23/04/2017 Sunday Politics South West


23/04/2017

Similar Content

Browse content similar to 23/04/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

It's Sunday afternoon - this is the Sunday Politics.

:00:35.:00:37.

Jeremy Corbyn wants to give everyone in Britain four

:00:38.:00:40.

extra bank holidays - but is the Labour leader up

:00:41.:00:43.

to being Prime Minister if he wins the election in just

:00:44.:00:45.

Theresa May says she wants a stronger hand to deliver Brexit -

:00:46.:00:52.

how will the Conservatives go about getting the bigger

:00:53.:00:54.

I'll be asking Party Chairman, Patrick McLoughlin.

:00:55.:01:00.

And I've been in Paris where voters are going to the polls in first

:01:01.:01:05.

round of the French Presidential election - what could be the impact

:01:06.:01:08.

on the EU and Brexit of this most unpredictable of contests?

:01:09.:01:11.

In the South West, the region's army of Conservative MPs face

:01:12.:01:14.

invasion from an alliance of Lib Dems and Greens who say

:01:15.:01:17.

Will the Remain majority punish the Tories for the decision?

:01:18.:01:22.

Or feel they may not like it but the Tories

:01:23.:01:24.

And with me has always ready for the marathon task of covering a snap

:01:25.:01:39.

general election, even working on bank holidays, the best and

:01:40.:01:42.

brightest political panel in the business. David Wooding, Polly

:01:43.:01:43.

Toynbee and Toby Young. So Labour's big announcement this

:01:44.:01:47.

morning was a crowd pleaser. Four more rainy bank

:01:48.:01:49.

holidays to enjoy - one for each of the patron saints

:01:50.:01:51.

of England, Scotland, But Mr Corbyn probably won't be

:01:52.:01:53.

getting the time off work if he wins And on The Andrew Marr Show this

:01:54.:02:00.

morning he was asked what he would do as Prime Minister

:02:01.:02:04.

if the security services asked him to authorise a drone strike

:02:05.:02:07.

on the leader of Islamic State. What I'd tell them is,

:02:08.:02:10.

give me the information you've got, tell me how accurate that is,

:02:11.:02:14.

tell me what you I'm asking you about decisions you

:02:15.:02:16.

would take as Prime Minister. Can I take you back

:02:17.:02:25.

to the whole point? Is the objective

:02:26.:02:28.

to start more strikes that may kill many innocent

:02:29.:02:31.

people, as has happened? Do you think killing

:02:32.:02:34.

the leader of Isis would be I think the leader of Isis not

:02:35.:02:36.

being around would be helpful, and I'm no supporter or defender

:02:37.:02:45.

in any way of Isis. But I would also argue that

:02:46.:02:47.

the bombing campaign has killed a of whom were virtually prisoners of

:02:48.:02:51.

Isis. So you've got to think

:02:52.:02:54.

about these things. Mr Corbyn earlier. David, is his

:02:55.:03:01.

reply refreshing damaging? It is damaging. He has clearly been

:03:02.:03:06.

freaked to the fire already in the first week, there will be lots of

:03:07.:03:10.

questions on his suitability as a leader and the damage it could cause

:03:11.:03:13.

to our national security over the weeks ahead and Andrew Marr has cut

:03:14.:03:17.

straight to the chase here. The other thing, of course, is the

:03:18.:03:21.

letters of last resort, one of the first duties of a Prime Minister

:03:22.:03:24.

when he walks into No 10 is to sign these letters on his own, on or --

:03:25.:03:30.

or on her own in a room, a very lonely moment, to decide whether he

:03:31.:03:33.

should press the nuclear button and that goes in the Vanguard submarines

:03:34.:03:37.

and is opened in the event of a strike and he has dodged a question

:03:38.:03:41.

so many times. One must wonder what he would do that. He has to make

:03:42.:03:45.

these decisions as Prime Minister. On the Isis point, refreshing or

:03:46.:03:50.

damaging? It sure is his base, the people who support him, that's the

:03:51.:03:55.

sort of thing they support info and maybe his tactic is that's all he's

:03:56.:03:57.

going to get, that is what the polls seem to suggest, in which case they

:03:58.:04:01.

will be pleased, and say yes, the man is a man for these who doesn't

:04:02.:04:05.

press buttons and shoot people down. But if you want to win you have to

:04:06.:04:11.

deal with your own weaknesses and reach out to other people. I think

:04:12.:04:15.

most people would say that's not somebody who could defend the

:04:16.:04:21.

country. I wonder if he was being totally honest in saying he would

:04:22.:04:24.

consider it he would ask for more information. He has previously been

:04:25.:04:29.

on the record as being against drone strikes in principle, he's

:04:30.:04:32.

campaigned against them, he wants to abolish drones. I think Andrew Marr

:04:33.:04:36.

let him off saying it was a drone strike rather than a Navy SEAL or

:04:37.:04:40.

SAS operation and he had the fact that they could be collateral

:04:41.:04:42.

damage. We that's not his position because he condemned the

:04:43.:04:49.

assassination of Osama Bin Laden even though there was no collateral

:04:50.:04:52.

damage. David is right on the Trident point, he fetched the

:04:53.:04:55.

question. We heard Niall Griffiths on this very show saying Trident,

:04:56.:05:01.

the renewal of Trident, would be in the next Labour Party manifesto. It

:05:02.:05:04.

turns out now we don't know and when he was asked he said that remains to

:05:05.:05:08.

be seen, his re-opened a can of worms. What he has said about

:05:09.:05:12.

Trident which was extraordinary was, we will rebuild the submarines but

:05:13.:05:16.

not have any nukes on them which is expensive and useless. And of course

:05:17.:05:20.

the Labour Party were forced soon after that interview to put out a

:05:21.:05:23.

statement saying it is Labour Party policy to renew Trident. So where

:05:24.:05:29.

are we? Do we know what the party's policy is? It is to renew Trident

:05:30.:05:33.

but he has started this review which involves looking at it all again. We

:05:34.:05:39.

know he is a unilateralist to start with but whether he can force this

:05:40.:05:43.

through is dubious. Does it matter, though, if the party policy is in

:05:44.:05:48.

favour of Trident, if the leader is not? The potential Prime Minister is

:05:49.:05:52.

not? They split three ways when they went to vote on it in the Commons.

:05:53.:05:55.

The party agreed they were pro-Trident and when it came to the

:05:56.:05:59.

vote they split three ways. I think it's difficult for them, it's always

:06:00.:06:04.

been a really difficult issue for Labour. The question is whether you

:06:05.:06:08.

want to seal off your negatives, whether you really want to try and

:06:09.:06:12.

reach out to people. There are an awful lot of people who will like

:06:13.:06:15.

what he said, there are an awful lot of people that think we have been

:06:16.:06:20.

involved in terrible wars, we have wasted a lot of money and blood and

:06:21.:06:23.

let's just get back from the whole thing, let's retreat from the world

:06:24.:06:28.

and not try punching above our weight. There is something to be

:06:29.:06:31.

said for that and it is a reasonable argument. He's been true to himself

:06:32.:06:36.

on this. I think he is and Polly is right, lots of people will agree

:06:37.:06:40.

with him, not enough to win a general election, the latest ComRes

:06:41.:06:44.

poll shows Tories on 50% and Labour on 25 and as my colleague James

:06:45.:06:47.

Forsyth in the Spectator said if this was a boxing match it would

:06:48.:06:51.

have been stopped by now by the revelry. We are not stopping, we are

:06:52.:06:52.

going on. So the political parties have had

:06:53.:06:53.

to move into election mode Stand by for battle buses,

:06:54.:06:56.

mail shots and your social media timeline being bombarded

:06:57.:07:00.

by political propoganda. But none of this comes cheap -

:07:01.:07:01.

Adam's been doing his sums. Democracy is priceless but those

:07:02.:07:06.

planes, trains and automobiles used in the last election cost money

:07:07.:07:12.

and we know exactly how much, thanks to the Electoral

:07:13.:07:14.

Commission database. The Conservatives flew David Cameron

:07:15.:07:20.

to every part of the UK in one day on a private plane costing ?29,000,

:07:21.:07:24.

in-flight meals extra. They shelled out ?1.2 million

:07:25.:07:30.

for adverts on Facebook. The most expensive item was their

:07:31.:07:35.

election guru Lynton Crosby. They bought ?2.4 million worth

:07:36.:07:40.

of advice and research from his firm Labour's biggest expenditure

:07:41.:07:43.

was on good old-fashioned leaflets, costing ?7.4 million

:07:44.:07:49.

to print and deliver. Hope they didn't go straight

:07:50.:07:52.

into the recycling. Cheap for all the

:07:53.:07:57.

enjoyment it gave us. To turn a normal minibus

:07:58.:08:06.

into Harriet Harman's pink bus Nick Clegg toured the country doing

:08:07.:08:08.

all manner of stunts transported although the party got a grand's

:08:09.:08:15.

discount when it broke down. Ukip's then leader Nigel Farage

:08:16.:08:28.

was accompanied by bodyguards Nicola Sturgeon's chopper

:08:29.:08:30.

cost the SNP ?35,450. Plaid Cymru spent just over

:08:31.:08:39.

?1,000 on media training And the Greens spent ?6,912

:08:40.:08:42.

promoting their tweets. It adds up to a grand total

:08:43.:08:56.

for all the parties of ?37,560,039. Jabbing at my calculator that works

:08:57.:09:00.

out at less than ?1 per voter. Adam Fleming there -

:09:01.:09:07.

and joining me now is the man responsible for the Conservative

:09:08.:09:12.

election campaigns - for the locals next month

:09:13.:09:16.

and the general election in June - Welcome to the programme. The Crown

:09:17.:09:24.

Prosecution Service is reviewing evidence from 14 police forces that

:09:25.:09:27.

your party breached election spending rules on multiple occasions

:09:28.:09:32.

in the last election. What are you going to do differently this time?

:09:33.:09:38.

Well, the battle buses are part of the National campaign spend. You saw

:09:39.:09:44.

them just on the shot that you did, all three parties had those battle

:09:45.:09:47.

buses so that's why we believe they were part of the national spend and

:09:48.:09:50.

it was declared that way. At least 30 people in your party, MPs and

:09:51.:09:54.

agents, being investigated because they may not have been right to

:09:55.:09:58.

include it in the national spend. Are you saying you are going to do

:09:59.:10:01.

nothing differently this time? You asked me about last time and the way

:10:02.:10:09.

the position is... Was. I asked you about this time. We will take a

:10:10.:10:12.

careful count and make sure that everything that we do is within the

:10:13.:10:19.

law. But as I say, the last election, all three parties had

:10:20.:10:22.

battle buses. It is your party that above all has been investigated by

:10:23.:10:27.

14 police forces. You must surely be taking stock of that and working out

:10:28.:10:33.

how to do some things differently. You are being investigated because

:10:34.:10:36.

you put stuff on the National Ledger which should have been on the local

:10:37.:10:41.

constituency ledger. Are you looking at that again? All of the parties

:10:42.:10:44.

had battle buses and they all put them on their national spend. I

:10:45.:10:48.

don't think any of the parties put them on the local spend. The other

:10:49.:10:53.

battle buses were not full of their party activists. Your party stuffed

:10:54.:10:56.

these battle buses with activists and took them to constituencies.

:10:57.:11:02.

That's the difference. And I ask again, what is different this time?

:11:03.:11:06.

Are you going to run the risk of being investigated yet again? We

:11:07.:11:10.

believe that we fully compliant with the electoral law as it was. What

:11:11.:11:15.

will happen if one of these, or two or three or four or five of these 30

:11:16.:11:19.

people, Tory MPs, or agents running campaigns are charged during the

:11:20.:11:26.

campaign? As I say I believe we properly declared our election

:11:27.:11:29.

expenses. What happens if they are charged? You asking me a

:11:30.:11:32.

hypothetical question, the importance of this election is about

:11:33.:11:36.

who is in Downing Street in seven weeks' time. Let me clarify this,

:11:37.:11:40.

you maintain that in 2015 you did nothing wrong with how you allocated

:11:41.:11:44.

the cost and the activities of the battle buses and you would do

:11:45.:11:47.

exactly the same this time round? What we did at the last election we

:11:48.:11:52.

believe fully complied with the law. So the battle buses this time,

:11:53.:11:57.

stocked full of activists, will still be charged to the national

:11:58.:12:00.

campaign even when they go to local constituencies? Will they? We will

:12:01.:12:08.

be looking at the way we do it, there is new guidance from the

:12:09.:12:13.

Electoral Commission out and we will look at that guidance. It is not the

:12:14.:12:17.

guidance, it is the lawful stop the Electoral Commission said that, if

:12:18.:12:21.

you look at the report they did on us, they said there was one area

:12:22.:12:24.

where we had over claimed, over declared, and another area we had

:12:25.:12:28.

and declared. We haven't worked out what to do

:12:29.:12:31.

yet, have you? We will get on with the campaign and

:12:32.:12:35.

start the campaign and I'm looking forward to the campaign.

:12:36.:12:37.

I'm trying to work out of the campaign is going to be legal or not

:12:38.:12:40.

because last time it seems it could have been illegal.

:12:41.:12:44.

I am sure the campaign will be legal.

:12:45.:12:46.

You started the campaign warning about the prospect of, the coalition

:12:47.:12:51.

of chaos. Mr Corbyn has ruled out a post-election coalition with the SNP

:12:52.:12:59.

and so have the Lib Dems so who is going to be in this coalition?

:13:00.:13:01.

Vince Cable said he was looking towards a possible coalition trying

:13:02.:13:03.

to stop a Conservative government. Is not the leader of the Lib Dems.

:13:04.:13:06.

He's an important voice in the Lib Dems. Who will be in it? Let's see

:13:07.:13:13.

because of the Conservative Party is not re-elected with a strong

:13:14.:13:16.

majority, what will happen? There will be a coalition stopping us

:13:17.:13:19.

doing the things we need to do. Who will be in it? It will be a

:13:20.:13:23.

coalition of the Labour Party, the SNP and the Liberal party. They have

:13:24.:13:27.

ruled it out. I think they would not rule it out if that was the

:13:28.:13:31.

situation. Like Theresa May not ruling out an election and then

:13:32.:13:35.

changing her mind? The things the Prime Minister said were very clear,

:13:36.:13:38.

once she had served Article 50 there was an opportunity, as we know

:13:39.:13:42.

today, there is going to be the start of a new government formed in

:13:43.:13:46.

France and in September we have the German elections. So it was quite

:13:47.:13:50.

right that we didn't get ourselves boxed into a timetable. That is why

:13:51.:13:56.

the Prime Minister took the view that they should be a general

:13:57.:13:59.

election to give her full strength of an electoral mandate when it

:14:00.:14:03.

comes to those negotiations. What about Mr Corbyn's plan for four new

:14:04.:14:10.

bank holidays, good idea? I'm not... If we get Corbyn in No 10 Downing St

:14:11.:14:13.

we will have a permanent bank holiday of the United Kingdom. We

:14:14.:14:18.

will have fewer bank holidays of most other major nations, most about

:14:19.:14:24.

major wealthy nations. What about at least one more? Well, look, he's

:14:25.:14:28.

talked about four bank holidays. Today would be a bank holiday and

:14:29.:14:33.

next Monday would be a bank holiday and the other week was a bank

:14:34.:14:37.

holiday too. I don't think it's very well thought out. It sounded more to

:14:38.:14:41.

me something like you get in school mock elections rather than proper

:14:42.:14:45.

elections. Your party is the self-styled party of the workers and

:14:46.:14:48.

you have no plans to give the workers even one extra bank holiday?

:14:49.:14:52.

What we want to do is ensure Britain is a strong economy and building on

:14:53.:14:57.

the jobs that we have created since 2010. We were told that by reducing

:14:58.:15:01.

public expenditure unemployment in this country would go up,

:15:02.:15:06.

unemployment has gone down and the number of jobs have gone up

:15:07.:15:10.

substantially. But no more bank holidays? Well, we will make our

:15:11.:15:14.

manifesto in due course but I don't think four bank holidays held in

:15:15.:15:18.

April, March and November are very attractive to people. When Ed

:15:19.:15:24.

Miliband as leader of the Labour Party suggested the government

:15:25.:15:33.

should control energy prices by capping them, the Conservatives

:15:34.:15:36.

described that as almost Communist and central planning. Do still take

:15:37.:15:40.

that view? You'll see what we have to say on energy prices. I didn't

:15:41.:15:45.

you about that, I asked you if you take the view... The Prime Minister

:15:46.:15:49.

made a speech at the Conservative Spring conference in which she

:15:50.:15:52.

outlined her dissatisfaction about people who are kept locked on a

:15:53.:15:55.

standard tariff and those are the issues we will address in the next

:15:56.:15:57.

few weeks when the manifesto was published.

:15:58.:16:03.

Would that be an act of communism? You will need to see what we say

:16:04.:16:09.

when we set out the policies. It could be. You could put a Communist

:16:10.:16:15.

act into your manifesto? I don't think you'll find a Communist

:16:16.:16:20.

manifesto in a Conservative manifesto which will be launched...

:16:21.:16:23.

You are planning to control prices? We will address what we think is

:16:24.:16:28.

unfairness in the energy market. Mr Jeremy Corbyn was reluctant this

:16:29.:16:32.

morning to sanction a drone strike. You heard us talking about it

:16:33.:16:38.

earlier against the leader of Islamic State if our intelligence

:16:39.:16:41.

services identified him. What would it achieve? When the Prime Minister

:16:42.:16:46.

gets certain advice in the national interests, she has to act been that.

:16:47.:16:51.

We've seen with Theresa May in her time as Home Secretary and Prime

:16:52.:16:54.

Minister, she's not afraid to take those very difficult decisions. What

:16:55.:16:58.

we say this morning from Jeremy Corbyn was a his tans, a reluctance.

:16:59.:17:02.

I don't think that serves the country well. What would it achieve

:17:03.:17:09.

if we take out the head of Islamic State he's replaced by somebody

:17:10.:17:13.

else. It brings their organisation into difficulties. It undermines

:17:14.:17:19.

their organisation. It shows we'll take every measure to undo an

:17:20.:17:23.

organisation which has organised terrorism in different parts of

:17:24.:17:26.

Europe, the UK. I think it is absolutely right the Prime Minister

:17:27.:17:29.

is prepared to take those kind of measures. Jeremy Corbyn said he

:17:30.:17:34.

wasn't prepared to take that. Because he wasn't sure what it would

:17:35.:17:39.

achieve. The Obama administration launched hundreds of drone strikes

:17:40.:17:44.

in various war zones and we in the west are still under attack on a

:17:45.:17:50.

regular basis. Mr Corbyn's basis was what would it achieve? It would

:17:51.:17:56.

achieve a safer position for the UK overall. The war on terrorists. But

:17:57.:18:00.

the Westminster attack, Paris has just been attacked again? There's

:18:01.:18:05.

been attacks which have been stopped by the intelligence services. We

:18:06.:18:09.

must do all we can to support them. The question was about drone

:18:10.:18:13.

strikes. Whether it is drone strikes or other action, we have to be

:18:14.:18:18.

prepared to act. Let's move on to Brexit. It is the major reason the

:18:19.:18:21.

Prime Minister's called the election? Not the only within but

:18:22.:18:26.

the main reason? It is one of the reasons. Now we start the two-year

:18:27.:18:30.

negotiations and then a year afterwards. Also the way in which

:18:31.:18:35.

certain people said they would try to use in the House of Lords or

:18:36.:18:38.

House of Commons to prevent us making progress. I think you'll put

:18:39.:18:45.

in your manifesto, it is the Government's policy, the Brexit

:18:46.:18:51.

negotiating position will be no more freedom of movement. Leave the

:18:52.:18:58.

single market and no longer under the jurisdiction Europe. You expect

:18:59.:19:01.

every Tory MP to fight on that manifesto. What will you do with Ken

:19:02.:19:07.

Clarke and Anna? They will have fought on their manifesto. They will

:19:08.:19:11.

understand the Prime Minister has the authority of the ballot box

:19:12.:19:14.

behind them. Will they fight the election on these positions? I'm

:19:15.:19:20.

sure they'll fight the election supporting the election of a

:19:21.:19:24.

Conservative Government and it's manifesto will quite clearly set

:19:25.:19:28.

out... You know they're against these positions. Ken Clarke has a

:19:29.:19:33.

prod tradition of expressing a certain view. Overall, the party's

:19:34.:19:37.

manifesto, it is not just individuals like Ken Clarke, it is

:19:38.:19:41.

what happens as far as the House of Lords are concerned, people said

:19:42.:19:45.

they'd use the House of Lords to prevent certain measures. You're the

:19:46.:19:49.

party chairman, will it be possible for people like Ken Clarke to fight

:19:50.:19:54.

this election under the Conservative ticket without sub describing to all

:19:55.:19:59.

-- subscribing to all of these Brexit conditions? Ken Clarke will

:20:00.:20:05.

fight as Conservative candidates. That wasn't my question. I know

:20:06.:20:10.

that. Will they be allowed to fight it on their own ticket and not

:20:11.:20:14.

subscribe to what is in your manifesto? The manifesto will be

:20:15.:20:18.

what the Conservative Party fights the General Election on. There will

:20:19.:20:22.

always be cases where people have had different views on different

:20:23.:20:28.

parts of the manifesto. That will be the guiding principles for the

:20:29.:20:34.

party. Philip Hammond says your election promises in 2015, in your

:20:35.:20:39.

manifesto not to raise taxes tied his hands when it came to managing

:20:40.:20:43.

the economy. Do you agree with him? No. The simple fact is we have to do

:20:44.:20:47.

the best things for the economy. We'll set out in our manifesto in a

:20:48.:20:52.

few weeks' time, what the policies will be for the next Parliament. Can

:20:53.:20:57.

I clarify, you don't agree with your Chancellor? What Philip was saying

:20:58.:21:03.

was some of the areas we wants to address as Chancellor, what the

:21:04.:21:08.

party will do, it will set out all the issues we're fighting on. It

:21:09.:21:11.

will set out clearly the choice we have in this country. That's the

:21:12.:21:15.

important thing. Let me put the question to you again. Philip

:21:16.:21:19.

Hammond said this week your election promise in 2015 not to raise taxes

:21:20.:21:23.

had tied his hands when it came to managing the economy. I ask you, do

:21:24.:21:29.

you agree with him? You said no. Philip expressed his view as to what

:21:30.:21:34.

he would like. What I'm saying is in a few weeks' time we'll set the

:21:35.:21:39.

manifesto which will set the policies, agreed with the the

:21:40.:21:43.

Cabinet. He's Chancellor. Doesn't he determine what the economic part of

:21:44.:21:46.

the manifesto is? We'll talk about that in due course. Will you have a

:21:47.:21:52.

lock on the taxes that you locked in 2015 on income tax, VAT, national

:21:53.:21:57.

insurance? That will be decided. You'll see that when we publish the

:21:58.:22:04.

manifesto in a few weeks' time. Will you rule out the possibility taxes

:22:05.:22:08.

may have to rise under a future Conservative Party? Conservative

:22:09.:22:13.

Government. We've taken four million people out of tax. Now, on average,

:22:14.:22:19.

people are paying ?1200 less tax than they were on the same salaries

:22:20.:22:25.

in 2010. I'm very provide of that. I can assure you, the Conservative

:22:26.:22:27.

Party will want to see taxes reduced. It is the Labour Party

:22:28.:22:31.

which will put up taxes. We have the evidence where this he did so.

:22:32.:22:37.

Council tax went up by over 100%. You haven't reduced the tax burden

:22:38.:22:43.

as a percentage of the GDP is now going to reach its highest level

:22:44.:22:48.

since the mid-180s which was when Conservatives were in power. The tax

:22:49.:22:54.

burden in this country under your Government is rising? We've more

:22:55.:22:57.

people paying taxes which is something, because we've a growing

:22:58.:23:00.

economy and more people... What about the tax band? You said you

:23:01.:23:05.

reduced the tax burden on your own Government's figures is rising? We

:23:06.:23:10.

have reduced the tax burden. The threshold at which people start

:23:11.:23:15.

paying. These are tax rates not the tax burden. It is rising. The tax

:23:16.:23:21.

rates have been reduced. You said tax burden. Perhaps I misspoke. Tax

:23:22.:23:26.

rates have been reduced. We'll leave it there. No doubt we'll speak again

:23:27.:23:34.

between now and June Is France now about to make it

:23:35.:23:35.

a hat-trick of shocks The prospect terrifies

:23:36.:23:40.

the governing elite in Paris. But they're no less scared

:23:41.:23:43.

in Brussels and Berlin, given what it could mean

:23:44.:23:45.

for the whole EU project, never mind the huge potential impact

:23:46.:23:48.

on our own Brexit negotiations. 11 candidates are contesting

:23:49.:24:07.

the first round of the presidential Only the top two will go forward

:24:08.:24:10.

to the run-off on May 7th. For the first time since General De

:24:11.:24:16.

Gaulle created the fifth Republic in 1958, it's perfectly possible that

:24:17.:24:21.

no candidate from the ruling parties of the centre-left or the

:24:22.:24:25.

centre-right will even make it The election has been dominated by

:24:26.:24:28.

the hard right in the shape of the who's never been elected

:24:29.:24:35.

to anything and only started his own party

:24:36.:24:42.

a few months ago. And the far left in the form

:24:43.:24:44.

of Jean-Luc Melenchon, a former Trotskyite who has surged

:24:45.:24:47.

in the final weeks of the campaign. The only candidate left from the

:24:48.:24:51.

traditional governing parties is the centre-right's

:24:52.:24:54.

Francois Fillon and he's been struggling to stay in

:24:55.:24:57.

the race ever since it was revealed that his Welsh wife was being paid

:24:58.:25:00.

at generous public expense for a job I've just come across

:25:01.:25:05.

this magazine cover and it kind of sums up the mood

:25:06.:25:20.

of the French people. It's got the five main candidates

:25:21.:25:23.

for President here but it calls them the biggest liar, the biggest cheat,

:25:24.:25:26.

the biggest traitor, the most paranoid, the biggest demagogue,

:25:27.:25:29.

and it says they are the winners The four leading candidates,

:25:30.:25:32.

Le Pen, Melenchon, Macron and Fillon, or in with a chance

:25:33.:25:43.

of making it to the second round. Only a couple of points separates

:25:44.:25:46.

them in the polls, Frankly, no one has a clue what's

:25:47.:25:48.

going to happen. Of the four, there is a feeling that

:25:49.:25:54.

two of them may be President But the two of them may not find

:25:55.:26:00.

themselves in the second round. Somebody said to me that the man or

:26:01.:26:13.

woman on the Paris Metro has as much a chance of knowing

:26:14.:26:26.

who will win as the greatest experts Because the more expert you are

:26:27.:26:30.

the more you may be wrong. The country has largely

:26:31.:26:37.

stagnated for over a decade. One in ten are unemployed,

:26:38.:26:42.

one in four if you are unlucky Like Britain in the '70s there is

:26:43.:26:45.

the pervasive stench There are three keywords that come

:26:46.:26:49.

to mind. Anger, anger at the elite, and in

:26:50.:26:56.

particular the political elite. And an element of

:26:57.:27:03.

nostalgia for the past. These three words were decisive

:27:04.:27:09.

in the Brexit referendum. They are decisive in

:27:10.:27:13.

the French election. Identity and security has been

:27:14.:27:24.

as important in this election France is a proud nation, it worries

:27:25.:27:28.

about its future in Europe It seems bereft of ideas about how

:27:29.:27:35.

to deal with its largely Muslim migrant population, huge chunks of

:27:36.:27:39.

which are increasingly divorced It is quite simply exhausted by

:27:40.:27:43.

the never-ending Islamist terrorist attacks, the latest only days before

:27:44.:27:54.

voting in the iconic heart of this If Fillon or Macron emerge

:27:55.:27:57.

victorious then there will be continuity of sorts, though Fillon

:27:58.:28:08.

will struggle to implement his Thatcherite agenda and Macron will

:28:09.:28:12.

not be able to count on the support of the French parliament, the

:28:13.:28:16.

National Assembly, for his reforms. But if it's Le Pen or Jean-Luc

:28:17.:28:19.

Melenchon then all bets are off. Both are hardline French

:28:20.:28:25.

nationalists, anti the euro, anti the European Union, anti-fiscal

:28:26.:28:28.

discipline, anti the market, Either in the Elysee Palace

:28:29.:28:31.

would represent an existential Brexit would simply become

:28:32.:28:40.

a sideshow, the negotiations could just peter out as Brussels

:28:41.:28:49.

and Berlin had bigger fish to fry. We're joined now from

:28:50.:28:53.

Paris by the journalist 8th Welcome to the programme.

:28:54.:29:05.

Overshadowing the voting today was yet another appalling terrorist

:29:06.:29:09.

attack in Paris on Thursday night. Do we have any indications of how

:29:10.:29:15.

that's playing into the election? That initially people thought this

:29:16.:29:19.

has been almost foiled in that the police were there as a ramp up. One

:29:20.:29:25.

policeman was killed. But the terrorist did not spray the crowd

:29:26.:29:29.

with bullets. It was seen as not having much of an effect on the

:29:30.:29:34.

election. This has changed. We now know the policeman who was killed, a

:29:35.:29:41.

young man about to the promoted, he was at the Bataclan the night of the

:29:42.:29:46.

terror attack. He was a fighter for LGBT rights. The fact he was

:29:47.:29:53.

promoted, happy within his job, he has this fresh face. Sudden, he's

:29:54.:29:59.

one of us. It took perhaps 48 hours for the French to process this. But

:30:00.:30:05.

now they're angry and this may actually change the game, at least

:30:06.:30:11.

at the margins. To whose advantage? I would say the two who might

:30:12.:30:18.

benefit from this are Marine Le Pen, she's been absolutely

:30:19.:30:22.

anti-immigration, anti-anything. And made no bones about it as she

:30:23.:30:27.

immediately made rather strange announcement in which she'd said if

:30:28.:30:30.

she'd been president none of the terror attacks which happened in

:30:31.:30:34.

France would have happened. Francois Fillon has written a book two years

:30:35.:30:42.

ago called Combating Islamic Terrorism he's has an organised plan

:30:43.:30:46.

in his manifesto. Unlike Emmanuel Macron who stumbled when he was

:30:47.:30:50.

asked the evening this happened what he thought, he said, I can't dream

:30:51.:30:54.

up an anti-terror programme overnight. The question, of course,

:30:55.:30:58.

that arrows was this is not the sort of thing that's just happened

:30:59.:31:02.

overnight. It's been unfortunately the fate of France for many years.

:31:03.:31:08.

Let me ask you this finally, what ever the outcome on May 7th in the

:31:09.:31:13.

second round, who ever wins, would it be fair to say French politics

:31:14.:31:19.

will never be the same again? Yes. Absolutely it's a very strange

:31:20.:31:22.

thing. People have no become really excited about this. You cannot go

:31:23.:31:26.

anywhere without people discussing heatedly this election. The anger

:31:27.:31:31.

that was described is very accurate. Very true. There was this feeling as

:31:32.:31:37.

for the Brexit voters and the Trump voters, vast parts of the people

:31:38.:31:42.

were being talked down to by people who despised them. This has to

:31:43.:31:48.

change. If it doesn't change, we cannot predict what the future will

:31:49.:31:53.

be. We'll know the results or at least the ex-the Poll London time

:31:54.:31:58.

tonight at 8.00pm. Thank for joining us from the glorious heart of your

:31:59.:32:00.

city. Now, the Green Party currently has

:32:01.:32:04.

one MP and they'll be contesting many more seats in June

:32:05.:32:07.

as well as hoping to increase their presence on councils in

:32:08.:32:10.

the local elections on 4th May. Launching their campaign

:32:11.:32:12.

on Thursday, co-leader Caroline Lucas made

:32:13.:32:14.

a pitch to younger voters. When it comes to young

:32:15.:32:16.

people they've been But one crucial way they've been

:32:17.:32:18.

betrayed is by what this generation and this government and the previous

:32:19.:32:23.

ones have been doing when it comes We know we had the hottest year

:32:24.:32:26.

on record last year, you know, you almost think what else does

:32:27.:32:31.

the environment need to be doing All the signs are there

:32:32.:32:34.

and it is young people who are going to be bearing

:32:35.:32:37.

the brunt of a wrecked environment and that's why it's so important

:32:38.:32:40.

that when we come to making that pitch to, yes, the country at large

:32:41.:32:44.

but to young people in particular, I think climate change,

:32:45.:32:46.

the environment, looking after our precious resources,

:32:47.:32:48.

has to be up there. And I'm joined now by the Green

:32:49.:32:53.

MEP, Molly Scott Cato. Welcome back to the programme.

:32:54.:33:07.

Promised to scrap university tuition fees, increase NHS funding, rollback

:33:08.:33:11.

cuts to local councils spending, how much would that cost and how would

:33:12.:33:15.

you pay for it? Like the other parties we haven't got a costed

:33:16.:33:18.

manifesto yet, it's only a few days since the election was announced so

:33:19.:33:21.

I will come back and explain the figures. You don't know? Like every

:33:22.:33:25.

party we have not produced accosted manifesto yet, we produced one last

:33:26.:33:31.

time but public spending figures have changed so we're not in a

:33:32.:33:34.

position to do that but we will be in a week or so. What taxes would

:33:35.:33:39.

you like to consider raising? We would consider having higher taxes

:33:40.:33:43.

for the better off in society. I think we need to increase the amount

:33:44.:33:48.

of tax wealthier people pay. How do you define better off? I'm not

:33:49.:33:51.

entirely clear what the precise number would be but I think 100,000

:33:52.:33:57.

people would pay a bit more, 150,000 quite considerably more but the real

:33:58.:34:01.

focus needs to be on companies avoiding paying taxes. I work on

:34:02.:34:04.

that a lot in my role in the European Parliament, we see an

:34:05.:34:07.

enormous amount of tax avoidance by companies moving profits from

:34:08.:34:10.

country to country and we need European corporation to make that

:34:11.:34:14.

successful. It has not made much difference yet. We have made lots of

:34:15.:34:20.

changes. Google turned over $1 billion and only paid 25 million in

:34:21.:34:23.

taxes last year. There was a significant fine introduced by the

:34:24.:34:28.

competition commission on Apple and in the case of Google we must change

:34:29.:34:32.

the laws so that people cannot move profits from country to country.

:34:33.:34:38.

Everybody wants to do it. But you couldn't face a big spending

:34:39.:34:41.

programme on the ability to do that. You'd have to increase other taxes.

:34:42.:34:45.

If you look at the cost of free student tuition, tuition fees and

:34:46.:34:48.

also maintenance grants to students, that would come in at about 10

:34:49.:34:51.

billion a year. One way of paying for that would be to remove the

:34:52.:34:55.

upper threshold on National Insurance, bringing in 20 billion a

:34:56.:34:58.

year, that's the order of magnitude we are talking about. It is not

:34:59.:35:03.

vast, and some of the proposals we have... That would be an increase on

:35:04.:35:07.

the better of tax? National Insurance on people earning...

:35:08.:35:14.

People earning above 42,000. You would have another 10% tax above

:35:15.:35:18.

42,000? I can't remember exactly how much the National Insurance rate

:35:19.:35:24.

changes by. But in government figures it would be 28 billion

:35:25.:35:28.

raised. I think it is up to 45, a bit more you pay a marginal rate of

:35:29.:35:31.

40%, you would have them pay a marginal rate of over 50%? We would

:35:32.:35:36.

put the National Insurance rate on higher incomes the same as it is on

:35:37.:35:40.

lower incomes. If you are a school head of an English department on 50,

:35:41.:35:44.

60,000 a year you would face a marginal rate under U of over 50%?

:35:45.:35:50.

It is not useful to do this as a mental maths exercise but if you

:35:51.:35:55.

look at other proposals would could have a landlord licensing system,

:35:56.:35:59.

longer term leases on properties, so young people particularly, but also

:36:00.:36:02.

older people who rent, could have more security which needn't cost

:36:03.:36:05.

anything. We could insist on landlords paying for that. The

:36:06.:36:09.

mental arithmetic seems clear but we will come back to that. How is the

:36:10.:36:13.

Progressive Alliance coming? It is going well, I have heard of a lot of

:36:14.:36:18.

interest at local level. Winterset this in contest, context, lots of

:36:19.:36:23.

progressives are concerned about the crisis in public services, prisons,

:36:24.:36:27.

social care system, and also about the Tories' hard extreme Brexit they

:36:28.:36:31.

are threatening. You want the left to come together? Theresa May has

:36:32.:36:36.

given us opportunity, she has taken a risk because she has problems with

:36:37.:36:39.

backbenchers, she doesn't think she can get through Brexit with a small

:36:40.:36:42.

majority so there is an opportunity and we are saying progressives must

:36:43.:36:46.

come together to corporate, Conservatives are effective at using

:36:47.:36:48.

the first-past-the-post system and we have to become effective as well.

:36:49.:36:54.

Do you accept this Progressive Alliance cannot become the

:36:55.:36:57.

government and Mr Corbyn is the Prime Minister? How could it happen

:36:58.:37:01.

otherwise? I think that is a secondary question. For me the

:37:02.:37:05.

primary question is who do people choose to vote for? Aluminium

:37:06.:37:08.

government afterwards comes after the election. In most countries that

:37:09.:37:12.

is the case. I understand that but we have the system we have and you

:37:13.:37:15.

accept this Progressive Alliance cannot be in power and thus mystical

:37:16.:37:19.

Burmese Prime Minister? Personally I think Mr Corbyn is less of a threat

:37:20.:37:22.

to the country than Theresa May, she has shown herself to be an

:37:23.:37:25.

authoritarian leader and she has said she doesn't want to have

:37:26.:37:31.

dissidents, which I would say is reasonable opposition, and what we

:37:32.:37:34.

are suggesting at the moment is there is a way of avoiding that very

:37:35.:37:36.

hard Brexit and damage to public services. You'd be happy to pay the

:37:37.:37:39.

price of having Mr Corbyn as Prime Minister? I do not see that as a

:37:40.:37:44.

price. People have the choice of Jeremy Corbyn or Theresa May as

:37:45.:37:47.

Prime Minister, that's the system that works. You would prefer Mr

:37:48.:37:52.

Corbyn? I would but votes are translated into seats and the

:37:53.:37:54.

Progressive Alliance is a step towards that.

:37:55.:37:56.

It's just gone 3:50pm, you're watching the Sunday Politics.

:37:57.:37:58.

We say goodbye to viewers in Scotland, Wales

:37:59.:38:00.

and Northern Ireland who leave us now.

:38:01.:38:02.

Hello, I'm Martyn Oates. minutes, the Week Ahead.

:38:03.:38:15.

Coming up on the Sunday Politics here in the South West:

:38:16.:38:18.

Will Labour's new pro-Corbyn members in Plymouth get out

:38:19.:38:22.

on the doorstep for a candidate from the centre-left?

:38:23.:38:26.

I want people who are real, I don't want people who are fake.

:38:27.:38:29.

They're not faking it, they're actually

:38:30.:38:31.

believing it, they're living it, they want to be a Labour candidate

:38:32.:38:34.

and they want to be part of a Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn.

:38:35.:38:38.

And for the next 20 minutes, I'm joined by the Lib Dem

:38:39.:38:41.

peer Judith Jolly, and by Ernie Warrender,

:38:42.:38:43.

who's hoping to stand for Ukip in June's general election.

:38:44.:38:46.

Welcome, both of you, to the programme.

:38:47.:38:51.

To kick things off, should this election be all about Brexit, Ernie?

:38:52.:39:01.

It's probably going to be but it's virtually a cynical hijacking of

:39:02.:39:06.

democracy. I feel terribly sorry for Northern Ireland because they will

:39:07.:39:10.

have to vote again. This isn't about electing a government. In my view

:39:11.:39:14.

that is pretty much done deal. This is about electing an effective

:39:15.:39:19.

opposition, and what you have is 17.3 million people who voted for

:39:20.:39:24.

Brexit, Brexit, Lead, exit, they knew what they were voting for

:39:25.:39:30.

clearly, and there are serious concerns that Theresa May will not

:39:31.:39:34.

deliver on immigration, people are worried about fisheries. By putting

:39:35.:39:40.

Ukip MPs in Parliament to counter the virtually 100% Remain, has to be

:39:41.:39:48.

done. Judith, you and your leader want to make this about Brexit as

:39:49.:39:52.

well from the opposing sides. We were watching something about

:39:53.:39:54.

manifestos earlier and our manifesto will not be all about Brexit. There

:39:55.:40:01.

is a whole issue around health and social care. It looks like it has

:40:02.:40:06.

been knocked into the long grass but it is a disaster waiting to happen.

:40:07.:40:11.

It is not just about Brexit. We have a distinctive view on Brexit,

:40:12.:40:15.

clearly, and you Anae so far seriously disagree, but... There

:40:16.:40:23.

will be More Of That, I suspect. There will be More Of That. As the

:40:24.:40:25.

programme wears on. Once again, the South West looks

:40:26.:40:29.

like playing a central role in the election,

:40:30.:40:31.

with particular focus here on the traditional tussle

:40:32.:40:33.

between the Conservatives The former will be fighting to keep

:40:34.:40:35.

all the seats they gained The latter will be equally

:40:36.:40:39.

determined to get them back. And, keen not to be left out,

:40:40.:40:42.

some of the other parties in the fray are already talking

:40:43.:40:45.

about pre-election deals Tim Farron rolled into Truro

:40:46.:40:47.

on local election business just an hour after Theresa May

:40:48.:40:59.

called the snap election, but the Lib Dems, the party of pavement

:41:00.:41:03.

politics, say they are The Liberal Democrats have been

:41:04.:41:06.

calling for an early election, and we've been ready

:41:07.:41:11.

for an early election, The party machine is

:41:12.:41:13.

already up and running, local elections, but with a June

:41:14.:41:19.

the 8th poll, familiar faces are encouraging tactical voting,

:41:20.:41:23.

where the Lib Dems are in a strong In those seats, we would

:41:24.:41:26.

clearly be encouraging, indeed, even members

:41:27.:41:32.

of parties that came third, fourth, fifth last time,

:41:33.:41:36.

to perhaps think carefully about whether they want to have an MP

:41:37.:41:39.

who maybe isn't entirely to their liking, but at least firstly is not

:41:40.:41:44.

a Conservative, and secondly is someone who at least

:41:45.:41:48.

is on the progressive centre-left. There is one place

:41:49.:41:54.

in Cornwall where the Green vote alone would have been

:41:55.:41:55.

enough to get the Lib Dems over This is Andrew George's

:41:56.:41:58.

old constituency, where the Conservatives beat

:41:59.:42:03.

him by 2,500 votes. The maths is simple,

:42:04.:42:06.

but for now, cards are being Certainly there are places,

:42:07.:42:13.

St Ives and others around the country, where Greens

:42:14.:42:17.

can make a difference. In other constituencies,

:42:18.:42:19.

the Lib Dems themselves can make a difference to the outcome,

:42:20.:42:21.

so what we want to be able to do is to have talks,

:42:22.:42:24.

to look at this as fast as possible, given the very short time

:42:25.:42:27.

we have before the election, to see But as in any battle,

:42:28.:42:30.

it's not all one-sided. Some in Ukip are keen to keep Brexit

:42:31.:42:35.

top of the agenda, and are considering playing

:42:36.:42:39.

a similar card. My opinion is that we need to be

:42:40.:42:42.

very clever, and not necessarily stand wherever we can,

:42:43.:42:45.

like we have done in the past. In the referendum,

:42:46.:42:49.

George Eustice was superb. He led from the front,

:42:50.:42:53.

as did Cheryl Murray and Scott Mann, so I don't see why

:42:54.:42:55.

we would want to consider getting And while the Greens

:42:56.:42:58.

this week made an offer to step aside in Plymouth,

:42:59.:43:04.

where the race is traditionally Labour

:43:05.:43:06.

versus Tory, the question is, should

:43:07.:43:07.

the Lib Dems be doing the same? There will be places

:43:08.:43:11.

in the country where Liberal Democrat supporters would be

:43:12.:43:15.

wise to vote Labour if they want to Parties of all colours

:43:16.:43:20.

will be holding talks this week, with any deals needed

:43:21.:43:26.

to be decided on very soon, amid warnings by some Conservatives that

:43:27.:43:30.

electoral pacts are undemocratic. And to discuss this,

:43:31.:43:36.

we're joined by the MP for Camborne and Redruth,

:43:37.:43:40.

George Eustice. He was mentioned in the report and

:43:41.:43:51.

joins us from London. We heard there from Bob Smith, your Ukip opponent

:43:52.:43:56.

in 2015. I think the number of votes they garnered was the size of your

:43:57.:44:00.

majority. Presumably would be delighted if he stood aside this

:44:01.:44:05.

time. The reality is, I was a former Ukip candidate in 1999, but their

:44:06.:44:10.

job is done. This country voted to leave the EU, Ukip was a single

:44:11.:44:14.

issue party set up to campaign for that, and what we

:44:15.:44:27.

need to be Theresa May, which is why we need this general election to

:44:28.:44:33.

clear the air so we have strong and stable leadership going into these

:44:34.:44:37.

vital negotiations. I want to come to this issue of electoral pacts and

:44:38.:44:43.

parties standing aside. Ernie, you heard your Ukip colleague Bob Smith

:44:44.:44:46.

saying in three seats in Cornwall they shouldn't stand. You hope you

:44:47.:44:52.

will and can stand. I have to say I would sooner stick my sensitive

:44:53.:44:55.

places in the mouth of a hungry lion than do a pact with the Tories. We

:44:56.:45:00.

saw what they did to the Lib Dems, they destroyed them. Your job is

:45:01.:45:02.

done, George, it's a reasonable point,

:45:03.:45:22.

isn't it? The job isn't done, because when you look at the papers

:45:23.:45:24.

and all the comments, Theresa May was a Remainer, her Chancellor was a

:45:25.:45:26.

Remainer, the Brexit committee is 11-7 remain, chaired by Hilary Benn,

:45:27.:45:30.

the job is not done in any way, and you need Ukip MPs. Plus it is not a

:45:31.:45:33.

single issue party. When you look at our manifesto, suddenly, the Tories

:45:34.:45:35.

have had a Damascene change on grammar schools, the NHS, respect

:45:36.:45:37.

for the Armed Forces, it is not single issue any more. Will George

:45:38.:45:42.

Eustice face a Ukip challenge? Paul Nuttall was suggesting they could

:45:43.:45:46.

have him. My view, and we are all inputting into the manifesto at the

:45:47.:45:50.

moment, if you must give four million people the opportunity to

:45:51.:45:54.

take a purple and yellow box. It is hijacking democracy if you don't.

:45:55.:45:59.

Judith, in terms of pacts, Andrew George also said this week that he

:46:00.:46:03.

would consider it wise for Lib Dem supporters in some constituencies to

:46:04.:46:10.

vote Labour. This is nothing new. People voted tactically, but it is

:46:11.:46:15.

new to have parties actually saying, vote for an opposing party.

:46:16.:46:19.

Certainly, the Green Party were very helpful to us when we won Richmond

:46:20.:46:28.

recently. I am not party to any deals or conversations about deals

:46:29.:46:32.

in Cornwall, but I wouldn't be surprised if conversations were

:46:33.:46:35.

happening. Whether there will be deals or not, I really don't know,

:46:36.:46:41.

but again, we are very keen to give the country an opportunity to vote

:46:42.:46:46.

Lib Dem in the same way Ernie has described. Sorry to interject, can I

:46:47.:46:51.

just say that at the end of the day, when you say a deal, a deal as a two

:46:52.:46:56.

way event, and it won't be with the Tory party or the Labour Party or

:46:57.:47:01.

the Lib Dems. Can I come in and say, let the other parties talk about

:47:02.:47:05.

pacts and coalitions. This is not a time for some coalition between

:47:06.:47:15.

Ukip, labour, the Green Party and the Lib Dems, to try and do

:47:16.:47:18.

negotiation. This is a time for strong and stable leadership which

:47:19.:47:20.

is why we need Theresa May. Do you think the Lib Dems would going to

:47:21.:47:24.

four way packed? This is not a tie for some chaotic coalition and pact,

:47:25.:47:27.

-- not a time, this is a time for clarity of leadership to get the

:47:28.:47:32.

negotiations right, which needs to be Theresa May negotiating. George,

:47:33.:47:36.

it looks and sounds as if you are cutting to the chase in terms of

:47:37.:47:39.

what might be one of the main messages from the Tory campaign,

:47:40.:47:43.

which is you risk getting this coalition of chaos. Of course, last

:47:44.:47:55.

time you push the line that there was a risk of Ed Miliband's Labour

:47:56.:47:57.

ruling the country with the SNP. Isn't there a problem that with the

:47:58.:48:00.

polls as they are, if people think the Conservatives are likely to get

:48:01.:48:03.

a majority, places like Cornwall and Devon might say, if that will happen

:48:04.:48:05.

anyway, we would rather have an opposition MP and not give the

:48:06.:48:08.

government this overwhelming documents at Westminster? I know and

:48:09.:48:13.

safe seats in the West Country, and safe seats in the West Country, and

:48:14.:48:18.

it is always hotly contested. I was first elected with a majority of

:48:19.:48:22.

just 66 and understand the volatility of the West Country. We

:48:23.:48:26.

take nothing for granted and will be campaigning day in, day out, getting

:48:27.:48:29.

the message across that this country needs strong, stable leadership but

:48:30.:48:33.

also the record the Conservatives have delivered as MPs. When we had

:48:34.:48:37.

Lib Dems they used a point out problems and solve nothing. Since we

:48:38.:48:43.

have Conservative MPs, local Conservative candidates elected,

:48:44.:48:47.

they have delivered, getting investment in hospitals and

:48:48.:48:49.

infrastructure, creating jobs. That's what we need. Judith. I would

:48:50.:48:57.

take issue with that. Certainly it is the role of an MP, we were having

:48:58.:49:02.

this discussion earlier, to talk to ministers and put things on, but to

:49:03.:49:07.

suggest Lib Dems never do that is very disingenuous. Isn't this the

:49:08.:49:11.

case, and if this is the key message from the Conservatives, but at the

:49:12.:49:17.

last election, the message that voting Lib Dem could facilitate

:49:18.:49:23.

labour - SNP coalition was deadly to use. Yes. So this time you should be

:49:24.:49:29.

worried talking about a coalition of chaos. Yes and no Mac, I am not

:49:30.:49:34.

worried. We are going out and explaining what our policies are.

:49:35.:49:39.

Our manifesto will be out in the next week I would imagine along with

:49:40.:49:43.

the others, and we will do that. In fact we have just had to say to all

:49:44.:49:47.

those campaigning for local councils, thank you very much but

:49:48.:49:50.

you can have a day off after the election and we are back on the

:49:51.:49:55.

doors, so that is what we shall do. Can I just say, George is saying

:49:56.:49:59.

what a great job the Tories have done, I remember them campaigning

:50:00.:50:04.

very strongly on getting broadband, communication systems, going in the

:50:05.:50:07.

West Country. It is better in parts of Africa. It is appalling. That is

:50:08.:50:18.

a simple nonsense. Cornwall have high-speed broadband... Big problems

:50:19.:50:23.

in Devon and Somerset, to be fair. They had European money, but that is

:50:24.:50:30.

another debate! 10 million has gone into piloting broadband in the most

:50:31.:50:33.

remote areas and we are constantly putting money into rolling out

:50:34.:50:37.

broadband in moral areas. George Eustice, thank you for joining us.

:50:38.:50:39.

If the last election was disastrous for the Lib Dems,

:50:40.:50:41.

it wasn't great for Labour either - Exeter's Ben Bradshaw is the party's

:50:42.:50:45.

In June, Labour will be hoping to regain at least

:50:46.:50:48.

one seat in Plymouth, but the selection of candidates

:50:49.:50:50.

is still to be finalised, and opinion as to whether

:50:51.:50:53.

the present leadership offers a glorious opportunity or a massive

:50:54.:50:55.

You have got 50 days between now and possibly changing

:50:56.:51:06.

A rare insight into the ranks of Corbyn's footsoldiers.

:51:07.:51:09.

No covert operations here, they say, just passionate politics.

:51:10.:51:12.

How about we have a session where we start to

:51:13.:51:14.

But there are a few thorny questions, chiefly,

:51:15.:51:21.

who fronts up and leads the charge in Plymouth?

:51:22.:51:24.

Whose name will be spelt out on the ballot paper?

:51:25.:51:28.

And I hereby declare that Oliver Colville

:51:29.:51:30.

is duly elected to serve as the member of Parliament for the said

:51:31.:51:33.

The Plymouth Sutton and Devonport seat is number eight on

:51:34.:51:39.

Labour's national target list, and at number 14 is the neighbouring

:51:40.:51:41.

constituency of Moor View, lost by Alison Seabeck in 2015.

:51:42.:51:48.

She is a Corbyn sceptic, who this week said she

:51:49.:51:51.

wouldn't be going over the top this time round.

:51:52.:51:55.

For those leading Corbyn's ever-loyal brigade in

:51:56.:51:57.

Plymouth, a vacancy for one of their own?

:51:58.:52:01.

I'm going to say to you fairly clearly that if somebody doesn't

:52:02.:52:04.

feel it's right for them to campaign as a candidate

:52:05.:52:08.

with Jeremy Corbyn as leader, then I don't want them to.

:52:09.:52:13.

I want people who are real, I don't want people who are fake.

:52:14.:52:16.

They are not faking it, they're actually

:52:17.:52:17.

believing it, they're living it, they want to be

:52:18.:52:20.

a Labour candidate, and they want to be part of a Labour

:52:21.:52:23.

they will campaign for whoever is selected, but this grassroots

:52:24.:52:28.

organisation that backs Jeremy Corbyn has been likened to Nazi

:52:29.:52:30.

stormtroopers by one of Labour's own.

:52:31.:52:34.

Michael Foster ran for the party in Camborne and Redruth in 2015.

:52:35.:52:40.

He now says traditional party members in Cornwall are being frozen

:52:41.:52:42.

What is very very clear is that Momentum, who are

:52:43.:52:49.

now the majority of members, only support their own.

:52:50.:52:52.

There was no support, when I went out a couple of

:52:53.:52:55.

times with candidates, at all, from those Momentum members.

:52:56.:52:58.

The region's only Labour MP has also had well-catalogued disagreements

:52:59.:53:00.

In one instance, Mr Bradshaw described the leadership as "A

:53:01.:53:08.

destructive combination of incompetence, deceit and menace."

:53:09.:53:12.

I think a lot of my colleagues, as you

:53:13.:53:15.

have seen today, have taken a good, hard look at themselves and their

:53:16.:53:18.

consciences and have come out and said they just don't think Jeremy

:53:19.:53:21.

has got the right qualities to take us into an election, and in fact

:53:22.:53:24.

Unsurprisingly, that's not how they see it

:53:25.:53:31.

Unsurprisingly, that's not how they see it at the Momentum

:53:32.:53:33.

The buzz I'm getting from the meeting is enthusiasm - people

:53:34.:53:37.

are excited by the upcoming election.

:53:38.:53:39.

Like I said in that room tonight, some of us never thought we

:53:40.:53:41.

would get the opportunity to do this in our lives,

:53:42.:53:45.

and suddenly for that moment to arrive, it's like, it

:53:46.:53:47.

The decision on who fights for Labour and where

:53:48.:53:52.

now rests with the top brass, who say they'll have their men or

:53:53.:53:55.

To discuss this, we're joined by Labour MP Ben Bradshaw,

:53:56.:54:05.

who increased his majority back in 2015.

:54:06.:54:10.

Welcome to the programme, Ben. Do you not now find yourself

:54:11.:54:14.

position you predicted a few months position you predicted a few months

:54:15.:54:19.

ago of being led into a disaster? That was during a leadership

:54:20.:54:22.

election. But what's changed in terms of your assessment of Jeremy

:54:23.:54:27.

Corbyn? Let's get a reality check. We are currently more than 20

:54:28.:54:31.

percentage points behind the Conservatives in the polls. That

:54:32.:54:33.

landslide territory for the Tories, landslide territory for the Tories,

:54:34.:54:37.

so anybody, for the sake of our democracy, who doesn't want a

:54:38.:54:41.

the sake of our schools and the sake of our schools and

:54:42.:54:53.

hospitals, or who is worried about the extreme version of Brexit the

:54:54.:54:55.

Tories are pursuing, will do everything they can in this

:54:56.:54:57.

election, wherever they live, to support the candidate with the

:54:58.:54:59.

best chance of leading a conservative. Can your party change

:55:00.:55:04.

radically in the next few months? It cannot but what I have been

:55:05.:55:06.

campaigning on yesterday, we have more than twice the support in

:55:07.:55:11.

Exeter on the first day of the campaign yesterday as on my local

:55:12.:55:15.

record. People in Exeter will vote for the candidate they want to be

:55:16.:55:19.

their MP for the next five years, they are not voting for a party

:55:20.:55:22.

leader or a government. The result in Exeter will not affect the

:55:23.:55:26.

national result, and Labour supporters and members across our

:55:27.:55:30.

region will do their best to maximise the Labour vote and avoid

:55:31.:55:35.

the terrible prospect of a landslide Conservative government completely

:55:36.:55:38.

unchecked, taking its acts to our public services, our schools and

:55:39.:55:43.

NHS, and pushing this extreme form of Brexit outside the single market

:55:44.:55:46.

and the customs union, which would be extremely bad for prosperity,

:55:47.:55:51.

jobs and investment in our region. Do you accept there is no prospect

:55:52.:55:55.

of a Labour government would Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister? I am

:55:56.:56:00.

asking you to get real. The reality is we are 20 points behind in the

:56:01.:56:04.

polls. Don't forget some people may say opinion polls may be wrong, the

:56:05.:56:09.

problem is in the past when they have been wrong, they have

:56:10.:56:11.

underestimated the Conservative lead. That is where we are. We are

:56:12.:56:17.

in a fight against the Tory landslide, and in the south-west we

:56:18.:56:20.

are in a fight against a 1-party state. I think it would be terrible

:56:21.:56:24.

for our democracy and the country and for all those people who need

:56:25.:56:26.

some sort of scrutiny and challenge for what would be the most

:56:27.:56:43.

right wing Conservative government in our country's history. Just

:56:44.:56:45.

quickly, we were talking earlier about the idea of Progressive

:56:46.:56:47.

Alliance, Greens standing in favour of Labour or Lib Dem candidates, do

:56:48.:56:50.

you have sympathy with this? I don't know what is happening about that

:56:51.:56:52.

but I have more faith in the intelligence of the British people

:56:53.:56:55.

to do the right thing. In Exeter and Plymouth, if you don't want a hard

:56:56.:56:58.

Brexiteer right wing Tory you vote for me or the Labour candidates in

:56:59.:57:00.

Plymouth. Elsewhere the public are able to make up their own judgment

:57:01.:57:03.

as to who has the best chance of beating the Conservatives, and I am

:57:04.:57:07.

sure they will. Judith and Ernie, you are both in different ways

:57:08.:57:11.

fishing potentially for Labour voters.

:57:12.:57:23.

Just generally, I think Labour voters are not happy with Jeremy

:57:24.:57:31.

Corbyn as leader. We are knocking on doors at the moment on the Cornwall

:57:32.:57:35.

Council campaign and Labour voters are saying they will support us.

:57:36.:57:41.

Quickly, Ernie, you are in a similar position with this ambition from the

:57:42.:57:46.

Prime Minister to gain Labour voters in the north, Eurosceptic Labour

:57:47.:57:49.

voters in the north, you are about the same thing? Not just in the

:57:50.:57:54.

north to be honest. I did a couple of years on the Assembly line at

:57:55.:58:10.

Ford in Dagenham. This has become not the Labour Party I knew as

:58:11.:58:14.

El-Abd. Yes, Ben is right, there needs to be credible and strong

:58:15.:58:16.

opposition. As I said earlier, the government is a done deal. You are

:58:17.:58:19.

voting for a strong, credible opposition, checks and balances, and

:58:20.:58:21.

if the vote Labour, Lib Dem, SNP, you will get us another referendum.

:58:22.:58:23.

Quickly, Ben, do you have preferences for candidates in

:58:24.:58:27.

Plymouth, which of course is generally in contention for labour?

:58:28.:58:31.

I understand the excellent Luke Pollard has already been confirmed

:58:32.:58:35.

as our candidate. He had a great result, came very close last time,

:58:36.:58:38.

and I am sure I candidate in the other Plymouth seat will be of

:58:39.:58:42.

equally high calibre and will work extremely hard. Ben, thank you very

:58:43.:58:44.

much. Now our regular round-up

:58:45.:58:45.

of the political week in 60 seconds. The Prime Minister says she'll

:58:46.:58:54.

be visiting Cornwall ...but I recognise the importance

:58:55.:58:56.

of small businesses in Cornwall, and I look forward to visiting

:58:57.:59:02.

Cornwall in the next few weeks and being able to talk to him

:59:03.:59:05.

and others about the importance A scrappage scheme for diesel cars

:59:06.:59:08.

is in order, according to Devon MP and EFRA Committee chairman Neil

:59:09.:59:15.

Parish. This is a policy with

:59:16.:59:19.

significant public support, especially as we move,

:59:20.:59:21.

dare I say, towards a general election,

:59:22.:59:23.

although that's not in my speech. Calls for the law to allow Cornish

:59:24.:59:25.

flags on numberplates I believe it would be a great way

:59:26.:59:29.

to serve the new Great Britain that we want post-membership

:59:30.:59:36.

of the EU. And North Cornwall MP Scott Mann

:59:37.:59:39.

runs his first London Marathon. I'm hoping to raise ?3,000

:59:40.:59:44.

so I can give ?1,000 to each of my cottage hospitals,

:59:45.:59:47.

so please sponsor me, Judith, you are a Cornish pier,

:59:48.:00:07.

would you like a Cornish flag on your number plate? There are loads!

:00:08.:00:13.

I have noticed this! I don't think you need a law to do this. It is the

:00:14.:00:18.

debate on whether it is legal at the moment. I don't think it. The

:00:19.:00:23.

Cornish people doing it! Ernie, to be fair, a couple of people were

:00:24.:00:28.

interested in Cornish flags but the point was made by those who tabled

:00:29.:00:33.

the debate that regional flags of counties, the White Rose of

:00:34.:00:36.

Yorkshire for instance, any sympathy for that? As the only national party

:00:37.:00:41.

spokesman for small business for Brexiteer -- who is a Brexiteer, the

:00:42.:00:45.

rest are in the past, it would be a great boost for the number plate

:00:46.:00:49.

industry. They would have to change them all. They do it in Australia

:00:50.:00:54.

with different states. That sounds like government intervention.

:00:55.:01:02.

Certainly not! LAUGHTER. Small-business. I can tell you Scott

:01:03.:01:06.

Mann has completed the London Marathon. We must

:01:07.:01:07.

on issues like the NHS. Run out of time. Andrew, back to you.

:01:08.:01:16.

Now, Ukip have made their first significant policy announcement

:01:17.:01:22.

of the election campaign today with a call for a ban on wearing

:01:23.:01:27.

But is it a policy that will meet with the approval of the man

:01:28.:01:34.

who bankrolled the party's last general election campaign?

:01:35.:01:35.

Hello, Andrew. Let me see if I can clarify some things, are you a

:01:36.:01:43.

member of Ukip? I a patron of Ukip so I don't stop being a member. So

:01:44.:01:49.

you are still a member? I am, apparently for life. Are you still

:01:50.:01:53.

hoping to bankroll Ukip? Not at the moment. Why is that? The internal

:01:54.:02:00.

problems we have had in Ukip have been aired, and a lot needs to

:02:01.:02:05.

happen in the party in terms of professionalising it and I think it

:02:06.:02:09.

is ill-prepared for this general election. Are you going to run in

:02:10.:02:14.

Clacton? I will be if selected. For Ukip? Yes. Have you been to Clacton?

:02:15.:02:21.

I've been with Nigel Mansell on the campaign. You will run for a

:02:22.:02:25.

constituency you've only been in once? Yes, why does that surprise

:02:26.:02:31.

you? You know nothing about it. I've just recently decided to become the

:02:32.:02:36.

candidate there. Did you know where it is? Of course I do, your piece

:02:37.:02:40.

the other night was completely wrong. I said I knew where it was

:02:41.:02:44.

but I didn't know much about it. Maybe the people of Clacton will

:02:45.:02:51.

regard you as a carpetbagger? Why? Because you have never been there.

:02:52.:02:57.

Most politicians are carpetbaggers and I will be there for the right

:02:58.:03:01.

reasons. I thought it was because of your visceral hatred of Douglas

:03:02.:03:06.

Carswell. He only lasted 24 hours after I announced my candidacy so we

:03:07.:03:10.

will see what happens. The main thing I am going to Clacton on

:03:11.:03:13.

Monday to meet the Ukip councillors, see what the issues are and see if

:03:14.:03:16.

they want me as a candidate. They may not want me. Who do you think

:03:17.:03:23.

you will be up against? The potential Conservative candidate.

:03:24.:03:29.

Who in Ukip? I don't suppose anyone in Ukip will stand against me, I

:03:30.:03:34.

wouldn't have thought. Really? I would have thought. Money talks! Why

:03:35.:03:41.

do you say that? You talked about having a pirate radio station to

:03:42.:03:45.

blast into Clacton so it is not covered by the election rules.

:03:46.:03:47.

You've been talking about financing a sort of right-wing Momentum

:03:48.:03:53.

movement. I just wonder, has politics now just become a

:03:54.:03:58.

Richmond's hobby? From my perspective the reason I'm

:03:59.:04:01.

interested in it is if you have looked at what has happened in the

:04:02.:04:04.

country, it's clear the Conservatives will have a massive

:04:05.:04:08.

majority. -- has politics become a rich man's hobby. Only putting up

:04:09.:04:15.

candidates not against Brexit MPs. Is Ukip over? I don't think so. The

:04:16.:04:22.

electoral maths is interesting because first-past-the-post

:04:23.:04:23.

effectively could help Ukip in this example. Ukip got one MP with 4

:04:24.:04:34.

million votes. What we are seeing is the total collapse of Labour. In

:04:35.:04:38.

that situation there are certain seats up north in Hartlepool and

:04:39.:04:41.

other seats like that, the total collapse of the Labour Party could

:04:42.:04:45.

help Ukip to win a few seats. Is Ukip over? It looks that way, yes.

:04:46.:04:51.

They haven't made much of a dent in Labour's vote in the north, they

:04:52.:04:54.

don't really have a defining issue anymore and all the polls we have

:04:55.:04:58.

seen published since the election was called show Ukip vote is going

:04:59.:05:03.

to the Conservatives. Is Ukip over? It always happens when the

:05:04.:05:07.

Conservative Party goes far to the right, really hard Brexit, there is

:05:08.:05:11.

no space for BMP, Ukip and all of that. Are you associating the BNP

:05:12.:05:17.

with Ukip? Or that, movements to the right of the Conservatives get eaten

:05:18.:05:21.

up one the Conservatives move as far right as Theresa May has done. I

:05:22.:05:26.

think what your enterprise shows is how it's really time to reform

:05:27.:05:31.

funding of political parties. It is disgraceful that very rich people

:05:32.:05:36.

can move in and bankroll the Brexit campaigned to the extent that they

:05:37.:05:39.

did. We need proper state funding of parties. The union is bankrolling

:05:40.:05:46.

Labour. I assume the reform would include trade unions? Indeed. Ukip

:05:47.:05:53.

has lost its talisman in Nigel Farage, it was a one-man party, I

:05:54.:05:57.

have to say, people like Tim. Having voted for Brexit its reason to be

:05:58.:06:02.

has gone. It will still take votes from Labour and the Conservatives

:06:03.:06:06.

but probably only from the don't knows. There are seats in certain

:06:07.:06:10.

places where if enough Tories back Ukip dated when. Hartlepool is an

:06:11.:06:16.

example. Were the Tories will never win. The demise of Ukip has been

:06:17.:06:19.

forecasted many times before but I don't see a Tory candidate winning

:06:20.:06:23.

in a place like Hartlepool. So we could see, and I think we will see,

:06:24.:06:27.

the total collapse of the Labour vote. We shall see. The leader of

:06:28.:06:32.

the party of which you say you are still a patron, Paul Nuttall, said

:06:33.:06:36.

he would ban the Burcea and the niqab in public, what is your view?

:06:37.:06:44.

-- the niqab and the Burcea? I'm not in agreement with that. If it is a

:06:45.:06:49.

security issue at airports or public transport it could be acceptable but

:06:50.:06:53.

I'm not in favour of curtailing people's writes. You have gone

:06:54.:06:56.

further than him, haven't you? You tweeted you wanted to ban Muslim

:06:57.:07:01.

immigration. In my view the problem we have had with the lack of

:07:02.:07:04.

integration in certain communities has come about through mass

:07:05.:07:08.

open-door immigration. If you are a must win you wouldn't be allowed in?

:07:09.:07:12.

What I said in the tweet was I think they should be a ban on

:07:13.:07:17.

immigration... You said Muslim immigration. That's what I believe.

:07:18.:07:23.

If you are a world famous doctor coming to help one of our big

:07:24.:07:26.

teaching hospitals in this country because you are a Muslim you could

:07:27.:07:29.

not get in? We have to start somewhere, there are huge problems

:07:30.:07:33.

in areas where 20% of the population don't speak the language, they

:07:34.:07:38.

haven't integrated. You should read the rest of the tweet, it is control

:07:39.:07:44.

of immigration from a 10-year ban on unskilled immigration. The first

:07:45.:07:47.

thing you said was to ban Muslim immigration, it is in black and

:07:48.:07:51.

white. I have said that, I do not dispute that. I was questioning

:07:52.:07:55.

that. There is my answer, you cannot tell somebody's will adjust freedoms

:07:56.:07:59.

but what you can do is stop adding to the problem. Doesn't that sound a

:08:00.:08:05.

bit like the BNP? It's as like BNP and like Trump. Its, we hate

:08:06.:08:09.

Muslims, fine, if that is what you are standing for, that is clear. The

:08:10.:08:14.

final word is we have had open-door mass immigration from the

:08:15.:08:16.

Conservative Party, we've had it from the Labour Party and its fine

:08:17.:08:19.

if you are in north London to say these things, if you live in Oldham

:08:20.:08:23.

and your community has been radically changed and you have a

:08:24.:08:27.

whole population not integrating in, not speaking the language, something

:08:28.:08:30.

has got to be done. We had better leave it there. Thank you for coming

:08:31.:08:35.

in. I am en route to Clacton. We will see how you get on there.

:08:36.:08:38.

Now, Lib Dem leader Tim Farron was on TV earlier today

:08:39.:08:40.

and he was asked again about an issue that he's been

:08:41.:08:43.

asked about repeatedly - his attitude to homosexuality.

:08:44.:08:45.

when they asked you whether gay sex was a sin.

:08:46.:08:55.

Come on, Robert, I've been asked this question loads

:08:56.:08:57.

few days and I have been clear, even in the House of Commons,

:08:58.:09:01.

It's possible I'm not the only person getting tired

:09:02.:09:11.

Probably, but then why don't you just close it down?

:09:12.:09:15.

Toby Young, why does he get into such a mess over this? I mean, he is

:09:16.:09:27.

leader of the Liberal Democrats. Its 2017. I guess the reason he keeps

:09:28.:09:31.

refusing to answer that question is because what the implication is that

:09:32.:09:35.

he does think that homosexual acts are sinful, and he cannot bring

:09:36.:09:42.

himself not to say that, or to say what Robert Peston and others want

:09:43.:09:45.

him to say because he is an evangelical Christian who converted

:09:46.:09:50.

at the age of 20, 21, and clearly he really struggles with this issue and

:09:51.:09:52.

I think it will be really difficult for the Lib Dems to promote, or even

:09:53.:09:57.

Lib Dem candidates like Vince Cable, to promote the idea of the

:09:58.:10:00.

Progressive Alliance even though Tim has ruled it out, if he is not

:10:01.:10:04.

prepared to say I don't think homosexual acts are sinful. What is

:10:05.:10:13.

your view? It is disastrous if that is what he really thinks but Preston

:10:14.:10:16.

did not push the hard. I'm not sure he understood the difference about

:10:17.:10:18.

the question between gay sex and being gay. I think he just thought

:10:19.:10:21.

he was going on saying I'm not anti-gay. He needs to command

:10:22.:10:25.

immediately and clarify it. If you are right and he does actually think

:10:26.:10:29.

it is a sin he is in real trouble. There is a slight parallel with what

:10:30.:10:33.

police said before about Jeremy Corbyn, how his unilateral nuclear

:10:34.:10:37.

policy would appeal to the hard core of the left. The problem for Tim

:10:38.:10:42.

Farron with what he is saying here, while he is an evangelical

:10:43.:10:47.

Christian, this will not appeal to traditional Liberal Democrats. An

:10:48.:10:54.

LGBT community member cannot possibly vote for an MP who believes

:10:55.:10:59.

that a sexual act between homosexuals is sinful. He has not

:11:00.:11:02.

made that clear. Of course, he wants to stop Brexit as well so he is

:11:03.:11:06.

neither liberal nor democratic. He will have seven weeks to make it

:11:07.:11:09.

clear because I am sure he will be asked again. We have the chairman of

:11:10.:11:14.

the Conservative Party on earlier, Polly. An important figure for the

:11:15.:11:18.

Tory campaign. What did you make of what he said? I don't think he will

:11:19.:11:23.

have him on very often, he didn't do brilliantly. I think they will bring

:11:24.:11:26.

back chemical Ali, Michael Fallon, he can say anything with a straight

:11:27.:11:31.

face, he can say black is white. Michael Fallon, chemical Ali? Why do

:11:32.:11:36.

you say that? He can absolutely say black is white. For instance if you

:11:37.:11:42.

look back at what he said, you challenged him about the energy

:11:43.:11:49.

policy, when Ed Miliband came out with it, he said any kind of freeze

:11:50.:11:54.

would stop investment, the lights will go out. You have him on, he

:11:55.:11:58.

will say the exact opposite. He is magic at that. But I don't think

:11:59.:12:04.

your guy today was up to the job. If Michael Fallon was chemical Ali, or

:12:05.:12:11.

we should say chemical Fally, Patrick was more like comical Ali.

:12:12.:12:17.

The whole Iraq war is rushing back at me. He is the warm up comedian,

:12:18.:12:21.

there is another six weeks to go, just getting things started. What

:12:22.:12:26.

did you think? I don't think he was too bad, it was difficult for him to

:12:27.:12:30.

say exactly what was in the 2050 manifesto is going to be replicated

:12:31.:12:34.

in the Conservatives' manifesto during this general election, he

:12:35.:12:37.

doesn't want to be seen rowing back on stuff but on the other hand I

:12:38.:12:40.

don't think he can conceal the fact they will be far fewer commitments

:12:41.:12:44.

in this Conservative manifesto than in the last one, as you and I know,

:12:45.:12:48.

it was full of rash promises last time because they thought they would

:12:49.:12:56.

have to trade a lot of them away in the negotiations with the Liberal

:12:57.:12:59.

Democrats to form a second coalition so they are saddled with policies

:13:00.:13:01.

they don't particularly want to be hemmed in by. The forthcoming

:13:02.:13:03.

Conservative manifesto will be much lighter and shorter with fewer

:13:04.:13:06.

commitments. Different? Some stuff jumped from the 2050 manifesto? I

:13:07.:13:10.

think so but we will see a commitment to run schools to

:13:11.:13:13.

overcome that hurdle in the next parliament and I don't think, in

:13:14.:13:16.

spite of what you think, Polly, that it will be a hard tack to the right.

:13:17.:13:20.

I think if anything the mood music of the Conservative manifesto will

:13:21.:13:25.

be a centrist inclusive one. The mood music will be because the

:13:26.:13:29.

specifics would be there. She is good at saying governing for

:13:30.:13:32.

everybody and the many and not the few but when you look at the hard

:13:33.:13:37.

facts of what her and Hammond's budget looks like, you look at her

:13:38.:13:40.

hard Brexit, it's a very different story. Or that, the music has

:13:41.:13:48.

stopped for this week! Thank you. I will be back next week at the normal

:13:49.:13:55.

time of 11am on Sunday morning. On BBC One The Daily Politics is back

:13:56.:13:59.

at midday tomorrow and we will be on every day next week on BBC Two.

:14:00.:14:03.

Remember, if it's Sunday, it is The Sunday Politics.

:14:04.:14:33.

There'll be a couple of hours of just fantastic music, really,

:14:34.:14:35.

all the Ella classics, as well as some very special guests,

:14:36.:14:38.

we have Mica Paris, Imelda May, Dame Cleo Laine

:14:39.:14:41.

'There's a side to Rory that the public doesn't see.

:14:42.:14:47.

'Rory has suspected for some time that he may have ADHD.

:14:48.:14:50.

Here we have the first hydrogen bomb that went into service with

:14:51.:15:00.

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS