Aternoon folks, and welcome to the Sunday Politics. As MPs head off for | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
their Easter break, campaigning for the European elections in six weeks' | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
time gets underway. In a Sunday Politics special, we'll debate the | :00:44. | :00:46. | |
issues at stake on May 22nd with senior party figures from the | :00:47. | :00:48. | |
Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, and UKIP. And as ever | :00:49. | :00:58. | |
we'll be discussing the week ahead with our panel of top political | :00:59. | :01:00. | |
In the south`west. The plans to commentators. | :01:01. | :01:08. | |
In the south`west. The plans to create more jobs and boost wages. | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
And the row about the cost of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley | :01:13. | :01:14. | |
Point. newspapers which some claim are | :01:15. | :01:18. | |
politically slanted and not impartial about informing people of | :01:19. | :01:24. | |
local services. So all that to come between now and | :01:25. | :01:27. | |
quarter to four and for the next thirty minutes or so we'll be | :01:28. | :01:30. | |
debating the European elections Here in the studio we have Syed | :01:31. | :01:33. | |
Kamall, leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament, Richard | :01:34. | :01:36. | |
Howitt, chair of the Labour group of MEPs, Sarah Ludford, deputy leader | :01:37. | :01:39. | |
of the Lib Dems in Europe, and Patrick O'Flynn, UKIP's director of | :01:40. | :01:49. | |
communications. Welcome to you all. In a moment, all four will give us | :01:50. | :01:52. | |
their opening pitch for the elections. A little earlier they | :01:53. | :02:02. | |
drew lots to decide who'll go first. And that privilege goes to Syed | :02:03. | :02:04. | |
Before that, though, here's a quick reminder of what all the fuss is | :02:05. | :02:10. | |
about. The vote to choose members of the | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
European Parliament takes place on Thursday the 22nd of May. The same | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
day as local elections are held in England and Northern Ireland. The UK | :02:19. | :02:21. | |
sends 73 England and Northern Ireland. The UK | :02:22. | :02:25. | |
sends NTP is to Brussels. And the vote is a form of proportional | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
representation. In total, there are 751 MEPs from the 28 member states. | :02:30. | :02:36. | |
What do they do all day? The European Parliament's power has | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
grown. A vet of the EU commissioners and they can amend, approve or | :02:42. | :02:44. | |
reject nearly all EU legislation and the EU budget. Some laws MEPs have | :02:45. | :02:51. | |
been responsible for include price caps on mobile phone chargers, | :02:52. | :02:57. | |
banking regulation and cover food regulation two -- labelling. | :02:58. | :03:03. | |
Syed Kamall, you have 30 seconds. Europe cannot go on as it is. Europe | :03:04. | :03:09. | |
needs to change. And our relationship with Europe needs to | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
change. Only the Conservatives have a plan to deliver that change and of | :03:14. | :03:16. | |
the British people and in-out referendum. Labour and the Lib Dems | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
will not and UKIP simply cannot Only the Conservatives will offer | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
the three yards, with Conservative MEPs working alongside a | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
conservative Prime Minister. For, really is and above all a | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
referendum. Sarah Ludford is next. Your choice is simple. If you think | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
Britain is better off in Europe vote for the Liberal Democrats. The | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
Lib Dems are the only party of Ian, fighting to keep Britain in Europe | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
and in work. There is nothing patriotic about UKIP's desire to | :03:51. | :03:54. | |
pull-out. That is playing Russian roulette with Britain's economy and | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
jobs. The Conservatives are flirting with exit and Labour lacks the | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
courage to speak up. Thought Liberal Democrat on May the 22nd to say in | :04:03. | :04:09. | |
Europe for jobs and security. Sarah Ludford. Next, Richard Howitt from | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
Labour. The European elections are about who represents you. They are | :04:15. | :04:19. | |
not a referendum on a referendum. Labour MEPs believe in putting jobs | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
and growth first. A guarantee to help young people into work, | :04:25. | :04:27. | |
reforming energy markets so that bills are brought down for good | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
Labour believes in reform in Europe, but within. It is David Cameron who | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
is risking your job and Britain s prosperity because of divisions in | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
his own party. Labour MEPs put British interests first. Our fourth | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
opening statement from Patrick O'Flynn. The EU is old hat. It is a | :04:46. | :04:53. | |
declining regional trade bloc in an era of global trade. It is a | :04:54. | :04:56. | |
20th-century political project designed to prevent conflict in | :04:57. | :05:01. | |
Europe that is now reawakening old hostilities. It is an attempt to | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
force on the European people European this as their primary | :05:06. | :05:13. | |
collective identity. It has hollowed out British democracy and now we do | :05:14. | :05:16. | |
not even control our own borders. That is why you should vote UKIP. | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
That is the opening statements. Let's get on with the debate. Why | :05:23. | :05:25. | |
should people vote in the selections? If you vote UKIP, we can | :05:26. | :05:32. | |
deliver an earthquake that will rock the foundations of British politics | :05:33. | :05:35. | |
and the European political class. We can send a signal to Europe that | :05:36. | :05:41. | |
Britain has had enough, that Britain wants to retain its nation state | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
status and regain political power and the ability to forge trading | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
deals across the world. Britain leading Europe to freedom twice in | :05:51. | :05:57. | |
the last century through bloodshed. We feel that a UKIP win in those | :05:58. | :06:00. | |
elections could help Britain set an example to lead European nation | :06:01. | :06:07. | |
states back to free assembly again. Syed Kamall, isn't it the case that | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
many Tory voters will vote you clip to keep you honest, to keep your | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
feet to the fire? Whatever you think of the European Parliament or the | :06:17. | :06:19. | |
EU, the fact is that the European Parliament as equal power with the | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
28 governments of the EU. When David Cameron delivered the first cut to | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
the EU budget, the first ever cut, he needed a strong team of | :06:31. | :06:33. | |
Conservative MEPs working alongside him. But many of your supporters | :06:34. | :06:40. | |
will vote for UKIP for the reasons I gave. Many will vote Liberal | :06:41. | :06:49. | |
Democrat. Not very many. Many of our supporters will vote for us because | :06:50. | :06:51. | |
we are the only party trying to change the EU and offer reform. We | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
have offered renegotiation and a referendum. And how would you vote | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
in such a referendum? We have no idea whether he would vote yes or | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
no. Let him answer. I will answer that question. If the EU continues | :07:07. | :07:12. | |
on this road, towards a United States of Europe, and if there was | :07:13. | :07:15. | |
no change at the time of the referendum, then I would probably | :07:16. | :07:21. | |
vote to leave. You have no confidence in David Cameron? We | :07:22. | :07:24. | |
Javier Culson opportunity to read negotiate our relationship with | :07:25. | :07:26. | |
Europe and the Conservatives are at the forefront of that agenda. David | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
Cameron have not given a list of demands. He said that if things do | :07:31. | :07:38. | |
not change, he will probably vote to leave, is that right? If at the time | :07:39. | :07:44. | |
of the referendum, things had not changed, I would vote to leave and | :07:45. | :07:47. | |
we have a golden opportunity to perform the agenda. Richard, the | :07:48. | :07:54. | |
last time the British people had a say on this was over 40 years ago. | :07:55. | :08:02. | |
Under a Labour government. Which was deeply divided on the issue. And | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
that was a say on the common market. Today's EU is a very different | :08:08. | :08:13. | |
animal from the common market. Why can we not, under another Labour | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
government, have another vote? First of all, we want it to be more than a | :08:19. | :08:24. | |
free trading area. We make no apologies about that. But in the | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
elections because this is half of Britain's exports and investment. If | :08:29. | :08:32. | |
you care about your job and business, you cannot hear from the | :08:33. | :08:35. | |
party of government that they probably want you to leave because | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
the CBI, the engineering employees in Federation and the chimp of | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
commerce, 80% of them say it is necessary to stay in. So why not | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
give us a vote? When David Cameron says he wants to repatriate social | :08:50. | :08:52. | |
powers, he means takeaway maternity rights and holidays. If the case is | :08:53. | :08:58. | |
so strong, why not give us an in-out vote? David Miliband has said that | :08:59. | :09:05. | |
there will be a referendum if there was a proposal to change powers Why | :09:06. | :09:10. | |
wait? This is based on a series of reforms. Labour has a set of | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
reforms. David Cameron is silent about what they would be. That is | :09:15. | :09:17. | |
because he knows that if he put them forward, they would either be | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
unsatisfactory to his Eurosceptic backbenchers and he would be out of | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
a job, or they would be unacceptable to European leaders. Why is your | :09:26. | :09:32. | |
leader missing in action? Ed Miliband is unable to say even the | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
positive things that you are saying. He has run away from the argument. | :09:37. | :09:43. | |
He actually said there would not be a referendum in his time. | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
For a conservative to say they will have a referendum but not give the | :09:48. | :09:55. | |
reforms, it is a mistake. Nick Clegg gave Nigel Farage a huge opportunity | :09:56. | :10:01. | |
in that debate. He said that the Eurosceptic view was to leave | :10:02. | :10:04. | |
Britain like Billy no mates. I can say that he is the best qualified | :10:05. | :10:11. | |
person to say that. Sarah Ludford, you have said that lots of people | :10:12. | :10:15. | |
are going to vote Lib Dem but that is not what the polls are saying. | :10:16. | :10:18. | |
You are 7% in two polls this morning. Eclectic's decision to | :10:19. | :10:22. | |
champion Europe has been a disaster for you. You face wet out. We swayed | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
a lot of people our way with Nick Clegg's debate. Where is the | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
evidence? We are the only party that is completely united, saying that we | :10:34. | :10:39. | |
are wanting to stay in. It is essential because formally and jobs | :10:40. | :10:41. | |
are supported by our trade with the EU. Linked to the EU. We are finding | :10:42. | :10:47. | |
a lot of moderate conservative voters are actually fed up with the | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
Tories being split and divided all over the place. Syed Kamall saying | :10:52. | :11:00. | |
that we might vote in rout. -- in or out. We are consistent. A poll in | :11:01. | :11:04. | |
London showed that 18% would vote for us. I am delighted about that. | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
London is not the whole country it may surprise you. We need to move on | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
to immigration, an important issue. We are a member of the EU and the | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
rules say that with a few caveats, our fellow EU citizens are free to | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
come here if they want. Why can we not just accept that? Britain has a | :11:24. | :11:29. | |
proud record when it comes to immigration. We have been open to | :11:30. | :11:32. | |
people across the world for centuries. But we welcome people who | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
come to our country to contribute to pay taxes and two wards are a | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
society positively. But there are three real concerns that we have to | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
address. The first one is numbers, and secondly people who may come | :11:45. | :11:48. | |
here not to work but for benefits, and thirdly, getting a hang of the | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
numbers. I think it is shameful that only this week the office for | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
National said that they did not collect sufficient figures under a | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
Labour government. 350,000 extra people came in and they did not | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
count the numbers. That is the size of a city like Cardiff. That is | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
shameful. 350,000 came from all over the place. Do you accept the free | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
movement of peoples within the EU? I accept and am open to people who | :12:18. | :12:21. | |
want to come here and contribute. In the same way... Do you accept the | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
free movement of peoples within the EU? In our manifesto, we have said | :12:27. | :12:33. | |
it is an issue for reform. We have to make sure that people are coming | :12:34. | :12:36. | |
here to work and contribute positively, not simply to come here | :12:37. | :12:44. | |
and take advantage of the system. I will tell you what else is | :12:45. | :12:47. | |
shameful. What is shameful is David Cameron making a pledge to the | :12:48. | :12:50. | |
British people on an issue that they really care about, to bring net | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
immigration down to the tens of thousands a year, having no means of | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
fulfilling that pledge. And we see now it is back up to 212,000 a year | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
because we have no volume control and no quality control from | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
immigration from our neighbours And that is a disgrace. How could UKIP | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
address that issue? Because we would leave the EU. How? Tell me how. You | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
do not have a single member of Parliament. He will not get a single | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
member of Parliament. How are you... ? TUC are hoping to get an | :13:22. | :13:31. | |
MEP. What do you say? -- he is here today hoping to get an MEP. All of | :13:32. | :13:41. | |
-- almost 2 million Brits live and work in the rest of the EU. Is that | :13:42. | :13:48. | |
worth having? The majority are wealthy, retired people. Why do not | :13:49. | :13:55. | |
object to bilateral agreements with countries with similar living | :13:56. | :13:57. | |
standards to us. France, the Netherlands, that works fine. But | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
these three people want Turkey to join the EU, 75 Na Li and people | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
running our country, only 10% of which... Syed Kamall is Michael year | :14:06. | :14:18. | |
to say whether they are in favour of free movement for work, not for | :14:19. | :14:21. | |
benefits... That is what I'm saying. You said you were unable to | :14:22. | :14:30. | |
be clear. That leaves 2 million British people absolutely unsure as | :14:31. | :14:33. | |
to whether they would have a right to continue to live in other | :14:34. | :14:36. | |
countries. It is a two-way street. You are putting those people in a | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
state of uncertainty. EU migrants have been good for the British | :14:42. | :14:43. | |
economy and contribute far more than they take out in services and | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
benefits. One in seven businesses were founded in -- by migrants. And | :14:48. | :14:54. | |
they cannot just turn up and claim benefits. The coalition government | :14:55. | :15:01. | |
has legislated to make sure that they cannot claim for three months. | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
They will not be able to claim for more than six months. Richard | :15:06. | :15:13. | |
Howitt, Jack Straw said it was A spectacular mistake for Labour to | :15:14. | :15:20. | |
allow EU migrants from Poland and Hungary to work in the UK from | :15:21. | :15:25. | |
2004." Why should we trust a party that makes spectacular mistakes and | :15:26. | :15:29. | |
hasn't apologised for it? We accept it is a mistake and I apologise We | :15:30. | :15:34. | |
make a firm commitment for new EU states we will put down transitional | :15:35. | :15:38. | |
controls. When I listen to the Conservatives and UKIP trying to | :15:39. | :15:41. | |
re-write history, saying immigration was out of control, uncontrolled, | :15:42. | :15:45. | |
open door, we hear it over and over again. It is not true. Anyone who | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
was around at the time... Come on, Richard. Hold on, you undercounted | :15:52. | :15:57. | |
by 350,000. You were letting 2 million in over the years, an | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
under-counted by 350,000 people you didn't know came in. You should have | :16:03. | :16:09. | |
tightened the benefit rules. The Conservative MEP today has, in four | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
years in government in Britain, is trying it blame the previous Labour | :16:16. | :16:19. | |
Government over the fact they won't count people in or people out. | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
Yvette Cooper - it is not easy for people to come to the country and | :16:25. | :16:31. | |
benefits are changing, changing the habitual residence test and we are | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
going to say that migrants can't come and claim child benefit if | :16:37. | :16:40. | |
their children are outside the country. Labour a has shown they | :16:41. | :16:43. | |
have listened to concerns but we say it is a stronger, better, country | :16:44. | :16:48. | |
because it is diverse and multicultural snoo.d this is fantasy | :16:49. | :16:51. | |
politics from all the Peters. They are committed to a system with no | :16:52. | :16:56. | |
volume control and no quality control. You talk about benefits as | :16:57. | :17:00. | |
if it is only out of work benefits. In work benefits cost a lot of money | :17:01. | :17:05. | |
for the British taxpayer. Big businesses bring in minimum wage | :17:06. | :17:13. | |
workers. It is ?5,000 per perschool place What are you going to do? Have | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
all the pensioners come back to Britain? How will will you fund the | :17:19. | :17:24. | |
health care? Do you really think Spain and pour tu ghal their current | :17:25. | :17:28. | |
situation, are going to turn their backs on British property owners | :17:29. | :17:34. | |
with wealth? -- Portugal. They might not wanting pensioners to use their | :17:35. | :17:40. | |
health service. Pensioners often come back to Britain to use the | :17:41. | :17:45. | |
health service. You have shown it represents wealthy people's | :17:46. | :17:48. | |
interests. A second Conservative Party. Hang on a minute... Blue | :17:49. | :17:54. | |
collar wages were down. They want it character for the National Health | :17:55. | :17:58. | |
Service, have cuts that go farther and comprehensive education. This is | :17:59. | :18:02. | |
a debate on the wider politics between Conservatives and UKIP and | :18:03. | :18:05. | |
Labour will... You can't both talk time. UKIP - they haven't thought it | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
through, thousand they will have trade access in the EU, hasn't | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
thought how they will have trade deals that the Liberal Democrats | :18:15. | :18:17. | |
support, like with the United States: Would you have a cap on | :18:18. | :18:22. | |
non-EU immigrants? We are not in favour of a cap. No cap on either. | :18:23. | :18:26. | |
No. Well it is a target. It is a moving feast, as it were. Would you | :18:27. | :18:32. | |
have a limit on non-EU limits? We have limits on quality. We have | :18:33. | :18:35. | |
people who are skilled migrants coming in. Lip its? . By quality, | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
not by quantity. -- Limits. How do you do that? We need to move | :18:41. | :18:47. | |
on to foreign affairs. Should we pool more sovereignty to | :18:48. | :18:51. | |
give the European Union more clout in foreign and defence matters? I'm | :18:52. | :18:56. | |
Labour's defence and foreign affairs spokesperson. No we don't need to | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
pull more powers into Europe. As we undertake this live debate there are | :19:02. | :19:05. | |
guns being fired in Ukraine as we speak. Europe is facing, for the | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
first time, since the end of the Second World War, Armies crossing | :19:11. | :19:14. | |
national borders and floatening peace. Doesn't it -- threatening | :19:15. | :19:18. | |
peace. Doesn't it need to come together of the We don't need more | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
powers. We need political will. With Vladimir Putin, in my view, he has | :19:24. | :19:30. | |
-- we have fallen short in the sanctions. But it is Europe, not | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
Britain. Remember Putin calling Britain little England a small | :19:35. | :19:39. | |
island with no influence. Labour doesn't agree with that. But if | :19:40. | :19:43. | |
that's the mindset that allows someone like Vladimir Putin to send | :19:44. | :19:46. | |
troops across borders threatening peace, it is worrying. And when we | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
have, in UKIP a party that say they admire Putin and support his | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
policies, that is no recipe for how Europe should be wrong. I was | :19:55. | :19:59. | |
waiting for that. Let me ask him. We don't admire Putin as a leader. . | :20:00. | :20:07. | |
Oh. No we don't. What Nigel Farage said, was he admired him as a | :20:08. | :20:11. | |
political operator. Testifies Franklin D Roosevelt who said a good | :20:12. | :20:15. | |
foreign policy was speaking softly but carrying a big stick. The EU | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
shouts its mouthed off while carrying a matchstick. It is fantasy | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
that you wiebl it stand up to Putin over the Ukraine. -- that you would | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
be able to stand up. Do you admire what Putin is doing in the Ukraine? | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
No. What matters in foreign policy is the outcould. We have a terrible | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
outcome in the Ukraine, like Syria, and Georgia... What would UKIP do? | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
What u skip would do, would be to keep our people safe -- UKIP. | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
How? And not commit our Foreign Office and troops Foreign wars. | :20:50. | :20:56. | |
Patrick O'Flynn. You brought up this issue of foreign wars. Now Nigel | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
Farage said in previous debates that Britain should leave the EU because, | :21:01. | :21:05. | |
"We have had enough of endless foreign wars." Which wars has the EU | :21:06. | :21:11. | |
taken us into? The EU has ban very important factor in the push towards | :21:12. | :21:14. | |
trying to get military intervention in Syria, for example. What wars has | :21:15. | :21:24. | |
the etch U taken us into it -- EU. Fortunately the EU doesn't have its | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
own army yet. It has wanted to sign up to an expansionist agenda. Did it | :21:30. | :21:36. | |
want Iraq? No, that was Labour. UKIP opposed Iraq, so did most of the | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
mainline Europeans. Germany was against Syria and Libya. No EU | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
policy. We had an Anglo French deal on Syria. A by lateral deal. A | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
European dimension. No, buy lateral. We have a European Union that wants | :21:53. | :21:58. | |
to expand ever-more into other people's spheres of influence. If we | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
are going to stand up to what Putin is do, which obviously Nigel Farage | :22:03. | :22:08. | |
has no intentions of doing, you have to get your act together on economic | :22:09. | :22:11. | |
sanctions and diplomatic force and in trade matters, in supporting | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
eastern European countries. Sayeria, who and whose army? And NATO and | :22:17. | :22:22. | |
working transatlanticically, is important through NATO. I will come | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
to you in a moment. Nick Clegg said that the idea of an EU Army was "A | :22:27. | :22:33. | |
dangerous fantasy that is simply not true ""Why then, are we already | :22:34. | :22:38. | |
working on etch U-owned and controlled drones -- EU-owned and | :22:39. | :22:41. | |
the President of the European Parliament has said that the | :22:42. | :22:48. | |
majority of MEPs want the EU to have "deployable troops." He is not | :22:49. | :22:51. | |
speaking for me or Liberal Democrats. The EU does not and will | :22:52. | :22:55. | |
not have an army. Our defence is mainly shaped through NATO. He is | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
President of the Parliament What we must do is to get equipment which | :23:00. | :23:03. | |
can operate together. We waste an awful lot of our spending in Europe | :23:04. | :23:07. | |
because we duplicate equipment. We don't get the bang for our bucks | :23:08. | :23:12. | |
that we should. It is a useful role for the EU, to get equipment working | :23:13. | :23:16. | |
together. That doesn't make sense. You say military equipment, a NATO | :23:17. | :23:22. | |
job. No, the EU, there is a kind of dimension of the EU members of NATO, | :23:23. | :23:27. | |
in working together on a common quument o o so they can talk to each | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
other -- on common equipment, so they can talk to each other. The EU | :23:33. | :23:37. | |
has a role but not an army. So a European defence agency, that helps | :23:38. | :23:40. | |
our defence industries and those jobs are extremely important and | :23:41. | :23:43. | |
would be threatened if the Conservatives and UKIP took us out | :23:44. | :23:49. | |
of Europe but it is 100 years since the start of the fist world war | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
Remember that Europe was set up to try to get a secure peace within | :23:54. | :23:57. | |
Europe T succeeded. Now look on Ukraine but also on the southern | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
borders to the Arab Spring countries in North Africa. It is more | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
important than ever that we work to keep keep peace and stability on our | :24:07. | :24:10. | |
borders. Can I say to Syed and the Conservative MEPs. You talk about | :24:11. | :24:14. | |
the three Rs, I have a fourth, retreat. If you take us out of the | :24:15. | :24:18. | |
European Union, it will be the worse retreat by Britain since Gallipoli. | :24:19. | :24:25. | |
Let him answer If he wants answers -- the British Parliament is the | :24:26. | :24:28. | |
right place with a British Foreign Secretary to decide our foreign | :24:29. | :24:33. | |
policy. You say that, but can I quote David Cameron, this is germain | :24:34. | :24:38. | |
to what you are saying, David Cameron said "There is no doubt that | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
we are more powerful than Washington, Beijing and Delhi, | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
because we are a powerful player in the European Union." Do you agree? | :24:48. | :24:50. | |
He is saying that there are times when it comes to international | :24:51. | :24:53. | |
foreign affairs when you have to cooperate with partners. Often they | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
are EU partners but often they are not. The problem we have... | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
Washington have made it very clear that it wants Britain to talk | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
through Brussels. No, not at all. Talk through the French and | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
Italians, come on, wake up? Through the EU collective. I'm vice chair of | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
the EU delegation. I hear it from the American counterparts. They want | :25:19. | :25:21. | |
the EU to get itself together and not least on Ukraine. Why should our | :25:22. | :25:27. | |
sovereignty be at the behest of .. ? I want to hear from Syed calm | :25:28. | :25:30. | |
amplgts the British Parliament is the right place to decide our | :25:31. | :25:33. | |
foreign poll sinchts sometimes we work with our European partners | :25:34. | :25:38. | |
sometimes we work with our non-European partners. It is our | :25:39. | :25:41. | |
choice to pull sovereign trito work together. G, we move on to our foirt | :25:42. | :25:48. | |
area. We hear a lot in this country about MPs expenses. Snted the real | :25:49. | :25:55. | |
scan dalt MEPs gravy train. -- isn't the real scandal, the MEPs gravy | :25:56. | :26:01. | |
train? You all have your snouts The trough? I don't think so. There is | :26:02. | :26:07. | |
transpancy. The way we use our expenses is online and anyone can | :26:08. | :26:11. | |
ask to examine those. We have actually voted to reform MEPs' | :26:12. | :26:17. | |
allowances. We regularly vote but unfortunately the majority in | :26:18. | :26:20. | |
Parliament don't. Have you voted to cut them? Yes. By how much? About | :26:21. | :26:27. | |
5%. A 5% We hoped to have economies I never fly except across the | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
Atlantic. Difficult to do it any other way. I didn't swim. | :26:32. | :26:39. | |
But we voted for economy flutes We voted for European Parliament policy | :26:40. | :26:44. | |
of transparency which other groups haven't. UKIP don't turn up to vote. | :26:45. | :26:48. | |
They don't earn their salaries. Dhoent do anything. They should hand | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
their salaries and allowances back. You can't ause UKIP of being on the | :26:54. | :26:57. | |
gravy train and the other that we don't claim our attendance allowance | :26:58. | :27:03. | |
because our MEPs are not there. Your attendance allowance is if you are | :27:04. | :27:07. | |
there, you are saying we don't turn up You are in the building and claim | :27:08. | :27:11. | |
the allowances. You are not an MEP, UKIP are so ashamed of what their | :27:12. | :27:14. | |
MEPs have done in Brussels, they didn't field a sitting MEP for | :27:15. | :27:20. | |
today's debate. I think each party decides who it wishes to field. I | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
have the honour of being the UKIP representative. I would say by going | :27:25. | :27:29. | |
in the past few weeks, xeeming to me saying - we are sick of the others. | :27:30. | :27:37. | |
-- people saying to me. : We are quite excited. Can I ask Patrick | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
O'Flynn. He says he touched a chord and his party is strong in the polls | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
today, between 18% and 20%. Haven't you also struck a chord with hip | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
crasscy. Two of your MEPs were jailed for expenses and benefits' | :27:53. | :27:57. | |
fraud. Two more asked to pay back ?37,000 for using European funds. | :27:58. | :28:01. | |
Nigel Farage has boosted about getting ?2 million in expenses and | :28:02. | :28:06. | |
he went on to employ his wife as a secretarial allowance after telling | :28:07. | :28:09. | |
other members not to People who do wrong and break the law, go to ja. I | :28:10. | :28:16. | |
have no time. -- go to jail. People who spend money they are not | :28:17. | :28:19. | |
entitled to should pay it back and that's right. But what UKIP does and | :28:20. | :28:24. | |
the good UKIP MEPs do, is use the allowances they are given to pursue | :28:25. | :28:28. | |
the political agenda they put up when elected which is to get Britain | :28:29. | :28:31. | |
out of this superstate. Instead of using it for parliamentary work | :28:32. | :28:38. | |
Very interesting. Richard Howitt. We were the first British political | :28:39. | :28:42. | |
party to have independent audits of our MEPs' expenses, from 1990, way | :28:43. | :28:48. | |
before the expenses crisis blew up. The Maria Miller scandal has of | :28:49. | :28:52. | |
course hit David Cameron and the Conservative Party hard as it should | :28:53. | :28:56. | |
do. But you are right, even in my own region you have UKIP candidates | :28:57. | :29:00. | |
and councillors who have been charged with fraudulently filling | :29:01. | :29:04. | |
out election papers and other shot lifting. Another independent inquiry | :29:05. | :29:09. | |
found he made racist comments. We had a European candidate last week | :29:10. | :29:13. | |
in Hertfordshire who got a parking ticket from the police and called | :29:14. | :29:18. | |
the police fascists. These people aren't here. | :29:19. | :29:24. | |
I'll let you have a quick reply We can bring up parochial cases. Let | :29:25. | :29:28. | |
him answer. Not so long ago a Liberal Democrat councillor was sent | :29:29. | :29:32. | |
down for firebombing, I don't say they are a bunch of arsonists, but | :29:33. | :29:37. | |
now I think, Nick Clegg might have burnt some cactuses, once. I'm glad | :29:38. | :29:44. | |
you pronounced that word carefully. Syed Kemal, the EU's auditors, they | :29:45. | :29:49. | |
are strongly critical of the EU s financials saying "Errors permist in | :29:50. | :29:55. | |
all main spending areas", the financials are poorly managed. It is | :29:56. | :30:01. | |
a shambles And that's something that all parties agree on. As we agree on | :30:02. | :30:07. | |
expenses, the British parties are at the forefront of transpancy. Every | :30:08. | :30:10. | |
year when we vote for the discharge of the budget, the Conservatives | :30:11. | :30:14. | |
also vote for it but we don't get enough MEPs from other countries to | :30:15. | :30:17. | |
investigate in favour. The Liberal Democrats have put forward to make | :30:18. | :30:20. | |
each Finance Minister, George Osborne and his counterpart to sign | :30:21. | :30:26. | |
a declaration to say all EU money is properly spent in my country. | :30:27. | :30:30. | |
Funnily enough they don't want to do that but I look forward to you | :30:31. | :30:34. | |
confirming that George Osborne will sign it. All the time we hear it is | :30:35. | :30:40. | |
about the money we pay in, about ?150 per family per year. What about | :30:41. | :30:45. | |
the money that comes back? ?1. billion that comes to Britain's | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
regions because of being in Europe. I myself helped to negotiate a fund | :30:51. | :30:54. | |
to help Britain's food banks to ensure so. Poorest and most | :30:55. | :30:58. | |
destitute people... Isn't it our money that went there first. Can I | :30:59. | :31:02. | |
tell you the Conservative-led Government have blocked us from | :31:03. | :31:05. | |
claiming that money. If you want to have the clearest choice at these | :31:06. | :31:08. | |
European elections, it is between... Tell us why. It affects our rebate. | :31:09. | :31:19. | |
Tony Blair gave away our rebate He is quite right. Lib Dems fought to | :31:20. | :31:26. | |
make sure that we apply for money to help with flooding. That is what the | :31:27. | :31:30. | |
Tories were blocking. If you want the clearest example at the European | :31:31. | :31:34. | |
elections, the Conservative Party and MEPs blocked the cap on bankers | :31:35. | :31:39. | |
bonuses, and then blocked a Labour victory to get money for free | :31:40. | :31:45. | |
banks. We need to move on to the future. It is important and people | :31:46. | :31:52. | |
are watching. The EU's Justice Minister says that we need to build | :31:53. | :31:55. | |
a United States of Europe with the commission as its government. Is she | :31:56. | :32:02. | |
right? Not at all. But the future, if we take the next ten years, | :32:03. | :32:08. | |
thinks about climate change and the fact that we are not going to hit of | :32:09. | :32:11. | |
the two degrees target. Europe has led and needs to lead towards | :32:12. | :32:16. | |
getting a new sustainable world. It is the political will to use these | :32:17. | :32:20. | |
powers, so she is wrong. It is about the threats from abroad. Labour | :32:21. | :32:24. | |
reforms like getting a commissioner for growth and rebalancing the | :32:25. | :32:28. | |
budget, reforming the common agricultural policy, all of those | :32:29. | :32:32. | |
things will need to happen to make Europe more democratic and open. But | :32:33. | :32:39. | |
against the rise of Brazil and China... We do not need more | :32:40. | :32:44. | |
treaties and powers. We need more action with more Labour MEPs. Sarah | :32:45. | :32:49. | |
Ludford, you would sign up to that? No. Unless they do not think that | :32:50. | :32:54. | |
should concentrate on institutional matters. What we need to do is | :32:55. | :33:00. | |
concentrate on making Europe progrowth and competitive and create | :33:01. | :33:04. | |
more jobs in a competitive world. We need more trade deals to open up our | :33:05. | :33:10. | |
exports, we need to streamline the EU. We need less red tape and | :33:11. | :33:15. | |
Liberal Democrats have done a lot on that. We need better scrutiny of EU | :33:16. | :33:19. | |
legislation at West Munster because the national parties... More powers | :33:20. | :33:27. | |
or less for the EU government? In some areas, I would like to see it | :33:28. | :33:36. | |
slimmed down. Including, I am not sure whether the EU should be | :33:37. | :33:39. | |
funding food banks. I think that is a national responsibility. Dearie | :33:40. | :33:45. | |
me. The EU have to concentrate on the economy and climate change. This | :33:46. | :33:50. | |
is the coalition talking. If we want to fritter away political capital on | :33:51. | :33:54. | |
things which are interfering in national matters, then we do not | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
have the support to tackle those big challenges. Would you still want to | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
join the Euro one-day? Now is not a good idea. We wanted the Eurozone to | :34:04. | :34:12. | |
still be sound, which is why... Did not ask you that. Do you want to | :34:13. | :34:16. | |
join the Euro one-day? If it is a success and it did the economy. Now | :34:17. | :34:20. | |
is not the time but in principle, the idea of a single currency has | :34:21. | :34:28. | |
advantages. That was a yes. We are not ruling it out for ever but not | :34:29. | :34:32. | |
in the foreseeable future. It is not on the horizon. What would our | :34:33. | :34:37. | |
relationship be with Europe in the future if UKIP got its way and we | :34:38. | :34:42. | |
left? We would be trading partners with Europe and we would seek | :34:43. | :34:46. | |
partnership in specific serious. I'd tell you what, can I just say... | :34:47. | :34:51. | |
Would we be Norway? We would be stronger than Norway because we are | :34:52. | :34:54. | |
the biggest export market in the Eurozone. We can negotiate a bespoke | :34:55. | :34:59. | |
trading agreement reflecting our enormous importance. Not on | :35:00. | :35:03. | |
services, which make up 80% of the economy. We are the biggest export | :35:04. | :35:09. | |
market in the Eurozone. Our biggest exports are services and they would | :35:10. | :35:13. | |
have to agree to free trade and services. They still have not. Can I | :35:14. | :35:18. | |
read you something? Let me read you something. There would be a free | :35:19. | :35:23. | |
trade agreement in place the day after our exit. Germany would demand | :35:24. | :35:28. | |
no less. Who said that? Not somebody from UKIP, but Digby Jones. Mr | :35:29. | :35:34. | |
business. He is talking about goods, not services. Norway has that | :35:35. | :35:38. | |
and they have no say. You would have to accept the EU rules without any | :35:39. | :35:43. | |
say. No MEPs are commissioners. Let me give you another. Enough. One is | :35:44. | :35:48. | |
enough. Syed Kamall, is it not looking forward pretty much Mission: | :35:49. | :35:55. | |
Impossible for Mr Cameron to get anything like the repatriations of | :35:56. | :36:02. | |
powers that would satisfy your irreconcilables? My father was a bus | :36:03. | :36:09. | |
driver in the 50s and one of the reasons I am here today is because | :36:10. | :36:12. | |
he told me that you can achieve anything if you work hard. He said | :36:13. | :36:15. | |
to me, do not listen to the doubters. When people tell you that | :36:16. | :36:19. | |
something cannot be done, it is a sign of their limitations, not | :36:20. | :36:23. | |
yours. They said that we could not pull Britain out of the bailout | :36:24. | :36:26. | |
mechanism but we did it. He said we could not be to a -- veto European | :36:27. | :36:31. | |
treaty and we did that. They said we would never cut the budget and we | :36:32. | :36:37. | |
did that. The first ever. But overall, we are paying more into the | :36:38. | :36:41. | |
European budget. And they are not sticking to it. More, not less. They | :36:42. | :36:46. | |
say that we cannot achieve reform but we have achieved reform and we | :36:47. | :36:49. | |
are at the forefront of that. Science's father came to Britain | :36:50. | :36:54. | |
because Britain was open and looking outward. What the Conservatives now | :36:55. | :37:05. | |
have, with leaderless Cameron, is an inward looking attitude. They are | :37:06. | :37:11. | |
allowing the rise of UKIP. They are putting so much at risk. People | :37:12. | :37:16. | |
should vote Labour. We are going to have to stop now. No point talking | :37:17. | :37:20. | |
because we are about to finish. I think you all for a spirited debate. | :37:21. | :37:26. | |
I'm sure Nigel Fries and Mr Clegg will have learned a lot about how to | :37:27. | :37:29. | |
debate. -- Nigel Farage. It's just gone 3pm, and you're | :37:30. | :37:32. | |
watching the Sunday Politics. We say goodbye to viewers in Scotland who | :37:33. | :37:35. | |
leave us now for Sunday Politics Scotland. Coming up here in twenty | :37:36. | :37:36. | |
minutes, Scotland. Coming up here in twenty | :37:37. | :37:47. | |
Hello, I'm Lucie Fisher. Coling up on the Sunday Politics in the | :37:48. | :37:54. | |
south`west. The row about the cost of a new | :37:55. | :37:57. | |
nuclear power station at Hinkley Point. | :37:58. | :38:03. | |
And for the next 20 minutes, I'm joined by the Labour peer Ann | :38:04. | :38:06. | |
Mallalieu, and the Lib Dem LP Adrian Sanders. Welcome both of yot to the | :38:07. | :38:08. | |
programme. Let's start with the state of the | :38:09. | :38:13. | |
roads. This week it was revdaled the region's councils are shellhng out | :38:14. | :38:16. | |
nearly ?1 million a year in compensation to people injured | :38:17. | :38:20. | |
because of potholes. A BBC freedom of information request showdd that | :38:21. | :38:23. | |
Torbay had had to pay out ?400, 00 in the last four years. Adrhen, that | :38:24. | :38:36. | |
is unsustainable, isn't it? There is no real answer to this. Shotld it | :38:37. | :38:42. | |
have been 800,000, 100,000, it reflects injuries that people | :38:43. | :38:47. | |
suffered who, quite rightly, sued for compensation. Can counchls do | :38:48. | :38:50. | |
more to reduce their chances of being taken to court? Yes, they can, | :38:51. | :38:55. | |
if they have the resources. If they have the money. They have an amount | :38:56. | :39:02. | |
of money available for this, but it doesn't go anywhere near covering | :39:03. | :39:05. | |
the cost of filling on all the holes. The local government | :39:06. | :39:10. | |
authority says the 200 millhon offered is a drop in the ocdan | :39:11. | :39:14. | |
compared with costs which they say are ?10 billion. That is thdir | :39:15. | :39:20. | |
answer. And I do think we whll see a proper answer to this until we have | :39:21. | :39:24. | |
better times and there is more money available. What do you think, Ann | :39:25. | :39:29. | |
Mallalieu? Should more be done about this? In an ideal world but I agree | :39:30. | :39:33. | |
there is in the money to do it as one would like. What does strprise | :39:34. | :39:39. | |
me is the degree all lack of prioritisation. I can understand if | :39:40. | :39:42. | |
there is a problem, they should go down and deal with that immddiately, | :39:43. | :39:49. | |
but a number of our roads and motorways, used by hundreds of | :39:50. | :39:55. | |
thousands of people are disgraceful. They should be put right at the | :39:56. | :40:00. | |
earliest possible opportunity. Well, stay with us because we havd plenty | :40:01. | :40:02. | |
more to discuss. Labour announced this week ht would | :40:03. | :40:05. | |
bring back a minister for the south`west as part of plans to | :40:06. | :40:08. | |
devolve more power to the rdgions plans. Ed Miliband is promising more | :40:09. | :40:12. | |
jobs and better wages. But one of the region's business leaders is | :40:13. | :40:14. | |
warning the Labour plan could mean Bristol gets the lion's share of | :40:15. | :40:17. | |
future investment. Tamsin Mdlville reports. | :40:18. | :40:24. | |
Being a peninsula has always been a challenge when it comes to | :40:25. | :40:27. | |
attracting investment. But this winter's weather made the south`west | :40:28. | :40:32. | |
feel especially vulnerable. The recent floods and storms just show | :40:33. | :40:35. | |
how interconnected we are as a peninsula and how we must work | :40:36. | :40:39. | |
together better. And the big investments that we have sedn in the | :40:40. | :40:43. | |
recent years, like the Wave Hub or Eden, or the Combined Universities | :40:44. | :40:46. | |
in Cornwall, none of those would ever get started now under the local | :40:47. | :40:51. | |
enterprise partnership regile. One of the first things the coalition | :40:52. | :40:54. | |
did was scrap the big regional development agencies and replace | :40:55. | :40:56. | |
them with 39 local enterprise partnerships to be the drivdrs for | :40:57. | :41:02. | |
economic growth. Nigel Costley thinks the focus is now too narrow. | :41:03. | :41:09. | |
They need to work together. And pack much more of a punch in Whitehall, | :41:10. | :41:12. | |
and they need to involve more people. This month, LEPs unveiled | :41:13. | :41:18. | |
plans for a share of a ?2 bhllion pot of government money to help grow | :41:19. | :41:23. | |
economies. Cornwall's local enterprise partnership wants to | :41:24. | :41:25. | |
build on the county's natur`l assets like this to create jobs, ilprove | :41:26. | :41:27. | |
infrastructure, and encourage housing. Joe says he is one of the | :41:28. | :41:34. | |
lucky ones. Happy in one of around 15 jobs created at this news cycle | :41:35. | :41:39. | |
trail at Lanhydrock. There's a lot of people out there looking for | :41:40. | :41:42. | |
them, but there's not that luch opportunity, whether it's someone | :41:43. | :41:44. | |
like myself, who isn't really that educated, or whether it is someone | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
who's got a degree or whatever it is. Whatever category you w`nt to | :41:49. | :41:54. | |
put it in, there's not a lot out there. The LEP wants to cre`te | :41:55. | :42:04. | |
thousands more jobs. One pl`n is to link with other bike trails and make | :42:05. | :42:07. | |
nearby Bodmin Cornwall's cycling town. But it's not all about bikes. | :42:08. | :42:10. | |
There's also hopes for improving the A30 and key roads around major | :42:11. | :42:13. | |
towns. And investing in rail and bus project. Those involved inshst their | :42:14. | :42:19. | |
strategy is right. It's abott looking at working with the private | :42:20. | :42:23. | |
sector for higher value jobs. Because absolutely our prim`ry aim | :42:24. | :42:26. | |
that is shared by all partndrs is how we increase salary levels in | :42:27. | :42:34. | |
Cornwall. Labour was putting wages at the heart of its proposals to | :42:35. | :42:37. | |
devolve more power to the rdgions this week. I want to explain why the | :42:38. | :42:44. | |
cost of living crisis is such a huge challenge. I want to say whx it s | :42:45. | :42:48. | |
happening. I want to explain why this government's approach hs | :42:49. | :42:56. | |
inadequate. A Labour governlent would encourage plans that cross | :42:57. | :42:58. | |
local government boundaries and double the amount of cash h`nded | :42:59. | :43:01. | |
down from Whitehall. But business leaders in Cornwall are cautious | :43:02. | :43:03. | |
about any moves back towards anything like the old regional | :43:04. | :43:08. | |
development agencies, or RD@s. What I thought in the latter days of | :43:09. | :43:11. | |
SWRDA became lost was what were the battles and who were they most | :43:12. | :43:15. | |
fighting for? And what people in Cornwall don't want is for ht to | :43:16. | :43:18. | |
become Bristol`centric when it doesn't have much relevance to us. | :43:19. | :43:24. | |
And I believe the LEP has h`d more relevance. Labour has also said it | :43:25. | :43:30. | |
would reinstate a minister for the south`west as a voice to boost the | :43:31. | :43:34. | |
economy. But others say this is simply reinventing the wheel. | :43:35. | :43:48. | |
Ann Mallalieu, a minister from the south`west, it sounds good, but so | :43:49. | :43:54. | |
did localism. Can we expect to see any real change? We've got to | :43:55. | :43:58. | |
because people are thoroughly fed up with the whole world revolvhng | :43:59. | :44:02. | |
around London. And places ehther north or south`west feeling very | :44:03. | :44:06. | |
isolated and left out. I thhnk there is a pot of money there which could | :44:07. | :44:12. | |
be filtered down and a lot of it, a lot more should come down to the | :44:13. | :44:16. | |
south`west, and the pot, and this is in my view, is a massive mistake | :44:17. | :44:20. | |
that is about to be made with HS2. If you want to create local jobs and | :44:21. | :44:25. | |
pull things out of the centre, you want to give people in thosd regions | :44:26. | :44:28. | |
the money they know what nedds doing. Before we come back to that, | :44:29. | :44:34. | |
HS2, we have encouraging figures from the IMF this week. Britain s | :44:35. | :44:39. | |
economy is going to grow more than any other economy in the G7, | :44:40. | :44:45. | |
overshadowing Ed Miliband's point. I think it has. It has got to be | :44:46. | :44:52. | |
sustainable. We are by no mdans out of the woods so far. There `re some | :44:53. | :44:58. | |
very unpleasant rumblings coming out of the east. And I think we have to | :44:59. | :45:02. | |
look at what we do with the money we can generate now in the futtre. For | :45:03. | :45:08. | |
too long, decisions both governments have made, the last one and this | :45:09. | :45:13. | |
present one, they've made vdry short`term decisions resulthng from | :45:14. | :45:18. | |
pressure of immediate media interest. I think it is important | :45:19. | :45:23. | |
that both parties look at areas of the country which haven't h`d a fair | :45:24. | :45:27. | |
shake of the dice. And the south`west undoubtedly is rhght I | :45:28. | :45:33. | |
hope my party, the Labour P`rty will see that it may not have many | :45:34. | :45:37. | |
MPs down here, but it has a lot of people who are sympathetic to many | :45:38. | :45:41. | |
of the things they want to do. And we need some investment. Thd growth | :45:42. | :45:45. | |
figures do indeed look good but there is this big divide between | :45:46. | :45:49. | |
London and the regions. What is the government going to do about that? I | :45:50. | :45:54. | |
think the MEPs have only re`lly been in existence for four years. And the | :45:55. | :45:58. | |
Devon and Somerset one has only got its act together in the last two | :45:59. | :46:02. | |
years, because it was delaydd because Cornwall wanted to go it | :46:03. | :46:07. | |
alone. We have to give them time to prove themselves. In theory, the | :46:08. | :46:11. | |
idea you can bring together unions, business, at a more localisdd level | :46:12. | :46:16. | |
to set local priorities, is a good one. The fundamental issue hs the | :46:17. | :46:20. | |
have a system where people bid for money, which is what we do have | :46:21. | :46:22. | |
right now, or do you have the Ed right now, or do you have the Ed | :46:23. | :46:27. | |
Miliband one, where you havd the money but not necessarily to every | :46:28. | :46:33. | |
part. It is to sided by London, not by a bidding process. The south`west | :46:34. | :46:37. | |
TUC is saying that big investments would not have got off the ground, | :46:38. | :46:43. | |
so this system isn't working. Business leaders say that if there | :46:44. | :46:49. | |
is a pot, it might go to Brhstol. I think the point here is what Ed | :46:50. | :46:52. | |
Miliband is saying, which is he wants to give it to large areas and | :46:53. | :46:57. | |
cities. There are not a lot of cities in the south`west. Btt there | :46:58. | :47:02. | |
are a lot of cities in the North of England. I can't see that doing what | :47:03. | :47:06. | |
Ann Mallalieu wants to do which is rectify the fact that the south`west | :47:07. | :47:12. | |
has been missed out. Ed Milhband was saying that ?2 billion will not be | :47:13. | :47:16. | |
enough, how much would be enough? A bigger slice of the money that is | :47:17. | :47:22. | |
about to be wasted. And I go back to HS2. A bigger slice of that, spread | :47:23. | :47:27. | |
around the country so that jobs are created not just along the places | :47:28. | :47:32. | |
along the line, and we don't just create a funnel back to London, | :47:33. | :47:36. | |
which is what I think will happen. I entirely agree but the problem is we | :47:37. | :47:42. | |
do have a large number of L`bour MPs in the North of England who are all | :47:43. | :47:45. | |
in favour of this, and a large number of Tory MPs in the South and | :47:46. | :47:50. | |
East of England who are also in favour of this. It's trying to get | :47:51. | :47:52. | |
the voice of the local people through. East Anglia, north of | :47:53. | :48:00. | |
Scotland and the south`west. Looking at the figures for Torbay, xour | :48:01. | :48:04. | |
constituency has the same GDP per head as Poland. There are not enough | :48:05. | :48:08. | |
jobs and London has five tiles that GDP per head. Surely the government | :48:09. | :48:13. | |
should be doing something drastically more? A minister for the | :48:14. | :48:16. | |
south`west, someone who can bring money down. A minister might be very | :48:17. | :48:23. | |
helpful. But, then again, it depends whether they have any real | :48:24. | :48:28. | |
influence. We are doing quite well intensive getting more monex. There | :48:29. | :48:36. | |
is the broadband money, the bypass, and the money hasn't been spent | :48:37. | :48:43. | |
That was the same under the last government. It's only now that it is | :48:44. | :48:46. | |
being recognised in getting some funding. If you look at it, we are | :48:47. | :48:51. | |
London centric. The new buzzword, there is more distortion now than in | :48:52. | :48:56. | |
the past. And certainly since the beginning of the recession. That is | :48:57. | :49:00. | |
true. But we are in austere times, there's not enough money to go | :49:01. | :49:04. | |
around, and yet we're getting lots more money funnelling into South | :49:05. | :49:11. | |
Devon. ?101 million for the bypass. I will have to stop you there. We do | :49:12. | :49:17. | |
have to move on. We can comd back to it. | :49:18. | :49:20. | |
On Thursday, the Green Partx staged an anti`nuclear protest at Hinkley | :49:21. | :49:23. | |
Point in Somerset. The plans for a new power station there got | :49:24. | :49:26. | |
government approval last ye`r, but the building works are being held up | :49:27. | :49:29. | |
by concerns about how much taxpayers' money is going in to the | :49:30. | :49:34. | |
project. This week the European Commission began investigathng the | :49:35. | :49:36. | |
price deal between the government and EDF Energy. John Henderson | :49:37. | :49:39. | |
reports. Protesting against the power. Green | :49:40. | :49:52. | |
Party activists at Hinkley Point in Somerset. It is the site for a new | :49:53. | :49:57. | |
nuclear power station. Given approval last year, it is expected | :49:58. | :50:00. | |
to generate 7% of the country's electricity supplied by 2024. At ?16 | :50:01. | :50:06. | |
billion it's costly and controversial. The UK government | :50:07. | :50:11. | |
guaranteed power prices frol the plant for 35 years. Prices that are | :50:12. | :50:17. | |
almost twice the current wholesale cost of electricity. This is an | :50:18. | :50:24. | |
inappropriate use of state `id. The government came to power saxing it | :50:25. | :50:27. | |
would only promote nuclear hf it could be done with no public | :50:28. | :50:30. | |
subsidy. And, yet, it is perfectly clear there is a massive public | :50:31. | :50:33. | |
subsidy going into new nucldar at Hinkley. The debate at Hinkley isn't | :50:34. | :50:36. | |
the only time the region has seen protests over nuclear power. People | :50:37. | :50:41. | |
in towns and villages have taken to the streets. In the early 80s, | :50:42. | :50:46. | |
protesters were out in forcd when the central electricity gendrating | :50:47. | :50:48. | |
board was looking for a possible nuclear power station in Cornwall. | :50:49. | :50:56. | |
In the end, the site wasn't viable. But the protests led to the | :50:57. | :50:59. | |
country's first commercial wind farm. They were going to put a | :51:00. | :51:05. | |
nuclear power station in Cornwall. My wife was very much against it | :51:06. | :51:08. | |
indeed. I always say you can't say you can't have something. You can | :51:09. | :51:12. | |
only say what you want instdad. So it was blowing an absolute gale at | :51:13. | :51:16. | |
the time. She said, can't you do it from wind? I said, I'll find out. | :51:17. | :51:22. | |
And I found out. The wind f`rm here has recently been upgraded to | :51:23. | :51:27. | |
produce power for 7,000 homds. Hinkley C will power nearly six | :51:28. | :51:31. | |
million homes. It would takd 35 wind farms like this to match the | :51:32. | :51:37. | |
power output of Hinkley C. But nuclear comes with risks. Chernobyl | :51:38. | :51:40. | |
and Fukushima are examples of the dangers. Despite this, some in | :51:41. | :51:47. | |
Cornwall say if it was a choice between wind and nuclear, it would | :51:48. | :51:52. | |
be the latter. One nuclear power station compared with the ntmber of | :51:53. | :51:55. | |
turbines going up across Cornwall is no comparison. When it comes to | :51:56. | :52:01. | |
nuclear policy, all three Westminster parties are in favour. | :52:02. | :52:06. | |
The Lib Dems signing up in ` dramatic U`turn last year. | :52:07. | :52:10. | |
Yesterday, I did say I changed my mind. I've been changing it over the | :52:11. | :52:13. | |
last few years primarily because of the threat of climate changd. Back | :52:14. | :52:18. | |
at Hinkley, with contracts `lready signed, the Greens may have to | :52:19. | :52:22. | |
resign themselves to a new reactor. But, for them, nuclear is still a | :52:23. | :52:32. | |
disaster waiting to happen. Joining us to discuss this, we have | :52:33. | :52:36. | |
Windy Miller from the Green Party. Welcome. Your party would lhke to | :52:37. | :52:42. | |
see an end to nuclear energx. Where is the 20% that nuclear energy | :52:43. | :52:46. | |
provides going to come from? Indeed, the main point is that nucldar power | :52:47. | :52:53. | |
is unnecessary, it is an economic and unsafe. So, for instancd, we | :52:54. | :53:00. | |
could save 35% of our energx use if we put measures in for energy | :53:01. | :53:03. | |
efficiency, and, yet, what we had last year was the Energy Secretary | :53:04. | :53:07. | |
at European level arguing against energy efficiency measures. Energy | :53:08. | :53:15. | |
efficiency measures like wh`t? Through installation, through mainly | :53:16. | :53:20. | |
also decentralise sources of power, so, we lose a massive amount through | :53:21. | :53:24. | |
the idea of a national power grid, whereas it has been shown in Germany | :53:25. | :53:33. | |
how many community energy sxstems can produce energy without losing it | :53:34. | :53:39. | |
through the transmission. And it also benefits the local comlunity. | :53:40. | :53:43. | |
Germany is an interesting example because they have invested, since | :53:44. | :53:49. | |
Fukushima, heavily in renew`bles, 25% now. But prices of electricity | :53:50. | :53:53. | |
have gone through the roof `nd manufacturers might leave and go to | :53:54. | :53:56. | |
Eastern Europe. They are looking at coal`fired power stations again | :53:57. | :54:01. | |
Indeed, you can say it will be a transition. The thing to be`r in | :54:02. | :54:05. | |
mind, we might have been lucky at Hinckley. We were not so lucky in | :54:06. | :54:11. | |
1957, the year I was born, or channel ball, or Fukushima. It is an | :54:12. | :54:15. | |
ongoing disaster there which is going to cost as much as thd total | :54:16. | :54:18. | |
cost of building or nuclear power stations to date. And they cannot | :54:19. | :54:25. | |
even get near the nuclear rdactor. I use still hopeful that Hinckley | :54:26. | :54:29. | |
although the deal has been signed, are you hopeful you can stop it I | :54:30. | :54:34. | |
think as the truth comes out about the terrible cost and burden that | :54:35. | :54:41. | |
nuclear power can give to a country, let alone causing birth defdcts and | :54:42. | :54:47. | |
stillbirths, as ensuring noble. . I am going to stop you. Adrian | :54:48. | :54:52. | |
Sanders, the Lib Dems have done a U`turn. They were in the sale | :54:53. | :54:56. | |
position as Wendy and the Green Party a year ago, and suddenly last | :54:57. | :55:01. | |
year, they changed their mind. Certainly, in coalition, we have | :55:02. | :55:06. | |
signed up to Hinckley. Personally, I am very much with Wendy on this | :55:07. | :55:11. | |
issue in that if Germany can phase out all its nuclear power stations | :55:12. | :55:16. | |
by 2022, I don't see any re`son why we can't. We can do far mord... I | :55:17. | :55:22. | |
think there is another side to this. We can do far more in terms of | :55:23. | :55:26. | |
recycling, far more in terms of hybrid energy. But your party has | :55:27. | :55:35. | |
changed its mind and has signed up. The Parliamentary party in coalition | :55:36. | :55:39. | |
hands. The party itself in terms of its policy`making has not changed | :55:40. | :55:44. | |
its mind. That is the worry. Are you worried you will lose votes because | :55:45. | :55:48. | |
of this? In coalition, you have to find a compromise to get sole of | :55:49. | :55:51. | |
your policies through, and sometimes you have to play loot some of your | :55:52. | :55:58. | |
policies as well. People will judge the balance as to how well we have | :55:59. | :56:03. | |
done. Ann Mallalieu, you ard signed up to nuclear with Labour, how does | :56:04. | :56:09. | |
this sit with Ed Miliband's promise with freezing prices for fudl and | :56:10. | :56:12. | |
energy? This will be very expensive and we've promised to doubld the | :56:13. | :56:16. | |
price per unit so it is profitable for EDF. I've got concerns `bout the | :56:17. | :56:23. | |
price, first of all. I think everybody has. I've got concerns | :56:24. | :56:26. | |
about safety, which have bedn expressed already, but I want the | :56:27. | :56:31. | |
lights to stay on. And if wd do not have a mix of ways of providing us | :56:32. | :56:34. | |
with the end`mac `` with thd enormous amount of energy wd need, | :56:35. | :56:38. | |
those lights will not stay on and some of us can remember when we have | :56:39. | :56:42. | |
a three day week, and spells when the electricity was cut. Th`t is | :56:43. | :56:46. | |
nothing compared to what wotld happen if we didn't go ahead now and | :56:47. | :56:50. | |
produced truly efficient me`ns of production for the future. We have | :56:51. | :56:54. | |
been delaying for far too long. Labour was responsible for that Of | :56:55. | :57:00. | |
course it was. I come on and say my party has made mistakes every time! | :57:01. | :57:07. | |
My party is quite different than the party members and individual MPs and | :57:08. | :57:10. | |
those in government. Yukon to get away from the fact that the Lib Dems | :57:11. | :57:15. | |
in coalition have jettisoned quite a number of what seemed to me to be | :57:16. | :57:22. | |
firm tenets of their belief. We are 57 MPs in coalition with 300 | :57:23. | :57:26. | |
Tories. That is what happens. You are quite happy to take the jobs, | :57:27. | :57:29. | |
yet you're not happy with the policies. We have improved hncome | :57:30. | :57:34. | |
tax, we have managed to help lower paid people, we have expanddd.. | :57:35. | :57:44. | |
Just to jump in, the coalithon agreement gave your party and opt | :57:45. | :57:49. | |
out. You didn't have to takd it It AV didn't have to join at all. It is | :57:50. | :57:55. | |
a scare tactic to say keep the lights on. It really is. We can do | :57:56. | :58:06. | |
wave power, hydroelectric, solar, wind. Why didn't you take the opt | :58:07. | :58:13. | |
out? You would have to ask Dd Miliband. He worked with his Tory | :58:14. | :58:18. | |
colleagues who are less keen on green taxes. So Ed Davey is | :58:19. | :58:24. | |
responsible? At the end of the day, he will take the rap. | :58:25. | :58:27. | |
Now our regular round`up of the political week in 60 seconds. | :58:28. | :58:34. | |
Crime figures show domestic violence has risen by almost 20% in Devon and | :58:35. | :58:39. | |
Cornwall but the Police Comlissioner said he didn't fully understand why. | :58:40. | :58:46. | |
Neither my office, nor the police, nor Her Majesty's Inspector of | :58:47. | :58:48. | |
Constabulary, do at the momdnt understand the increase in rapes and | :58:49. | :58:55. | |
sexual crimes. Residents at Feniton claimed a | :58:56. | :58:58. | |
victory for people power as plans for more than 200 new homes were | :58:59. | :59:06. | |
turned down by a planning inspector. The fight against the closure of | :59:07. | :59:10. | |
Great Torrington Hospital continued. A parish poll saw over 1,000 people | :59:11. | :59:15. | |
voting to reopen it. The 24/7 care you get in our cottage hosphtal | :59:16. | :59:21. | |
can't be replicated anywherd else. Exeter's new incinerator took in its | :59:22. | :59:26. | |
first rubbish. And graffiti legalised in West Dorset. It's | :59:27. | :59:31. | |
endorsed. It's legal. And it's backed by council members. | :59:32. | :59:44. | |
So, let's look at housing. Ht is incredible, isn't it? The t`lk for | :59:45. | :59:51. | |
more housing, and developments like that have still been turned down by | :59:52. | :59:56. | |
the planning expect it. I think people want to see thriving | :59:57. | :00:01. | |
communities, and they realise they need more houses. Equally, they | :00:02. | :00:05. | |
don't want to see places sw`mped and consumed, and that seemed to me to | :00:06. | :00:11. | |
be a sensible solution by the planning inspector. I hope there | :00:12. | :00:14. | |
will be more developer 's allowed, developer 's that do not sw`mp | :00:15. | :00:21. | |
towns. We get too hung up on a numbers game on the number of | :00:22. | :00:25. | |
houses. We ought to be talkhng about the type of housing that medts local | :00:26. | :00:29. | |
need. You might be able to do that with fewer houses being built than | :00:30. | :00:35. | |
sometimes imposing it. That'll have to be topic of discussion. | :00:36. | :00:36. | |
That's the Sunday Politics hn risk. We have run out of time. -- | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
particular candidates. Back to you, Andrew. | :00:41. | :00:50. | |
The sun's out, Ed Balls has run the London Marathon, and MPs leave | :00:51. | :00:52. | |
Westminster for their Easter break. Let's discuss what's coming up in | :00:53. | :01:03. | |
the Week Ahead. We will get more of what we have | :01:04. | :01:08. | |
just seen. Let's look back on the debate. What did we learn from the | :01:09. | :01:13. | |
argument is? That it is going to bore and irritate whole lot of | :01:14. | :01:16. | |
people, this election campaign. Four parties shouting at each other about | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
things that most people do not know much about. They know very little | :01:21. | :01:23. | |
about how the European Parliament works, what an MEP is supposed to | :01:24. | :01:31. | |
do. A lot of heat and not a lot of light. I've updated well, all of | :01:32. | :01:37. | |
them, but the net effect is not going to encourage people to go out | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
and vote and not many do. One thing that struck me was that on Europe, | :01:42. | :01:49. | |
the Labour and Lib Dem positions are not that far apart. They are pretty | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
much the same. And yet the knocks lots of each other. I suppose they | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
feel that they had to do that because that is the format. I'd | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
agree with Polly. Their word UKIP and the Tories to attack two we try | :02:03. | :02:08. | |
to make it exciting, and we know the issues are important. But people out | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
there have not heard of these individuals. It is not very | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
exciting. That is worrying because these are huge national questions | :02:18. | :02:21. | |
for us. We need to find a way of making it more fun. People may not | :02:22. | :02:27. | |
know these MEPs, they may not know the detail of the debate, but it is | :02:28. | :02:32. | |
an issue on which people have strong opinions. It is a visceral thing for | :02:33. | :02:36. | |
many people. Especially on the immigration issue. The debate took | :02:37. | :02:38. | |
off and became more vociferous at that point. To a large extent, you | :02:39. | :02:45. | |
wonder whether not only this European election but the eventual | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
referendum will be a referendum on the issue of immigration and free | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
movement. If we did not learn much from the argument, the thing we did | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
learn is that the structure of these televised debate influences the | :02:57. | :03:04. | |
outcome. One of the reasons that Nigel Farage did well in the debate | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
is that in a two-man debate, each man has as good a chance as the | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
other. If it is four people, one man can be ganged up on. Patrick O'Flynn | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
did well for a man who is not an elected politician yet. At times, 40 | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
came under attack and did not hold the line as well as you would | :03:24. | :03:26. | |
expect. Does that create a perverse incentive for the main parties to | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
agree to a four way debate before the general election? I do not think | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
the David Cameron has nearly as much to worry about from a televised | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
debate in the run-up to the elections than his spin doctors | :03:40. | :03:42. | |
believe. When you put him up against Ed Miliband, and we have not | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
actually seen Ed Miliband in that format, I think he will come off all | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
right. This is an election which the polls would have us believe that the | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
battle for first place is between UKIP and labour. It certainly is. | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
Obviously, it is neck and neck and we will not know until we are | :04:04. | :04:06. | |
closer. And it matters a lot to both of them. If Mr Miliband does not | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
come first, that is not good news for the main opposition at this | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
stage. Except to some extent all of the people will put it to one side | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
and say that this is a bizarre election. A plague on both your | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
houses, let's vote UKIP. It is not clear how much that translates into | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
the next election. It is not too disastrous for Labour. It would be | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
better if they came first. If Mr Miliband comes first, not a problem, | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
but it becomes second and UKIP soars away, what are the consequences I | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
think there is a widespread expectation already at Westminster | :04:50. | :04:52. | |
that UKIP is very likely to come first. If Ed Miliband fails to come | :04:53. | :04:58. | |
first, there will not be a great deal of shock in the West Mr | :04:59. | :05:02. | |
village. Else think what is remarkable about Ed Miliband is that | :05:03. | :05:05. | |
despite consistently poor personal leadership approval ratings, the | :05:06. | :05:11. | |
overall Labour poll is consistently very high. We have seen that budget | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
blip, it seems to have taken us back to where we were before. Leadership | :05:18. | :05:23. | |
is not everything. Mrs Thatcher was miles behind James Callaghan but in | :05:24. | :05:26. | |
the end, it was the party politics that mattered more. If Mr Cameron | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
comes third and the Tories come third, maybe a poor third, is it | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
headless chicken time on the Tory backbenchers? It has often been said | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
that the Tory Party has two modes, complacency and panic. You will see | :05:42. | :05:47. | |
them shift into panic mode. By June, I think. Many of the stories in the | :05:48. | :05:53. | |
sun will be about David Cameron s personal leadership and his grip on | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
the party. There will be pressure on conference by the time that comes | :05:58. | :06:01. | |
around. It is a natural consequence of being the incumbent party. The | :06:02. | :06:08. | |
Lib Dems are 7% in two of the polls today. It was widely thought that in | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
the first and second debates, Nigel Farage won both. In retrospect, was | :06:13. | :06:19. | |
the challenge strategy a disaster for Mr Clegg? I do not think it was | :06:20. | :06:25. | |
because he had nothing to lose. But he is lower in the polls than when | :06:26. | :06:32. | |
he started. He has not lost a great deal. The polls were quite often | :06:33. | :06:38. | |
that low. I think it was a good thing to do. It raised his profile. | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
It made him the leading party in. That may be a difficult place to | :06:44. | :06:47. | |
be. That is how you end up with 7% in the polls. The reason he is | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
fighting with Labour is that he knows very well that all he has to | :06:53. | :06:55. | |
do is to get his votes back that have gone to Labour and labour have | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
to fight hard to make sure that they do not go back. Every party looks to | :07:00. | :07:05. | |
where it is going to get it support. If it is a wipe-out for the | :07:06. | :07:09. | |
Lib Dems, and they lose all their MEPs, not saying that is going to | :07:10. | :07:15. | |
happen but you could not rule it out for, are we back in Nick Clegg | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
leadership crisis territory? One of the astonishing things about this | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
Parliament is the relative absence of leadership speculation about Nick | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
Clegg will stop at the first couple of years, his position seems | :07:29. | :07:31. | |
tricky, but maybe that is because Chris Hughton is gone and he was the | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
only plausible candidate. This cable is not getting any younger, to put | :07:36. | :07:38. | |
it delicately. That was not delegate at all! And we have reached a | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
desperate stage where Danny Alexander is talked about as a | :07:44. | :07:46. | |
candidate. That was not delegate either! Maybe he is holding onto | :07:47. | :07:50. | |
power the lack of alternatives. If they ended up with no MEPs at all, | :07:51. | :07:56. | |
and a less than double digits score... With Danny Alexander, it is | :07:57. | :08:02. | |
clear that Scotland, one way or another, will be moving further | :08:03. | :08:05. | |
away. You could not have the leader of a national party be a Scot. But | :08:06. | :08:12. | |
he does not have the following in the party. I'm glad you're liberal | :08:13. | :08:16. | |
attitudes to immigration extends to me. I would not have been here for | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
43 years. There will be leadership talk after that holes. It has been | :08:22. | :08:27. | |
bubbling in the background, but you have to talk to the grass roots | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
activists. -- after the polls. The grass roots activists are | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
despairing. If things are bad, they lose their network of activists who | :08:38. | :08:40. | |
they need to fight the next election. I think you mean, not that | :08:41. | :08:44. | |
you could have a Scot, but that it would be more difficult to have a | :08:45. | :08:48. | |
Scot from a Scottish constituency. Absolutely. I think a Scottish | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
constituency, so many things will be different. Or to hold the great | :08:55. | :09:01. | |
offices of state. Let's come onto the Crown Prosecution Service is. It | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
is an English institution. Where does the CPS and after losing yet | :09:06. | :09:08. | |
another high-profile case come this time Nigel Evans? They had nine | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
counts against him and they did not win on one. It is obviously very | :09:14. | :09:20. | |
embarrassing. They will have a bit of explain to do but I guess the | :09:21. | :09:22. | |
threshold for bringing these cases is high. There has to be considered | :09:23. | :09:26. | |
at least a 50-50 chance of actually winning the case. We do not know | :09:27. | :09:32. | |
what went on behind the scenes when they weighed up whether to bring the | :09:33. | :09:35. | |
case. Nigel Evans makes an interesting point about whether it | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
is legitimate to bundle together a number of stand-alone relatively | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
weak accusations, and when you put them together to militantly, the CPS | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
uses that to make a case. Is that a legitimate thing to do? He was a | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
high-profile figure, not just because he was a Tory MP. He was the | :09:54. | :10:01. | |
deputy speaker of the House. And yet the CPS are certainly the police, to | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
begin with they did not have that many people to testify against him. | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
And then they trawled for more. You wonder if they would have done that | :10:12. | :10:14. | |
if it was not for the fact that he was a public figure. The trouble is, | :10:15. | :10:17. | |
they are dammed if they do and dammed if they do not. Particularly | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
with politicians and the reputation they have these days, if there is | :10:22. | :10:24. | |
any suggestion that they let somebody off because they are a | :10:25. | :10:27. | |
high-profile politician, and they are saying that about Cyril Smith, | :10:28. | :10:34. | |
that is the accusation. A strange story. Most unlikely and very | :10:35. | :10:37. | |
bizarre. But that is the accusation. If there is any with of that, I can | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
see why the CPS says, we better let the courts try this one. Also, they | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
are in trouble overrated cases because their success rate on | :10:48. | :10:55. | |
bringing people to court for rape is so thin. When it looked as if his | :10:56. | :10:58. | |
accusers were not really accusing him, it looks quite weak. You cannot | :10:59. | :11:01. | |
help but feeling that they are falling over backwards now in | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
high-profile cases because of their abject and total failure over Jimmy | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
Savile. I think this is exactly the kind of case that happens when you | :11:12. | :11:14. | |
are trying to make a point or redeem a reputation or change a culture. | :11:15. | :11:19. | |
All of these big things. As opposed to what criminal justice is supposed | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
to be about, which is specific crimes and specific evidence | :11:24. | :11:25. | |
matching those crimes. The CPS has no copper a fleet joined in this | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
list of public and situations that has taken a fall over the past five | :11:30. | :11:33. | |
or six years. We have had Parliament, the newspapers, the | :11:34. | :11:36. | |
police will stop I think this is as bad a humiliation as any of those | :11:37. | :11:39. | |
because it is Innocent people suffering. You are the most recent, | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
being a lobby correspondent in Westminster, and we now see on | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
Channel 4 News that basically, Westminster is twinned with Sodom | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
and Gomorrah. Yes. I know. Is this true? It is all rather the red. I do | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
not move in those circles. And you were in the lobby at one stage? Not | :12:00. | :12:04. | |
that long ago. Is it right. Is it right to be twinned with Sodom and | :12:05. | :12:07. | |
Gomorrah? I'll ask him for his opinion. Being technically a member | :12:08. | :12:14. | |
of the lobby, I can observe some of this stuff. And what surprises me is | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
that journalists, when the complain about Sodom and Gomorrah, write | :12:20. | :12:23. | |
themselves out of it. It is as if it is just MPs. We are unalloyed and | :12:24. | :12:29. | |
unvarnished. Actually, the fact is it has always been a bit like Sodom | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
and tomorrow. Of course it has. Think about how we have had wave | :12:34. | :12:37. | |
after wave of stories and scandals. But less of it recently. It was I | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
think that attitudes have slightly changed. I'll also think that if you | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
get 650 people in any organisation and you put that much scrutiny on | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
them, you will find an awful lot going on in most people's officers | :12:53. | :12:58. | |
of a scurrilous nature. Even in the BBC | :12:59. | :14:02. | |
In 2013, the public voted for a portrait of | :14:03. | :14:04. | |
At times he's interesting, at times he's very funny, | :14:05. | :14:12. | |
My life is a very happy life and I'm a very happy person. | :14:13. | :14:20. | |
Will you feel nervous when this is unveiled? | :14:21. | :14:22. | |
I suppose being the centre of attention but for ever. | :14:23. | :14:26. |