Browse content similar to 29/06/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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No surprise that Mr Cameron didn't get his way at the European summit. | :00:51. | :01:01. | |
But does it mean Britain has just moved closer to the EU exit? | :01:02. | :01:04. | |
Doctors want to ban smoking outright. | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
A sensible health measure or the health lobby's secret plan all | :01:09. | :01:10. | |
In the south`west, as GP pr`ctices in the region struggle to fhll | :01:11. | :01:30. | |
vacancies, are And with me, as always, | :01:31. | :01:42. | |
the best and the brightest political panel in the business Nick Watt | :01:43. | :01:44. | |
Helen Lewis and Janan Ganesh. They've had their usual cognac, | :01:45. | :01:55. | |
or Juncker as it's known in Luxembourg, for breakfast and will | :01:56. | :01:58. | |
be tweeting under the influence He's a boozing, chain-smoking, | :01:59. | :02:00. | |
millionaire bon viveur who's made it big in the world of European | :02:01. | :02:03. | |
politic. I speak of Jean-Claude Juncker, the | :02:04. | :02:05. | |
former Prime Minister of Luxembourg He'll soon be President | :02:06. | :02:08. | |
of the European Commission, He wasn't David Cameron's choice | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
of course. But those the PM thought were his | :02:13. | :02:19. | |
allies deserted him and he ended up on the wrong end of a 26-2 vote in | :02:20. | :02:22. | |
favour of Arch-Fedrealist Juncker. -- on the wrong end of a 26-2 vote | :02:23. | :02:37. | |
in favour of Arch-Federalist So where does this leave | :02:38. | :02:40. | |
Mr Cameron's hopes of major reform and repatriation | :02:41. | :02:43. | |
of EU powers back to the UK? Let's speak to his | :02:44. | :02:45. | |
Europe Minister David Lidington Welcome to the programme. The Prime | :02:46. | :02:55. | |
Minister says that now with Mr Juncker at the helm, the battle to | :02:56. | :02:58. | |
keep Britain in the EU has got harder. In what way has it got | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
harder? For two reasons. The majority of the leaders have | :03:05. | :03:07. | |
accepted the process that shifts power, it will not careful, from the | :03:08. | :03:12. | |
elected heads of government right cross Europe to the party bosses, | :03:13. | :03:20. | |
the faction leaders in the European Parliament and and the disaffection | :03:21. | :03:24. | |
was made clear in many European countries. Mr Juncker had a | :03:25. | :03:33. | |
distinguished period as head of Luxembourg, and was not a known | :03:34. | :03:36. | |
reformer, but we have to judge on how he leads the commission and | :03:37. | :03:39. | |
there were some elements in the mandate that the heads of government | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
gave this week to the new incoming European Commission that I think are | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
cautiously encouraging for us. The Prime Minister talked about those | :03:48. | :03:54. | |
that not everybody wants to integrate and to the same extent and | :03:55. | :04:01. | |
speed. Let me just interrupt you. What is new about saying that Europe | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
can go closer to closer union at different speeds? That has always | :04:06. | :04:14. | |
been the case. It's nothing new Indeed there are precedents, and | :04:15. | :04:22. | |
they are good examples of the approach as part of the course and | :04:23. | :04:29. | |
one of the elements that the Prime Minister is taking forward in the | :04:30. | :04:32. | |
strategy is to get general acceptance that while we agree that | :04:33. | :04:38. | |
most of the partners have agreed to the single currency will want to | :04:39. | :04:41. | |
press forward with closer integration of their economic and | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
tax policies, but not every country in the EU is going to want to do | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
that. We have to see the pattern that has grown up enough to | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
recognise there is a diverse EU with 28 member states and more in the | :04:55. | :04:57. | |
future. We won't all integrate the extent. It is a matter of a pattern | :04:58. | :05:04. | |
that is differentiation and integration. I understand that. John | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
Major used to call it variable geometry, and other phrases nobody | :05:10. | :05:13. | |
used to understand, but the point is that you're back benches don't want | :05:14. | :05:16. | |
any union at any speed, even in the slow lane. They want to go in the | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
other direction. It depends which backbencher you talk to. There's a | :05:23. | :05:31. | |
diverse range of views. I think that there is acceptance that the core of | :05:32. | :05:37. | |
the Prime Minister's approaches to seek reform of the European Union, | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
for renegotiation after the election, then put it to the British | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
people to decide. It won't be the British government or ministers that | :05:47. | :05:49. | |
take the final decision, it's the British people, provided they are a | :05:50. | :05:52. | |
Conservative government, who will take the decision on the basis of | :05:53. | :05:55. | |
the reforms that David Cameron secures whether they want to stay in | :05:56. | :05:59. | |
or not. Is there more of a chance, not a certainty or probability, but | :06:00. | :06:05. | |
at least more of a chance that with Mr Juncker in that position of | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
Britain leaving the EU? I don't think we can say that at the moment. | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
I think we can say that the task of reform looks harder than it did a | :06:15. | :06:21. | |
couple of weeks ago. But we have do put Mr Juncker to the test. I do | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
think he would want his commission to be marked and I think that there | :06:27. | :06:38. | |
is, and I find this in numbers around Europe, and there is a | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
growing recognition that things cannot go on as they have been. | :06:44. | :06:47. | |
Europe, economically, is in danger of losing a lot of ground will stop | :06:48. | :06:51. | |
millions of youngsters are out of work already that reform. There is | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
real anxiety and a number of countries now about the extent to | :06:56. | :06:58. | |
which opinion polls and election results are showing a shift of | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
support to both left and right wing parties, sometimes outright | :07:04. | :07:05. | |
neofascist movements, expressing real content and resentment at | :07:06. | :07:12. | |
Howard in touch -- how out of touch decisions have become. You say you | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
are sensing anxiety about the condition of Europe, so why did they | :07:17. | :07:21. | |
choose Mr Juncker then? You would have to put that question to some of | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
the heads of European government. Clearly there were a number for whom | :07:27. | :07:32. | |
domestic politics played a big role in the eventual decision that they | :07:33. | :07:39. | |
took. There were some who had signed up to the lead candidate process and | :07:40. | :07:45. | |
felt they could not back away from that, whatever their private | :07:46. | :07:48. | |
feelings might have been, but I think the PM was right to say that | :07:49. | :07:51. | |
this was a matter of principle and it shouldn't just be left as a | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
stitch up by the European Parliament to tell us what they do. He said, I | :07:56. | :08:02. | |
can't agree to pretend to acquiesce. They have to make the opposition | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
clear that go on with reform. Are the current terms of membership for | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
us unacceptable? The current terms of the membership are very far from | :08:13. | :08:20. | |
perfect. Are they unacceptable? The current terms are certainly not ones | :08:21. | :08:27. | |
that I feel comfortable with. The Prime Minister described them as | :08:28. | :08:31. | |
unacceptable. Do you think they are? We look at the views of the British | :08:32. | :08:35. | |
people at the moment. If you look at the polling at the moment, the | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
evidence is that people are split on whether they think membership is a | :08:41. | :08:43. | |
good thing. I'm asking what you think. David Cameron wants to in -- | :08:44. | :08:53. | |
endorse changes in our interest but also because the biggest market is | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
going to suffer if they don't challenge -- grasp the challenge of | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
political and economic reform. Newsnight, Friday night, Malcolm | :09:03. | :09:05. | |
Rifkind the former Secretary of State said to me that even if the | :09:06. | :09:10. | |
choice was to stay in on the existing terms, he would vote to | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
stay in on the existing terms. He doesn't necessarily like them, but | :09:15. | :09:17. | |
he would vote to stay in. That is the authentic voice of the Foreign | :09:18. | :09:20. | |
Office, isn't it? That is the position of your department. Is it | :09:21. | :09:29. | |
your position? Malcolm Rifkind is a distinguished and independent minded | :09:30. | :09:31. | |
backbencher. He's not in government now. But that is your position. No, | :09:32. | :09:37. | |
the position of the government and the Conservative Party in the | :09:38. | :09:40. | |
government is that we believe that important changes, both economic and | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
political reforms, are necessary and that they are attainable in our | :09:46. | :09:48. | |
interest and those of Europe as a whole. Would you vote to stay in on | :09:49. | :09:55. | |
the existing terms? That's not going to be a question that the | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
referendum. Really? I know that in 2017 Europe is going to look rather | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
different to how it looks today For one thing our colleagues in the | :10:06. | :10:08. | |
Eurozone will want and need to press ahead with closer integration. | :10:09. | :10:12. | |
That, in our view, needs to be done in a way that fully respects the | :10:13. | :10:15. | |
rights of those of us who remain outside. Variable geometry, tackling | :10:16. | :10:22. | |
things like the abuse of freedom of migration. Those are all in the | :10:23. | :10:24. | |
conclusions from the leader this week and we should welcome that | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
Very briefly, finally, when will you, as a government, give us the | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
negotiating position of the government? Will you give us what | :10:33. | :10:35. | |
you hope to achieve before the election or not? David Cameron set | :10:36. | :10:42. | |
out very clearly in his Bloomberg speech that he wanted a Europe that | :10:43. | :10:45. | |
was more democratically accountable, more flexible, more at it -- | :10:46. | :10:51. | |
economically competitive. That is all very general. When will you lay | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
out the negotiating position? It's not general. It is very far from | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
general. We have seen evidence in the successful cut of the European | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
budget, the reform of fisheries those reforms have started to take | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
effect. We have won some victories and I'm sure the Prime Minister as | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
we get towards the general election, will want to make clear what the | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
Conservative Party position is, and perhaps other political leaders will | :11:18. | :11:20. | |
do the same for their party. Thank you for joining us this morning The | :11:21. | :11:27. | |
harsh reality of this is that there is a yawning gap between what the | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
Prime Minister can hope to bring back and what will satisfy his | :11:34. | :11:37. | |
Conservative backbenchers. Yes, I think the Parliamentary Conservative | :11:38. | :11:40. | |
Party is divided into three parts, those who would vote to leave the EU | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
regardless, those who would stay regardless, and a huge middle ground | :11:45. | :11:48. | |
of people who want to stay in on renegotiated terms. These are not | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
three equal parts. Those who would vote to stay in regardless are | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
smaller and smaller. Compared to 20 years ago, tiny. But the people in | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
the middle, generally, would only stay in if you secure a | :12:02. | :12:04. | |
renegotiation that will not be re-secured. In other words, they are | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
de facto, out by 2017 and the referendum. This whole saga of the | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
recent weeks has been the single biggest economy in foreign policy | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
under this government. That's not what the voters think. -- single | :12:20. | :12:23. | |
biggest ignominy. I mean the failure to secure the target. The opinion | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
polls show that standing up against Mr Juncker has proved rather | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
popular. I suggest that is not Mr Cameron's problem. His problem is | :12:34. | :12:37. | |
that, if in the end he gets only because Medic changes, and if he | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
says he still thinks that with these changes -- cosmetic changes. And he | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
says that they should stay in, that would split the Tory party wide | :12:46. | :12:51. | |
open. Eurosceptics say would be the biggest split since the corn laws. | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
He wants to protect the position of coming out, and you might get that. | :12:57. | :13:02. | |
He wants to crack down on abuse of benefits, and he might get that He | :13:03. | :13:06. | |
wants to restrict freedom of movement for future member states, | :13:07. | :13:09. | |
and that's difficult, because it is a treaty change. And he wants to | :13:10. | :13:13. | |
deal with closer union, but that is also treaty change. In the Council | :13:14. | :13:17. | |
conclusions, David Cameron was encouraged because it said, let s | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
look at closer union, but it did not say it would reform. All it said was | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
ever closer union can be interpreted in different ways. In other words, | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
we're not going to change it. The fundamental problem the David | :13:31. | :13:40. | |
Cameron was that two years ago, when he vetoed the fiscal compact, that | :13:41. | :13:43. | |
showed Angela Merkel was unwilling to help them and what happened in | :13:44. | :13:45. | |
the last two weeks was that Angela Merkel was unable to help him. There | :13:46. | :13:48. | |
is not a single leader of the European Union that once Juncker as | :13:49. | :13:51. | |
president, and he doesn't want it, he wants the note take a job at the | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
European Council. But there was this basic stitch up by the European | :13:56. | :13:58. | |
Parliament that meant he was presented, and when Angela Merkel | :13:59. | :14:02. | |
put the question over his head there was a huge backlash in Germany and | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
she was unable to deliver. I understand that, but I'm looking | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
forward to Mr Cameron's predicament. I don't know how he squares the | :14:12. | :14:15. | |
circle. It seems inconceivable that he can bring back enough from | :14:16. | :14:19. | |
Brussels to satisfy his backbenchers. No, you can't. Most of | :14:20. | :14:25. | |
them fundamentally want out. They don't want to be persuaded by | :14:26. | :14:29. | |
renegotiations. Where it's hard to draw conclusions from the polling is | :14:30. | :14:32. | |
that if you ask people question that sounds like, do you like the fact | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
that our Prime Minister has gone to Brussels and stuck it to the man, | :14:37. | :14:39. | |
they say yes, but how many people will go to the voting booths and put | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
their cross in the box based on Europe? We know mostly voters care | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
about Europe as a proxy for immigration fears. In ten people in | :14:49. | :14:55. | |
this country could not tell you who John Claude Juncker is Angela Weir | :14:56. | :14:58. | |
is replacing. -- and who he is replacing. | :14:59. | :15:01. | |
And I'm joined in the studio now by arch-Eurosceptic Conservative MEP, | :15:02. | :15:04. | |
Daniel Hannan and from Strasbourg by staunch European and former Liberal | :15:05. | :15:06. | |
war? His declared objectives would leave Britain still in the common | :15:07. | :15:28. | |
agricultural policy, the common foreign policy, the European arrest | :15:29. | :15:34. | |
warrant, so the negotiating aims which we just heard Nick setting out | :15:35. | :15:38. | |
wouldn't fundamentally change anything. It would be easy for the | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
Government to declare war on any of these things. The danger from your | :15:44. | :15:50. | |
point of view as someone who wants to stay in is that if David Cameron | :15:51. | :15:54. | |
only gets cosmetic changes, the chance of getting the vote to leave | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
the European Union increases, doesn't it? Hypothetically it | :16:00. | :16:08. | |
probably does but we have two big things to get through first in | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
domestic politics before we even reach a negotiation. One is are we | :16:13. | :16:18. | |
going to have the United Kingdom this time next year following the | :16:19. | :16:25. | |
referendum in Scotland? Secondly, are the Conservatives after the | :16:26. | :16:28. | |
general election next year going to be in a position to pursue a | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
negotiation? In other words are they going to be a majority government or | :16:34. | :16:39. | |
even a minority government? For the sake of this morning let's assume | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
the answer to both is yes, the UK stays intact and against the polls | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
they were saying this morning, David Cameron forms an overall majority | :16:50. | :16:53. | |
after the election. There is a danger, if he doesn't bring much | :16:54. | :16:59. | |
back, that people will vote yes correct? There is that danger and I | :17:00. | :17:06. | |
see a lot of the British press comment this morning saying this | :17:07. | :17:10. | |
could be a rerun of the Harold Wilson like negotiation of the | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
1970s, a bit cosmetic but enough to say we have got new terms and you | :17:16. | :17:20. | |
should go with it. I think what is different however, and this is | :17:21. | :17:24. | |
really an appeal if you like, it cannot just be left to the Liberal | :17:25. | :17:29. | |
Democrats and coalition government to make this case on our Rome. A lot | :17:30. | :17:35. | |
of interest groups across the land will have to start being prepared to | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
put their head above the parapet on the fundamental - do you want | :17:40. | :17:43. | |
Britain to remain in the European Union? Yes or no? Are you willing to | :17:44. | :17:49. | |
put your public reputations on the line? We are not getting enough of | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
that at the moment and it is getting dangerously close to closing time. | :17:55. | :18:00. | |
Daniel Hannan, David Cameron will not get away with this, will he It | :18:01. | :18:11. | |
will be an acceptable to his party. If it is an acceptable to Tory | :18:12. | :18:15. | |
backbenchers it is because it is working and they are reflecting what | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
their constituents say. A majority of people in the country are unhappy | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
with the present terms. They can see there is a huge wide world beyond | :18:26. | :18:29. | |
the oceans and we have confined ourselves to this small trade bloc. | :18:30. | :18:35. | |
There is a huge debate to be had about whether we could be doing | :18:36. | :18:42. | |
better outside. It is not danger, it is democracy, trusting people. If | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
the only person offering a referendum at the moment is the | :18:47. | :18:51. | |
Prime Minister, it has serious consequences for his party, your | :18:52. | :18:54. | |
party, that's what I'm talking about. I am very proud of being part | :18:55. | :19:02. | |
of the party that is trusting people to offer this. If he only gets | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
cosmetic changes he cannot carry his party. But ultimately it will not be | :19:09. | :19:13. | |
his party, it is the electorate as a whole that has to decide whether the | :19:14. | :19:17. | |
changes are substantive. Everything we have been hearing just now is | :19:18. | :19:22. | |
about staying out of future integration, protecting the role of | :19:23. | :19:26. | |
the non-euro countries. People are upset about what is going on today | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
with the EU. They can see laws being passed by people they cannot vote | :19:32. | :19:36. | |
for, friendships overseas are prejudiced, and they conceive that | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
the European Union has just put in charge in the top slot somebody who | :19:41. | :19:45. | |
wants a United States of Europe into which we will eventually be dragged | :19:46. | :19:51. | |
into as some kind of Providence Jean-Claude Juncker is a Federalist, | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
you are Federalist, why did the Lib Dems oppose him? We shared the view | :19:57. | :20:05. | |
that whilst you take account of what the members of the European | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
Parliament say, ultimately the choice of the presidency in the | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
commission should be the political leaders, the governmental leaders at | :20:15. | :20:18. | |
a national level, and that's why we went down the route we did. It was | :20:19. | :20:24. | |
more to do with the system than the individual. Although I would say | :20:25. | :20:28. | |
that you need to bear in mind, I mean Daniel, I respect him | :20:29. | :20:32. | |
personally and the integrity of his views, as I think he does mine, but | :20:33. | :20:39. | |
to dismiss the European Union as a small trading block globally, when | :20:40. | :20:45. | |
you have got the United States of America, China and other countries | :20:46. | :20:48. | |
acknowledging its importance, it is really Walter Mitty land. Are we | :20:49. | :21:08. | |
closer than... Daniel Hannan, are we closer to an exit after what | :21:09. | :21:13. | |
happened last week? Yes, because the idea that we could get substantive | :21:14. | :21:18. | |
reforms, gets a mythic and powers back and be within a looser, more | :21:19. | :21:24. | |
flexible European back and be within a looser, more | :21:25. | :21:56. | |
via a unilateral system of power or another way. This debate is | :21:57. | :22:02. | |
never-ending, it is going on and on and has bedevilled British prime | :22:03. | :22:05. | |
ministers for as long as I can remember. Shouldn't the Lib Dems | :22:06. | :22:09. | |
change their stance on the referendum yet again let's just have | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
this in-out referendum and have it sided one way or another? Our | :22:15. | :22:21. | |
position remains clear. If there is a constitutional issue put before us | :22:22. | :22:23. | |
in terms a constitutional issue put before us | :22:24. | :23:53. | |
taxes. You said this week that you liked the sound of Juncker | :23:54. | :23:57. | |
federalism. Does that sound good to you? No, and I think the new | :23:58. | :24:04. | |
president of the commission will be disappointed if he puts forward | :24:05. | :24:07. | |
these views because although we only had Hungary voting with us, I think | :24:08. | :24:14. | |
if you go to other countries, France, Poland, Scandinavia, they | :24:15. | :24:19. | |
are not going to buy that kind of menu. What they mean by federalism | :24:20. | :24:25. | |
is the continental concept, also the North American concept, that we can | :24:26. | :24:35. | |
sit very happily... They have an army, a federal police force, | :24:36. | :24:45. | |
federal taxation. Yes, but in terms of the political institutions which | :24:46. | :24:48. | |
is what we are discussing here, you can have the supranational, the | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
European level, whilst still having the very vibrant national, and | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
indeed as we are practising in the United Kingdom the subnational. A | :24:57. | :25:02. | |
very brief final word from you, Daniel. That is ultimately going to | :25:03. | :25:09. | |
be the choice. The European Union is an evolving dynamic, we can see the | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
direction it is going in. Do we want to be part of that? I suspect | :25:15. | :25:18. | |
Charles Kennedy would have loved a referendum. I cannot help but notice | :25:19. | :25:24. | |
his party is going downhill since he was running it. It is illegal to | :25:25. | :25:39. | |
light up in the workplace, pubs and restaurants. Now the British Medical | :25:40. | :25:43. | |
Association has voted to outlaw everywhere but not everybody at | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
once. It would apply to anyone born after the year 2000. In a moment we | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
will debate the merits of those plans but first he is Adam. | :25:53. | :25:57. | |
There was a time when to be British was to be a smoker. 1948 was the | :25:58. | :26:04. | |
year off peak fag with 82% of men smoking mainly cigarettes but it was | :26:05. | :26:09. | |
a pipe that Harold Wilson used as a political prop to help with the | :26:10. | :26:13. | |
hard-hitting interviews they did in those days. The advertisements make | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
out pipe smokers to be more virile, more fascinating men than anybody | :26:18. | :26:28. | |
else. Do you thought -- have that thought anywhere in your mind? No. | :26:29. | :26:38. | |
It changed in 2006 when smoking in enclosed places was banned. I would | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
rather be inside but unfortunately we have got to do what this | :26:44. | :26:48. | |
Government tells us to do. I think it is good, it is calm and you can | :26:49. | :26:54. | |
breathe. Research suggests it has improved the health of bar workers | :26:55. | :26:59. | |
no end and reduced childhood asthma. Now just one in five adults is a | :27:00. | :27:05. | |
smoker. Coming next, crackdowns on those newfangled e-cigarettes, | :27:06. | :27:10. | |
smoking in cars and possibly the introduction of plain packaging | :27:11. | :27:15. | |
There is still those who take pride in smoking and see it as a war on | :27:16. | :27:19. | |
freedom. We're joined now by | :27:20. | :27:34. | |
Dr Vivienne Nathanson from the British Medical Association | :27:35. | :27:36. | |
who voted for a graduated ban on smoking at their conference last | :27:37. | :27:42. | |
week, and Simon Clark They're here to go head-to-head | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
There are plenty of things which are bad for our health, why single out | :27:48. | :27:55. | |
cigarettes? We need some sugar in our diets but the fact is that we | :27:56. | :28:03. | |
need to stop people smoking as children because if we can do that, | :28:04. | :28:08. | |
the likelihood that they will start smoking is very small. In no | :28:09. | :28:12. | |
circumstances is smoking good for you. There are lots of smokers who | :28:13. | :28:17. | |
live long, healthy lives but we totally accept smoking is a risk to | :28:18. | :28:22. | |
your health and adults have to make that decision, just as you make the | :28:23. | :28:26. | |
decision about drinking alcohol eating fatty foods and drinking | :28:27. | :28:32. | |
sugary drinks. This proposal is totally impractical. It will create | :28:33. | :28:35. | |
a huge black market in cigarettes which will get bigger every year. | :28:36. | :28:40. | |
They say this is about stopping children smoking but there is | :28:41. | :28:45. | |
already a law in place that stops shopkeepers from selling cigarettes | :28:46. | :28:49. | |
to children. This target adults so you could have the bizarre situation | :28:50. | :28:56. | |
in the year 3035 for example where a 36-year-old can go into shops to buy | :28:57. | :29:00. | |
cigarettes but if you are 35 you will be denied that, which is | :29:01. | :29:05. | |
ludicrous. The point is that the younger you start smoking the more | :29:06. | :29:09. | |
likely you will become heavily addicted. I take the point, but the | :29:10. | :29:15. | |
point he is saying is that if this becomes law, down the road, if you | :29:16. | :29:20. | |
go into shops to buy cigarettes you would have to take your birth | :29:21. | :29:24. | |
certificate, wouldn't you? We have no idea how the legislation would be | :29:25. | :29:29. | |
written but the key point is that if we can stop young people from | :29:30. | :29:33. | |
starting to smoke, we will in 2 years have a whole group of people | :29:34. | :29:38. | |
who have never smoked so you won't have that problem of people who are | :29:39. | :29:42. | |
smokers and they are now in their 20s and 30s. Or you will have a lot | :29:43. | :29:47. | |
of younger people who get cigarettes the way they currently get illegal | :29:48. | :29:51. | |
drugs now. They are already getting cigarettes illegally and we have to | :29:52. | :29:57. | |
deal with that. We have got to get better. The Government has not been | :29:58. | :30:03. | |
able to stop it. We know this is going to kill 50%... When you are 15 | :30:04. | :30:12. | |
you think you will live for ever. Indeed but they also do it as | :30:13. | :30:15. | |
rebellion and because they see adults and it is remarkably easy to | :30:16. | :30:21. | |
buy cigarettes. Whatever the case is for individual choice, won't most | :30:22. | :30:25. | |
people agree that if you could stop young people smoking, so that | :30:26. | :30:29. | |
through the rest of their lives they never smoked, that would be worth | :30:30. | :30:40. | |
doing? You get 16 or 17-year-olds who already do that. Is it worth | :30:41. | :30:43. | |
trying? When the government increased the age at which | :30:44. | :30:48. | |
shopkeepers could sell from 16 to 18, we supported it. We don't | :30:49. | :30:54. | |
support a ban on proxy purchasing, we support reasonable measures, but | :30:55. | :30:57. | |
this is unreasonable. This proposal says a lot about the BMA, because | :30:58. | :31:03. | |
this week the BMA also passed a motion to ban the use of E | :31:04. | :31:07. | |
cigarettes in public places. There is no evidence that they are | :31:08. | :31:10. | |
dangerous to health, so why are they doing that? They are becoming a | :31:11. | :31:15. | |
temperance society. This is not about public health, it's an | :31:16. | :31:17. | |
old-fashioned temperance society and they have to get their act together | :31:18. | :31:20. | |
because they are bringing the medical profession into disrepute. | :31:21. | :31:26. | |
We were having argument is about things that people buy large accept, | :31:27. | :31:31. | |
smoking in bars or public places, but the real aim of the BMA was the | :31:32. | :31:34. | |
total banning of cigarettes altogether. This would suggest that | :31:35. | :31:40. | |
that was true to claim that. It s not about a ban, it's about a move | :31:41. | :31:43. | |
to a country where nobody wants to smoke and no one is a smoker. But it | :31:44. | :31:49. | |
would be illegal to smoke. It would be illegal to buy, not smoke, and | :31:50. | :31:53. | |
there's a difference between two. So even if I am born in the year 2 00, | :31:54. | :31:59. | |
it would still be illegal to smoke, just illegal to buy the cigarettes? | :32:00. | :32:05. | |
Indeed. The point being that the habit of smoking is very strongly | :32:06. | :32:09. | |
linked to your ability to buy, so that is why things like Price and | :32:10. | :32:12. | |
availability and marketing are so important. People will flood across | :32:13. | :32:18. | |
the Channel with the cigarettes One thing you will find is that | :32:19. | :32:21. | |
throughout the world people is looking at -- people are looking at | :32:22. | :32:24. | |
the same kind of measures, and different countries like Australia, | :32:25. | :32:29. | |
they were the first with a standardised packaging. Other | :32:30. | :32:32. | |
countries will follow, because all of us are facing the fact that we | :32:33. | :32:35. | |
can't afford to pay for the tragedy. There will be people | :32:36. | :32:41. | |
waiting to flood the market with cigarettes. This is nonsense. Thanks | :32:42. | :32:46. | |
for both coming and going head-to-head. | :32:47. | :32:48. | |
"Unless we have more equal representation, our politics won't | :32:49. | :32:52. | |
be half as good as it should be " So said David Cameron back in 2 09. | :32:53. | :32:55. | |
So how's it going? Well, you can judge the quality | :32:56. | :32:58. | |
of the politics for yourself, but we've been crunching | :32:59. | :33:00. | |
the numbers to find out what parliament might look like after | :33:01. | :33:03. | |
the next year's general election. Here's Giles. | :33:04. | :33:07. | |
Politicians are elected to Parliament to represent their | :33:08. | :33:11. | |
constituents, but the make-up of Parliament does not reflect society | :33:12. | :33:17. | |
well at all the parties it. In 010 more women and ethnic minority | :33:18. | :33:19. | |
candidates entered Westminster but not significantly more inner chamber | :33:20. | :33:29. | |
still dominated by white males. Looking at the current make-up of | :33:30. | :33:34. | |
the Commons, Labour has 83 female MPs, the Conservative have 47 women | :33:35. | :33:39. | |
MPs, which is just over 47% -- and the Lib Dems have 12% of the | :33:40. | :33:45. | |
parties. All of the parties have selected parliaments in those seats | :33:46. | :33:49. | |
where existing MPs are retiring and to fight seats at the next | :33:50. | :33:51. | |
election, and they've all been trying to up the number of women and | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
ethnic minorities because discounts and can be capitalised on. A picture | :33:56. | :34:00. | |
tells a thousand words. Look at the all-male front bench before us. And | :34:01. | :34:05. | |
he says he wants to represent the whole country. Despite the jibe the | :34:06. | :34:10. | |
Labour Party know they have a long way to go on the issue of being | :34:11. | :34:12. | |
representative. So we way to go on the issue of being | :34:13. | :34:23. | |
look at this particular area of lack of women and ethnic minorities. | :34:24. | :34:24. | |
In the most marginal, 40 have women candidates, that would mean if they | :34:25. | :34:56. | |
got just enough to win power, they would have 133 women, which is 1% | :34:57. | :35:03. | |
The Conservatives currently have 305 MPs and their strategy | :35:04. | :35:04. | |
at the next election is to concentrate on their 40 most | :35:05. | :35:07. | |
marginal seats, and the 40 seats most mathematically likely to turn | :35:08. | :35:10. | |
In those 40, 29 candidates have been selected | :35:11. | :35:13. | |
If they kept hold of their existing seats and won those 29 new ones | :35:14. | :35:18. | |
they would have 56 women MPs, around 17%, and up 2% from last time. | :35:19. | :35:22. | |
The Liberal Democrats are fighting to hold on to the 57 seats they won | :35:23. | :35:25. | |
at the last election, if they manage that, they would have | :35:26. | :35:28. | |
However all the indications are it could be | :35:29. | :35:33. | |
a bad night for the Lib Dems, if they lost 20 seats, on a uniform | :35:34. | :35:37. | |
swing it would leave them with just four women, 11% of the party. | :35:38. | :35:43. | |
One Conservative peer who thinks the party needs to look at all | :35:44. | :35:46. | |
options if it's female numbers go down in 2015, says Parliament is | :35:47. | :35:49. | |
The bottom line is, if 50% of our population is not being looked at | :35:50. | :36:04. | |
evenly, are we really using the best of our talent? And yes, women's life | :36:05. | :36:11. | |
experiences are different. They are not superior, they are not inferior. | :36:12. | :36:15. | |
They are different. But surely those life experiences need to be | :36:16. | :36:16. | |
represented here at Westminster So that's the Parliamentary | :36:17. | :36:21. | |
projection for gender, According to the last census | :36:22. | :36:22. | |
in 2011, 13% of people in the UK Labour currently has 16 MPs from | :36:23. | :36:28. | |
black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds or just over 6%, if they | :36:29. | :36:34. | |
get their extra 68 seats that figure would go up to 26, 8% of their party | :36:35. | :36:37. | |
were from BAME backgrounds. The Tories currently have 11 BAME | :36:38. | :36:41. | |
candidates, or 4% of the party. If they get an extra 29 seats, | :36:42. | :36:48. | |
that would mean 14 BAME MPs, The Liberal Democrats | :36:49. | :36:51. | |
don't have any BAME MPs. If they manage to cling | :36:52. | :37:00. | |
on to their current number of seats they would have two, | :37:01. | :37:05. | |
giving them a proportion of 4%. If they lost | :37:06. | :37:08. | |
their 20 most vulnerable seats, But even if you changed the mix | :37:09. | :37:10. | |
of gender and ethnicity in Parliament would that solve | :37:11. | :37:20. | |
the problem? Probably not. Only 10% of us have gone to | :37:21. | :37:22. | |
a private fee paid school. A Quarter of all Mps went to Oxford | :37:23. | :37:27. | |
or Cambridge. Only a fifth | :37:28. | :37:35. | |
of us went to any university. There is a huge disillusionment with | :37:36. | :37:42. | |
the political elite due to the fact that these people don't look like | :37:43. | :37:46. | |
us. They don't speak like us, they don't have our experiences and they | :37:47. | :37:49. | |
cannot communicate in a way we relate to. If you look at the | :37:50. | :37:54. | |
turnout, at the moment, if you are an unskilled worker, you are 20 | :37:55. | :37:57. | |
points less likely to turn and vote than a middle-class professional and | :37:58. | :38:00. | |
that is getting worse with single election. | :38:01. | :38:03. | |
And that's the key, evidence does suggest that if a | :38:04. | :38:05. | |
Party reflects the society it exists within, it is more likely to get | :38:06. | :38:09. | |
It's just gone 11.35pm, you're watching the Sunday Politics. | :38:10. | :38:18. | |
We say goodbye to viewers in Scotland who leave us now | :38:19. | :38:20. | |
Coming up here in 20 minutes, we'll have more from the panel. | :38:21. | :38:24. | |
First though, the Sunday Politics where you are. | :38:25. | :38:45. | |
struggle to fill vacancies, we ask struggle to fill vacancies, we | :38:46. | :38:48. | |
whether the government's NHS reforms whether the government's NHS reforms | :38:49. | :38:53. | |
are working. And for the next 2 minutes and joined by Stephdn Albert | :38:54. | :39:00. | |
and Alison Seabeck. Welcome both of you. House prices are continuing to | :39:01. | :39:06. | |
rise in the region despite talks of a slowdown in the market. The Office | :39:07. | :39:13. | |
for National Statistics figtres show prices are up on last year `nd | :39:14. | :39:13. | |
nearly ten times the averagd salary. nearly ten times the averagd salary. | :39:14. | :39:18. | |
It means it is increasingly difficult for young people to get on | :39:19. | :39:23. | |
the ladder. At the same timd, prices in the capital have risen bx 20 , | :39:24. | :39:29. | |
fuelling fears we have a London`centric country. Does that | :39:30. | :39:30. | |
matter? I think for those people who are | :39:31. | :39:35. | |
struggling to get on the property ladder here in the South West who | :39:36. | :39:41. | |
are stuck in the hotel of mtm and dad and are in the private rented | :39:42. | :39:43. | |
sector accommodation, what latters is we are not building enough homes | :39:44. | :39:48. | |
as a country, whether in Cornwall, Devon or London. We need to tackle | :39:49. | :39:54. | |
this. We are beginning to sde another inflated housing market We | :39:55. | :39:58. | |
need investment to deliver homes across the country. | :39:59. | :40:03. | |
Will it be enough to build lore homes? | :40:04. | :40:07. | |
It underlines the thing when you only building 100,000 homes every | :40:08. | :40:13. | |
year when you need 230,000 homes. Broken marriages, people living | :40:14. | :40:19. | |
longer, all those things put pressure on housing stock. They have | :40:20. | :40:21. | |
two build more. How could we speak that up? A whole | :40:22. | :40:26. | |
range of reasons why we are not doing that. I have you got. There | :40:27. | :40:35. | |
Developers build quickly will they Developers build quickly will they | :40:36. | :40:40. | |
do get sites. We are looking at land banks and have had to talk `bout | :40:41. | :40:45. | |
Tesco holding enough land for 1 ,000 homes. We need to look at sticks and | :40:46. | :40:50. | |
carrots. The government needs to do lore | :40:51. | :40:53. | |
about the land it is sitting on as well to make that available to | :40:54. | :40:57. | |
developers. I have argued for this in the House of Commons manx times. | :40:58. | :41:01. | |
Where we have speared government land that has been released for | :41:02. | :41:05. | |
development. That is the only way to solve the problem. | :41:06. | :41:08. | |
If we're being honest, is the dream up on former `` the dream of home | :41:09. | :41:15. | |
ownership over? Absolutely not. Thousands of young | :41:16. | :41:19. | |
people want to start a family and get a foot on housing ladder and get | :41:20. | :41:23. | |
that stability and security. We have to be providing their aspir`tions. | :41:24. | :41:28. | |
Importantly, if we don't have enough homes then they cannot read either. | :41:29. | :41:35. | |
We have to move on. GP waithng times are going to become a key election | :41:36. | :41:40. | |
interest. Practices are strtggling to recruit new GPs. Long`term | :41:41. | :41:50. | |
investment has been called for as more shift from hospitals to GP | :41:51. | :41:58. | |
practices. A glimpse into the life of ` rural | :41:59. | :42:04. | |
GP in Cornwall. I visit anywhere between two and 12 | :42:05. | :42:09. | |
patients every day. It may click a bit like a scene from | :42:10. | :42:17. | |
the TV series Doc Martin. Come on. | :42:18. | :42:21. | |
Nice to see you. But this GP says the perception from some th`t those | :42:22. | :42:24. | |
in general practice are overpaid and underworked isn't fair. | :42:25. | :42:30. | |
It is not a cushy number. I work 11 or 12 hours a day nonstop. H don't | :42:31. | :42:34. | |
have time to go home for lunch or anything like that and don't know | :42:35. | :42:39. | |
any colleagues that do. I comment on weekends to catch up on | :42:40. | :42:42. | |
administration. I don't think it is a cushy number at all. | :42:43. | :42:48. | |
National campaigns are under way warning of a crisis in general | :42:49. | :42:53. | |
practice. Inadequate funds, too much work load and stress are spoken of. | :42:54. | :43:01. | |
This has traditionally been a sought`after role. You are right by | :43:02. | :43:04. | |
the beach with the countryshde just minutes away. Now there are fears | :43:05. | :43:07. | |
there would be enough peopld willing to take on the role. In message one | :43:08. | :43:14. | |
GP has been highlighting at the British Medical Association | :43:15. | :43:15. | |
conference. The south`west is to be one of the | :43:16. | :43:20. | |
most popular areas for young doctors to be a GP. But there are 441 posts | :43:21. | :43:26. | |
unfilled across the whole of the UK and in the south`west for the first | :43:27. | :43:31. | |
time we have vacancies in Cornwall. That is basically because young | :43:32. | :43:34. | |
doctors are not choosing to be GPs. The reason they are choosing not to | :43:35. | :43:38. | |
as because of the unsustain`ble workload and the pressure any GPs | :43:39. | :43:43. | |
say they are facing in day to day practice. | :43:44. | :43:46. | |
Figures from health education England appeal from 2010 to 20 3 | :43:47. | :43:52. | |
100% of GP vacancies were fhlled. But this year that figure is at 93%. | :43:53. | :43:59. | |
If you look at training vac`ncies, it is at 82%. | :44:00. | :44:04. | |
Recruitment in general practice goes in cycles and we're reaching the | :44:05. | :44:07. | |
bottom of the cycle at the loment. The difficulty is knowing whether it | :44:08. | :44:11. | |
will go up again because it is becoming increasingly unattractive | :44:12. | :44:13. | |
for people to come into. Patients here are unsatisfidd `` | :44:14. | :44:20. | |
still satisfied with their service. I don't go to the doctor is very | :44:21. | :44:24. | |
often and whenever I have to go like today when I am on holiday, it is | :44:25. | :44:28. | |
nice to know you can get thd appointment and go when you need to | :44:29. | :44:30. | |
see them. For my age, they have always helped | :44:31. | :44:39. | |
me and it has been really good. Very valuable job. Ministers have | :44:40. | :44:43. | |
been warned this is coming `t a cost. | :44:44. | :44:47. | |
Six out of ten of them are looking to retire, their workload is unsafe | :44:48. | :44:56. | |
and they failed their unabld to provide the service issued. | :44:57. | :44:59. | |
The government is increasing trainees still GPs grow faster than | :45:00. | :45:02. | |
the number of the population. They are also looking to better retain | :45:03. | :45:07. | |
existing GPs and see robust plans are being put in place to m`ke sure | :45:08. | :45:12. | |
that places are filled up the next couple of years. | :45:13. | :45:16. | |
This seems a worrying trend, unfilled vacancies. Nobody wants to | :45:17. | :45:22. | |
wait longer. These things can be cyclical. | :45:23. | :45:28. | |
Overall, the has just said enough is enotgh. | :45:29. | :47:17. | |
The people we spoke to wear seeing that they were struggling and the | :47:18. | :47:20. | |
hours were getting longer. Can anything be done about that | :47:21. | :47:25. | |
Since the coalition came in, a third of those targets have been scrapped. | :47:26. | :47:30. | |
We need to constantly look `t whether the administrative burden on | :47:31. | :47:36. | |
the GPs as appropriate. One third of them have gone. A whole bunch of | :47:37. | :47:42. | |
commissioning staff has arrhved That is no means all of thel but it | :47:43. | :47:49. | |
has an extra burden so it is about understanding the motives for each | :47:50. | :47:53. | |
individual person. You didn't actually support the | :47:54. | :47:58. | |
government's NHS reforms Bill. You didn't vote for it? | :47:59. | :48:02. | |
No, he didn't. What were yot concerned about? | :48:03. | :48:06. | |
Fragmentation of services which is something we will come onto. | :48:07. | :48:10. | |
Is this causing some of the pressures we are finding, not just a | :48:11. | :48:15. | |
GP services but in hospitals. CT scans waiting times... Is a part of | :48:16. | :48:20. | |
the problem is vacancies within the Department. | :48:21. | :48:23. | |
You are exactly right and that is why I didn't support the reforms. | :48:24. | :48:29. | |
People want to know when thdy go to the GP or to the hospital that they | :48:30. | :48:33. | |
are getting a good service but they're not concerned who provides | :48:34. | :48:35. | |
the service. At the reforms gone wrong? What we | :48:36. | :48:41. | |
are seeing is that some of the outsourcing and less complex is | :48:42. | :48:51. | |
adding an extra area of burden. There are also more complic`ted We | :48:52. | :48:57. | |
generated savings that we could use to put into GP services. | :48:58. | :49:03. | |
?78 million puts a lot `` sdems like a lot. | :49:04. | :49:04. | |
It is a lot. What would you do? And the reforms? | :49:05. | :49:14. | |
We have spoken about repealhng some of the changes because we are | :49:15. | :49:17. | |
convinced they are not all working. We need to look at it very carefully | :49:18. | :49:22. | |
but on balance it is confushng for patients and for those in the health | :49:23. | :49:27. | |
economy. Stephen touched upon this. We heard | :49:28. | :49:36. | |
this week that NHS services could be privatised. The more profit`ble | :49:37. | :49:40. | |
operations that can be taken away from the NHS but then that leaves | :49:41. | :49:45. | |
the NHS with expensive things like triple heart bypass is. These | :49:46. | :49:48. | |
companies are reaping the bdnefits from that. | :49:49. | :49:52. | |
The benefits to the economy if you're paying private organhsations | :49:53. | :50:01. | |
is that the money doesn't go into the NHS. So then the manager doesn't | :50:02. | :50:10. | |
find the money for the more complex operations. I have spoken ott | :50:11. | :50:15. | |
against them and said I don't want to see this as a direction of | :50:16. | :50:20. | |
travel. Allowing private, and is to come into our NHS and cherrx picked | :50:21. | :50:26. | |
the low hanging fruit to divide the services is not what patients want. | :50:27. | :50:30. | |
Never did introduce an elemdnt of competition into the NHS and I think | :50:31. | :50:33. | |
there is a role for private providers. | :50:34. | :50:37. | |
You did start this. Do you think Labour started something th`t they | :50:38. | :50:40. | |
now cannot turn the tap off of? Waiting lists worse so cute when we | :50:41. | :50:51. | |
`` saw huge when we started. What I'm not clear about in terms of what | :50:52. | :50:57. | |
is proposed in Cornwall is whether people would also be encour`ged to | :50:58. | :51:03. | |
pay to jump the queue. That is an entirely different kettle of fish. I | :51:04. | :51:10. | |
think we should oppose it. You wants to be able to get speedy | :51:11. | :51:14. | |
treatment that is effective. You shouldn't have to pay for it. And | :51:15. | :51:19. | |
you should be able to do so anyway that doesn't damage the NHS. I think | :51:20. | :51:28. | |
what has been proposed meets those tests. | :51:29. | :51:31. | |
We welcome back to this in different week. It is all change at the | :51:32. | :51:36. | |
European Parliament this wedk as the MEPs have lost their seats love out | :51:37. | :51:42. | |
to make way for the crock of new politicians. Green Watson whll now | :51:43. | :51:47. | |
be leaving the European Parliament after 20 years of services `nd the | :51:48. | :51:52. | |
region's first Green MEP gets to grips with her new job. | :51:53. | :51:57. | |
We joined them. European politics isn't meant to be a stroll hn the | :51:58. | :52:02. | |
park. But the Southwest's fhrst Green Euro MP is keen to walk when | :52:03. | :52:10. | |
ever possible. Her first appointment as in Brussels. She is being lobbied | :52:11. | :52:16. | |
to take control of EU funds for the county. | :52:17. | :52:20. | |
How did it go? It was reallx good actually. I think there was a real | :52:21. | :52:24. | |
meeting of minds in there. H don't see why this proposal to take power | :52:25. | :52:28. | |
away from Cornwall has come forward because it doesn't seem any of it in | :52:29. | :52:31. | |
Cornwall has come forward bdcause it doesn't seem any budding cornel so | :52:32. | :52:37. | |
obviously there is some problem with Whitehall trying to take power of | :52:38. | :52:40. | |
something which really should belong in the regions. | :52:41. | :52:43. | |
Next up, her first green group meeting. | :52:44. | :52:47. | |
These are Green MEPs and it is nice to be any big group of greens. I | :52:48. | :52:51. | |
feel at home. Somebody who has felt at hole here | :52:52. | :52:55. | |
for 20 years as green Watson. He has led the liberal group and sdrved on | :52:56. | :53:01. | |
many a committee. But not for much longer. Everywhere he goes, old | :53:02. | :53:09. | |
friends and colleagues of corrupt sympathy. | :53:10. | :53:12. | |
How are you? Good to see you. I'm sorry to hear. | :53:13. | :53:21. | |
Very kind of you. That's politics. I think the process of moving on is | :53:22. | :53:28. | |
not a bad one. It started thinking a fresh. I hope I will be abld to | :53:29. | :53:32. | |
carry the experience what I have had their into what I do next. One thing | :53:33. | :53:39. | |
I want to miss is the kind of modern art which is on the walls. H'm not | :53:40. | :53:43. | |
sure when it comes from but it is not always... If you take this piece | :53:44. | :53:49. | |
for example, of the most inspired design. These are my offices. This | :53:50. | :53:57. | |
is my assistant from Estoni`. This is where I have generally works from | :53:58. | :54:04. | |
and you can see it is full of packing cases. I suppose thhs is one | :54:05. | :54:09. | |
particular memento. This is my 0th birthday when I was leader of the | :54:10. | :54:12. | |
Liberal Democrat group and was honoured to have the presiddnt of | :54:13. | :54:15. | |
the game commission and the then president of the Rabin Parlhament to | :54:16. | :54:21. | |
celebrate my with me. I havd had a few laughs as I have come across | :54:22. | :54:24. | |
papers and things I had forgotten about entirely. Inevitably, a few | :54:25. | :54:30. | |
regrets too. As I have come across mementos of friends or colldagues | :54:31. | :54:36. | |
who've moved on. I think thd process of moving on is not a bad one. It | :54:37. | :54:43. | |
started thinking a fresh, thinking in different ways. I take the view | :54:44. | :54:47. | |
that you move on and you move on to new things. If you have a sdtback, | :54:48. | :54:54. | |
as I have had at the polls, you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and | :54:55. | :54:58. | |
start all over again as the old song says. | :54:59. | :55:04. | |
One in 18 is the curse of bding a politician. But the Lib Dems did | :55:05. | :55:11. | |
lose green Watson and others. Does that worry you ahead of the general | :55:12. | :55:14. | |
election? I think there is no doubt that was a | :55:15. | :55:18. | |
bad night for the Liberal Ddmocrats when we had the European eldctions. | :55:19. | :55:22. | |
Personally, I am gutted that we have lost a grim because he has served | :55:23. | :55:28. | |
the South West with distinction He has been a really hard`workhng MEP | :55:29. | :55:32. | |
and it would be remiss of us not to remark on that as we talk about him. | :55:33. | :55:37. | |
Neither Alison or I went into this profession thinking about job | :55:38. | :55:41. | |
security. You think about some things you want to change and hope | :55:42. | :55:44. | |
they can carry the public whki. We were very excited about the | :55:45. | :55:50. | |
European elections and therd was a certain amount of Farage fever. How | :55:51. | :55:59. | |
will that impact the general election? | :56:00. | :56:03. | |
I think it will be back on the NHS and the economy. A number of things | :56:04. | :56:08. | |
will have happened prior to the general election, one assumds, given | :56:09. | :56:12. | |
the government's current programme. It will already be less of `n issue. | :56:13. | :56:17. | |
It is not being discussed on the door in the same way that w`s in the | :56:18. | :56:21. | |
run`up to the elections. I would like to put on record that H think | :56:22. | :56:26. | |
Graham was a very good MEP. He will be missed and we now have clear mood | :56:27. | :56:33. | |
either. You kept were doing well. W`s it | :56:34. | :56:42. | |
that people were voting abott immigration? | :56:43. | :56:47. | |
There were all sorts of things going on. There was a huge dissathsfaction | :56:48. | :56:50. | |
with the establishment. There were people seeing, we just want to give | :56:51. | :56:56. | |
you a kicking. Some people `ctually seeing that to us. Letting xou know. | :56:57. | :57:02. | |
But they been tempted to sax but we will vote as we always used to vote | :57:03. | :57:06. | |
in the general election. Th`t will be interesting to see if th`t shift | :57:07. | :57:11. | |
back happens. We are picking it up on the doorstep already. UKHP have | :57:12. | :57:21. | |
gone remarkably private. `` quiet. | :57:22. | :57:26. | |
I've Lib Dems doing enough because you will be campaigning with this in | :57:27. | :57:30. | |
mind? Immigration still comes up on the | :57:31. | :57:33. | |
doorstep but the town of debate when I speak people has changed. It is | :57:34. | :57:44. | |
very about the vision of thd future. What are the Liberal Democr`ts | :57:45. | :57:47. | |
seeing about the next five xears? Meeting education services better, | :57:48. | :57:52. | |
the health service providing poor people, the economy continuhng to | :57:53. | :57:57. | |
grow. To coin a phrase from Bill Clinton's collection team, H think | :57:58. | :58:01. | |
it will be the economy, stupid, again. | :58:02. | :58:10. | |
Emigration will be one of a bunch of concerns. | :58:11. | :58:14. | |
It is interesting. I have h`d lots of conversations on the doorstep and | :58:15. | :58:21. | |
we are having more constructive and productive discussions about | :58:22. | :58:24. | |
immigration. How does it work? The business in Plymouth who is | :58:25. | :58:36. | |
employing foreigners, why are they doing that? Because they can employ | :58:37. | :58:46. | |
locally. If they went to thd wall because they simply couldn't find | :58:47. | :58:49. | |
people to do that rather unpleasant smelly work, what would happen? Is | :58:50. | :58:55. | |
that therefore unacceptable use of labour from outside the UK? Those | :58:56. | :59:00. | |
sorts of discussions you have got to have. | :59:01. | :59:05. | |
It is time for our regular roundup of the political week in 60 seconds. | :59:06. | :59:17. | |
Complaints over lack of mobhle phone coverage in the region. The | :59:18. | :59:20. | |
government may force operators to share masts. | :59:21. | :59:25. | |
It is ridiculous and 2014 that you cannot make a call on your lobile | :59:26. | :59:28. | |
phone from your own home or from your business. | :59:29. | :59:34. | |
60 jobs were lost as Miller Weisman closed its depot. | :59:35. | :59:40. | |
The regions new privatised patient transport services where crhticise | :59:41. | :59:47. | |
over long delays and sometiles not turning up. | :59:48. | :59:50. | |
It was the stress and attention I was standing on the doorstep waiting | :59:51. | :59:54. | |
to come in and never came. In response, NSL says it is doing | :59:55. | :59:55. | |
OK. The service is good, fit for | :59:56. | :00:02. | |
purpose. Most patients, the vast majority, I getting a very good | :00:03. | :00:07. | |
service. Can we improve? Absolutely. And the governmdnt has | :00:08. | :00:11. | |
defended its plans to scrap the independent team monitoring badger | :00:12. | :00:16. | |
cull is. It says it will sthll use animal welfare experts. | :00:17. | :00:23. | |
A quick roundup of the week. Mobile phones. The countryside Allhance | :00:24. | :00:26. | |
says it has been overwhelmed with complaints about lack of signal in | :00:27. | :00:29. | |
the region. The government hs considering making phone colpanies | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
share masts. Good idea? Brilliant idea. Ht is | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
interesting how the debate over mobile phone masts has changed from | :00:39. | :00:44. | |
Adi a health hazard to why don't I have reception? It is compldtely | :00:45. | :00:51. | |
bonkers that we don't have sufficient coverage and people | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
actively getting systems. It is a total no`brainer. Most | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
ordinary people would ask why hasn't something been done about this so | :01:01. | :01:03. | |
far. That is the programme. Thanks to my | :01:04. | :01:10. | |
guests. Before we had you b`ck to Andrew with the week ahead, don t | :01:11. | :01:13. | |
forget you can check out our Facebook page and watch the | :01:14. | :01:18. | |
programme again by the iPlaxer or e`mail us. Do enjoy the rest of your | :01:19. | :01:24. | |
Sunday afternoon. might come back at you. There have | :01:25. | :01:27. | |
been problems elsewhere in Europe, but I take your point. Thanks to | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
both of you today. Back to you, Andrew. | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
Now, there have been some less-than-helpful remarks | :01:37. | :01:38. | |
about the way the Labour party makes policy, and they've come | :01:39. | :01:41. | |
from the man who is heading Labour's Policy Review, Jon Cruddas. | :01:42. | :01:46. | |
In a speech to party activists he was recorded saying that, | :01:47. | :01:49. | |
"instrumentalised, cynical nuggets of policy to chime with our focus | :01:50. | :01:52. | |
groups and our press strategies and our desire for a topline in terms of | :01:53. | :01:55. | |
the 24 hour media cycle, dominate and crowd out any | :01:56. | :01:58. | |
He added that Labour's election strategy was being hampered by a | :01:59. | :02:08. | |
The shadow chancellor, Ed Balls was asked about what Mr Cruddas had | :02:09. | :02:21. | |
I talked to him a couple of days ago, and he's not frustrated, he is | :02:22. | :02:30. | |
excited about his policy agenda He is frustrated that one report of 250 | :02:31. | :02:37. | |
pages gets reduced down. So it's our fault? That is the way we live in | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
the world in which we live, but we have big ideas about devolution | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
long term infrastructure spending and new manufacturing policy, new | :02:48. | :02:51. | |
investment in skills, big changes which, let's be honest, I'm really | :02:52. | :02:58. | |
on George Osborne's agenda. How serious is this? It is Wimbledon, so | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
let's call it an unforced error You go to the party speeches, and you | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
don't know who is in the audience. There is no need for something as | :03:09. | :03:11. | |
serious as this to happen. It's hugely serious because it speaks | :03:12. | :03:14. | |
about something people have felt for a long time, that they have doled | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
out little nuggets of policy but no overarching story. There was a quite | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
saying the Ed Miliband has given as a shopping list, not a narrative. | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
When people in the party say things that are true, it's very difficult | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
for people to explain it away. Not sure Mr Miliband can win here. He | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
was recently criticised for not having policies. Now he's being | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
criticised for having too many. I think this line of attack is | :03:40. | :03:42. | |
particularly wounding because he prides himself on being a politician | :03:43. | :03:45. | |
of ideas. That is his unique selling point, and the weight that David | :03:46. | :03:52. | |
Cameron's prime ministerial nature is his selling point. So it is | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
wounding. If I was the Labour Party, before announcing any policy, I | :03:57. | :04:02. | |
would ask can help fix us on the economy? It might be radicalised | :04:03. | :04:05. | |
immolating on its own terms, but it's politically useless. -- radical | :04:06. | :04:11. | |
and innovative on its own terms I don't think any member of the public | :04:12. | :04:14. | |
does not think they are not radical enough or creative enough. If | :04:15. | :04:18. | |
anything, it's the opposite. They are a bit nervous about what a | :04:19. | :04:21. | |
Labour government could do and nervous about the economic | :04:22. | :04:24. | |
reputation. Reassurance, caution, maybe a bit of timidity might be the | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
notions that inform their policies or should inform their policies in | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
night -- my view, not the opposite. I am worried for Jon Cruddas, | :04:36. | :04:38. | |
because anyone who questions the Labour Party are part of the nexus | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
of the banking industry who are terrified of a Labour victory. It's | :04:43. | :04:46. | |
interesting that this goes to the heart of the debate in the Labour | :04:47. | :04:49. | |
Party, at the highest levels, do they put a big offer to the British | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
people, or a little off, John Cruddas offer, or Douglas Alexander | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
offer? Ed Miliband says that his ideas about freezing energy prices | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
and rent controls are a big offer, but his policy chief clearly has | :05:05. | :05:07. | |
real concerns that they don't go far enough. How important a figure is | :05:08. | :05:13. | |
John Cruddas in the project? He is hell of the -- head of the policy | :05:14. | :05:17. | |
review and has a huge amount of power, and so him slagging off the | :05:18. | :05:21. | |
policy review is a bad moment. He is trusted in that inner circle and the | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
problem for Ed Miliband from the odd is that he has people with strong | :05:27. | :05:30. | |
opinions, Maurice clasping is another, big thinkers, but they | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
maybe don't have a precaution that a professional politician might have | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
in terms of giving bland answers. So, David Cameron had to apologise | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
after his former director of communications was convicted | :05:43. | :05:45. | |
of phone hacking. David Cameron's other former friend, | :05:46. | :05:47. | |
Rebekah Brooks, had a better day. At the same trial, she was cleared | :05:48. | :05:50. | |
of all the charges against her. I take full responsibility for | :05:51. | :06:00. | |
employing Andy Coulson. I did some on the basis of undertakings I was | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
given by him about phone hacking and those turned out not to be the case. | :06:05. | :06:07. | |
I always said that if they turned out to be wrong, I would make a full | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
and frank apology, and I do that today. I am extremely sorry that I | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
employed him. It was the wrong decision. I'm clear about that. When | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
I was arrested it was in the middle of a maelstrom of controversy, | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
politics and of comment. Some of that was there, but much of it was | :06:26. | :06:31. | |
not, so I'm grateful to the jury for coming to that decision. Not been a | :06:32. | :06:39. | |
great week for David Cameron. Andy Coulson found guilty, and another | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
person who had worked in Downing Street is also charged on an | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
unrelated issue. And he was 26- on the wrong end in Brussels, and there | :06:50. | :06:52. | |
is a poll this morning which no one seems to be talking about which puts | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
Labour nine points ahead. Before all that there was Dominic Cummings | :06:57. | :06:59. | |
criticising the Downing Street operation is being shambolic. Is Mr | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
Cameron's judgement becoming an issue? Yes, what often happens when | :07:05. | :07:08. | |
one leader is under pressure for long enough, as Ed Miliband has been | :07:09. | :07:11. | |
the six months, we get bored. We then switch the Gatling gun to the | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
other guy. So David Cameron going into the Conference season might be | :07:17. | :07:19. | |
the man under pressure. The whole Andy Coulson saga has raised | :07:20. | :07:22. | |
questions about his judgement and those around him, but any political | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
damage she was going to sustain over Andy Coulson and phone hacking was | :07:27. | :07:29. | |
sustained years ago -- he was going. It was Brother beyond the | :07:30. | :07:32. | |
date the News of the World was closed down three summers ago - it | :07:33. | :07:38. | |
was probably on the date. As the hacking trial cut through to the | :07:39. | :07:44. | |
general public? Or is it just as media and political obsessives? I am | :07:45. | :07:47. | |
sure it has cut through in some way but it didn't necessarily happen in | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
recent days, more likely in recent years. It was some time ago that | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
Andy Coulson resigned in high profile circumstances. It has had a | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
slow burning effect over a few years, and the Prime Minister fears | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
the Big Bang. But there is one theme and words that unites this week with | :08:05. | :08:08. | |
Juncker and Andy Coulson, and that is that the Prime Minister can be | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
lackadaisical. He was lackadaisical in not asking big question is when | :08:13. | :08:15. | |
there was a lot in the public domain about what had happened that the | :08:16. | :08:18. | |
News of the World. And he was lackadaisical with Juncker. He made | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
a calculation that Angela Merkel would support him and it turned out | :08:23. | :08:27. | |
she couldn't. Maybe he needs to change. He was late in understanding | :08:28. | :08:31. | |
what was happening in Germany when both the Christian Democrats, her | :08:32. | :08:32. | |
party, wanted Juncker, and when the both the Christian Democrats, her | :08:33. | :09:13. | |
the Prime Minister and in which Mr Miliband has a bigger lead in the | :09:14. | :09:16. | |
polls than he has had some time so he must be wondering why they are | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
having a go at him. He made a tactical error in Prime Minister's | :09:21. | :09:23. | |
Questions by asking all the questions about Andy Coulson. The | :09:24. | :09:24. | |
one at the end questions about Andy Coulson. The | :09:25. | :10:36. | |
is getting involved in this questions about Andy Coulson. The | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
question mark on the issue of grammar schools is not clear anybody | :10:41. | :10:46. | |
listened to him. I think it is a principal problem. I've spoken to | :10:47. | :10:49. | |
form a government members, and judging by what they say, if | :10:50. | :10:53. | |
anything we underestimate how much contacting makes with ministers And | :10:54. | :10:56. | |
how many representations he makes on the issue that interest him. There | :10:57. | :11:02. | |
has been an attempt to keep it hidden. It's almost a theological | :11:03. | :11:05. | |
question about whether the future monarch should be involved in the | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
public realm. If he wants to influence policy, shouldn't we know | :11:11. | :11:13. | |
what policy he's trying to influence and what position he is taking? | :11:14. | :11:19. | |
Sewer speech is better than private one-on-one lobbying. Possibly - so | :11:20. | :11:24. | |
a speech. Prince Charles's views are interesting. He's not a straight | :11:25. | :11:28. | |
down the light reactionary. He makes a left-wing case for rammer schools. | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
There is an interview with him in the Financial Times in which his | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
argument in favour for architectural development takes into account | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
affordable housing in the wake which no one would have suspected. He has | :11:42. | :11:43. | |
interesting views, but I'm not convinced on the point of principle | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
whether someone is dashing his position should be speaking. Your | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
former employer 's famously described him as the SDP king. You | :11:53. | :11:59. | |
slightly feel sorry for him. He s 66 and still an apprentice. He's in a | :12:00. | :12:06. | |
difficult position. We know what the powers of the monarch are. They are | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
to advise in courage and warned the Prime Minister of the day. These in | :12:11. | :12:13. | |
the difficult position where the problem for him is that there is a | :12:14. | :12:16. | |
line that isn't really defined, but you slightly feel he just gets a bit | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
too close to it and possibly crosses that line with the lobbying that | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
goes on. I think the worrying thing is that at some point he will become | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
King and will he know that he has got to work within that framework? | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
He is somebody that cannot win either. If he doesn't take an | :12:36. | :12:38. | |
interest in public policy, he will be thought to be a bit of a waster, | :12:39. | :12:43. | |
going round opening town halls, and when he does have an interest we | :12:44. | :12:46. | |
think, hey, you are in the monarchy, stay out. There's an interesting | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
parallel with first ladies who are encouraged to find a controversial | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
charitable project. Michelle Obama has bought childhood obesity, and | :12:57. | :13:01. | |
that is the standard thing. Everybody knows that that is a bad | :13:02. | :13:04. | |
thing, but you are not offering solutions that are party political. | :13:05. | :13:08. | |
I feel there must be a middle way with what he should be able to do | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
about finding big causes he can complain about without getting stuck | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
into lobbying ministers. Which can become a party political issue. He | :13:17. | :13:19. | |
has had some influence on architecture, because the buildings | :13:20. | :13:22. | |
we are putting up to date are better than the ones we used to put up | :13:23. | :13:24. | |
The Daily Politics is on BBC 2 at 11:00am | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
We'll be back here at the same time next week. | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
Remember if it's Sunday, it's the Sunday Politics. | :13:35. | :13:38. |