:00:36. > :00:39.Morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics.
:00:40. > :00:42.Downing Street announces an inquiry into allegations of hardball tactics
:00:43. > :00:47.and intimidation by unions in industrial disputes. That's our top
:00:48. > :00:51.story. Thousands dead. Hundreds of
:00:52. > :00:55.thousands without homes. Millions affected. What is Britain doing to
:00:56. > :00:57.help the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan? We'll ask
:00:58. > :01:02.International Development Secretary Justine Greening.
:01:03. > :01:06.Winter is coming and so, it seems, is another crisis in England's
:01:07. > :01:07.hospitals. I'll be asking the Shadow Health Secretary how he'd put a stop
:01:08. > :01:13.to In the South... Paying the Living
:01:14. > :01:16.Wage ` why councils and employers are being urged to go beyond the
:01:17. > :01:20.minimum wage to help the lowest`paid to cope with rising living costs.
:01:21. > :01:22.fatalities on the capital's streets, and renewed calls to get lorries off
:01:23. > :01:37.the roads in peak hours. With me, the best and brightest
:01:38. > :01:39.political panel that money can buy. Janan Ganesh, Nick Watt and this
:01:40. > :01:44.week, Zoe Williams, who'll be tweeting their thoughts throughout
:01:45. > :01:47.the programme. The Government has announced a
:01:48. > :01:49.review to investigate what the Prime Minister has called "industrial
:01:50. > :02:02.intimidation" by trade union activists. Bruce Carr QC will chair
:02:03. > :02:04.a panel to examine allegations of the kind of tactics that came to
:02:05. > :02:07.light during the Grangemouth dispute, when the Unite union took
:02:08. > :02:14.their protests - replete with a giant rat - outside the family homes
:02:15. > :02:18.of the firms' bosses. Earlier this morning the Cabinet office minister,
:02:19. > :02:23.Francis Maude spoke to the BBC and this is what he had to say. To look
:02:24. > :02:27.at whether the law currently works and see if it is ineffective in
:02:28. > :02:32.preventing the kind of intimidatory activity that was alleged to have
:02:33. > :02:41.taken place around range mouth during the previous disputes --
:02:42. > :02:46.Grangemouth. We make no presumptions at the beginning of this. I do think
:02:47. > :02:50.it is a responsible thing for the government to establish what
:02:51. > :02:55.happened and really do a proper review into whether the law is
:02:56. > :03:01.adequate to meet the needs. That was Francis Maude. This is a purely
:03:02. > :03:06.political move, isn't it? Unite did this a couple of times, it is hardly
:03:07. > :03:09.happening all over the country but the government want to say, we are
:03:10. > :03:16.prepared to investigate Unite properly, Labour isn't. This seemed
:03:17. > :03:23.a lot worse when I thought it was a real rat. I thought it was a giant
:03:24. > :03:26.dead rat. I am not sure if you know much about rats but real rats are
:03:27. > :03:32.not this big, even the ones in London. The thing is, obviously it
:03:33. > :03:38.is naked politics but I think it is more intelligent than it looks. They
:03:39. > :03:43.are trying to taint Miliband as a week union puppet and that doesn't
:03:44. > :03:49.really wash. They hammer away with it and it might wash for some
:03:50. > :03:53.people. But it really castrates Miliband in the important issues he
:03:54. > :03:57.has to tackle. Zero hours, living wage, all of those things in which
:03:58. > :04:03.he needs to be in concert with the unions, and to use their expertise.
:04:04. > :04:16.He is making them absolutely toxic to go anywhere near. It keeps the
:04:17. > :04:18.Unite story alive, have to kill -- particularly since Mr Miller band is
:04:19. > :04:33.under pressure to reopen the investigation into what Unite are up
:04:34. > :04:36.to -- Mr Miliband. They are frustrated, not only at the BBC but
:04:37. > :04:40.the media generally at what they think is a lack of coverage. I see
:04:41. > :04:46.the political rationale from that respect. There is a risk. There are
:04:47. > :04:51.union members who either vote Tory or are open to the idea of voting
:04:52. > :05:04.Tory. All Lib Dem. If the party comes across as too zealous in as --
:05:05. > :05:11.its antipathy, there is an electoral consequence. Ed Miliband has been
:05:12. > :05:16.careful to keep a distance. Yes they depend on vast amounts of
:05:17. > :05:19.money. When Len McCluskey had a real go at the Blairites, Ed Miliband was
:05:20. > :05:23.straight out there with a very strong statement. Essentially Len
:05:24. > :05:28.McCluskey wanted Blairites in the shadow cabinet sacked and Ed
:05:29. > :05:33.Miliband was keen to distance himself or for that is why it is not
:05:34. > :05:37.quite sticking. Another story in the Sunday papers this morning, the Mail
:05:38. > :05:43.on Sunday got hold of some e-mails. When I saw the headline I thought it
:05:44. > :05:49.was a huge cache of e-mails, it turns out to be a couple. They peel
:05:50. > :05:56.away the cover on the relationship between Ed Miliband and Ed Balls,
:05:57. > :06:02.with some of Ed Miliband's cohorts describing what Mr balls is trying
:06:03. > :06:07.to do as a nightmare. How bad are the relations? They are pretty bad
:06:08. > :06:10.and these e-mails confirm the biggest open signal in Westminster,
:06:11. > :06:16.which is that relations are pretty tense, -- open secret. That Ed
:06:17. > :06:21.Miliband doesn't feel that Ed Balls is acknowledging the economy has
:06:22. > :06:28.grown that Labour needs to admit to past mistakes. The sort of great
:06:29. > :06:36.open signal is confirmed. On a scale of 1-10, assuming that Blair-Brown
:06:37. > :06:40.was ten. I think it is between six and seven. They occupy this joint
:06:41. > :06:46.suite of offices that George Cameron and -- David Cameron and George
:06:47. > :06:50.Osborne had. It is not just on the economy that there were tensions,
:06:51. > :06:57.there were clearly tensions over HS2, Ed Balls put a huge question
:06:58. > :07:00.over it at his conference. There will be more tensions when it comes
:07:01. > :07:05.to the third runway because my information is that Mr balls wants
:07:06. > :07:10.to do it and Ed Miliband almost resigned over it when he was in
:07:11. > :07:13.government. I don't think Ed Miliband is thinking very
:07:14. > :07:19.politically because he has tried live without Ed Balls and that is
:07:20. > :07:23.not tenable either. -- life without. He has defined a way of making it
:07:24. > :07:28.work. That is where Tony Blair had the edge on any modern politician.
:07:29. > :07:32.He didn't want to make Ed Balls his Shadow Chancellor, he had to.
:07:33. > :07:35.Somebody said to him, if you make Ed Balls Shadow Chancellor, that will
:07:36. > :07:45.be the last decision you take as leader of the Labour Party. Is it as
:07:46. > :07:56.bad? I was surprised at how tame the e-mails were. At the FT it is
:07:57. > :08:01.compulsory, one French word per sentence! To call him a nightmare,
:08:02. > :08:06.compared to what they are willing to say in briefings, conversations
:08:07. > :08:09.bits of frustrations they express verbally come what is documented in
:08:10. > :08:15.the e-mails is actually pretty light. It has been a grim week for
:08:16. > :08:17.the people of the Philippines as they count the cost of the
:08:18. > :08:24.devastation wrought by Typhoon Haiyan. HMS Daring has just arrived
:08:25. > :08:28.near the worst hit areas - part of Britain's contribution to bring aid
:08:29. > :08:32.to the country. It has been one of the worst natural
:08:33. > :08:35.disasters in the history of the Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan hit the
:08:36. > :08:40.country nine days ago, leaving devastation in its wake. The numbers
:08:41. > :08:45.involved are shocking. The official death toll is over 3600 people, with
:08:46. > :08:50.many thousands more unaccounted for. More than half a million people have
:08:51. > :08:54.lost their homes and the UN estimates 11 million have been
:08:55. > :08:57.affected. David Cameron announced on Friday that the UK government is to
:08:58. > :09:04.give an extra ?30 million in aid, taking the total British figure ?250
:09:05. > :09:07.million. An RAF Sea 17 aircraft landed yesterday with equipment to
:09:08. > :09:13.help aid workers get too hard to reach areas. HMS Illustrious is on
:09:14. > :09:21.its way and due to arrive next weekend. The British public have
:09:22. > :09:25.once again dipped into their pockets and given generously. They have
:09:26. > :09:27.given more than ?30 million to the Disasters Emergency Committee.
:09:28. > :09:31.The International Development Secretary, Justine Greening, joins
:09:32. > :09:35.me now for the Sunday Interview Good morning, Secretary of State.
:09:36. > :09:40.How much of the ?50 million that the government has allocated has got
:09:41. > :09:44.through so far? All of it has landed on the ground now. HMS Daring has
:09:45. > :09:48.turned up, that will be able to start getting help out to some of
:09:49. > :09:54.those more outlying islands that have been hard to reach. We have
:09:55. > :09:57.seen Save the Children and Oxfam really being able to get aid out on
:09:58. > :10:02.the ground. We have a plane taking off today that will not read just
:10:03. > :10:09.carrying out more equipment to help clear the roads but will also have
:10:10. > :10:15.their staff on board, too. We have ?50 million of aid actually on the
:10:16. > :10:20.ground? We instantly chartered flights directly from Dubai where we
:10:21. > :10:23.have preprepared human Terry and supplies, and started humanity work
:10:24. > :10:36.-- humanitarian supplies. A lot of it has now arrived. I think
:10:37. > :10:41.we have done a huge amount so far. We have gone beyond just providing
:10:42. > :10:44.humanitarian supplies, to getting the Royal Air Force involved. They
:10:45. > :10:49.have helped us to get equipment out there quickly. We have HMS
:10:50. > :10:53.Illustrious sailing over there now. Why has that taken so long? It was
:10:54. > :10:57.based in the Gulf and is not going to get there until two weeks after
:10:58. > :11:01.the storm first hit and that is the one ship we have with lots of
:11:02. > :11:05.helicopters. The first decision we took was to make sure we could get
:11:06. > :11:10.the fastest vessel out there that was able to help HMS Daring. HMS
:11:11. > :11:14.Illustrious was just finishing an exercise and planning to start to
:11:15. > :11:18.head back towards the UK. We have said to not do that, and diverted
:11:19. > :11:24.it. Shouldn't it have happened more quickly? We took the decisions as
:11:25. > :11:29.fast as we were able to, you can't just turn a big warship around like
:11:30. > :11:32.the HMS Illustrious. We made sure we took those decisions and that is
:11:33. > :11:38.while it will be taking over from HMS Daring come and that is why HMS
:11:39. > :11:42.Daring is ready there. It will be able to provide key support and
:11:43. > :11:48.expertise that has not been there so far. The US Navy is doing the heavy
:11:49. > :11:52.lifting here. The US Navy had the USS Washington, there is an aircraft
:11:53. > :11:57.carrier, 80 planes, 5000 personnel and they have the fleet, they are
:11:58. > :12:01.doing the real work. We obviously helping but the Americans are taking
:12:02. > :12:06.the lead. It is a big international effort. Countries like the US and
:12:07. > :12:14.the UK, that have a broader ability to support that goes beyond simply
:12:15. > :12:19.call humanitarian supplies -- have made sure we have brought our
:12:20. > :12:23.logistics knowledge, we have sent out our naval vessels. It shows we
:12:24. > :12:31.are working across government to respond to this crisis. Why does
:12:32. > :12:36.only just over 4% of your aid budget go on emergency disaster and
:12:37. > :12:39.response? A lot depends on what crises hit in any given year. We
:12:40. > :12:44.have done a huge amount, responding to the crisis in Syria, the conflict
:12:45. > :12:48.there and the fact we have 2 million refugees who have fled the country.
:12:49. > :12:53.We are part of an international effort in supporting them. Shouldn't
:12:54. > :12:57.we beginning more money to that rather than some of the other
:12:58. > :13:03.programmes where it is harder to see the results question of if we were
:13:04. > :13:07.to give more money to the refugees, it would be a visible result. We
:13:08. > :13:14.could see an improvement in the lives of children, men and women.
:13:15. > :13:17.What we need to do is alongside that is stop those situations from
:13:18. > :13:21.happening in the first place. A lot of our development spend is helping
:13:22. > :13:25.countries to stay stable. Look at some of the work we are doing in
:13:26. > :13:32.Somalia, much more sensible. Not just from an immigration but there
:13:33. > :13:36.is a threat perspective. There is a lot of terrorism coming from
:13:37. > :13:42.Somalia. You only have to look at Kenya recently to see that. Which is
:13:43. > :13:46.why you talk about what we do with the rest of the spend. It is why it
:13:47. > :13:52.is responsible to work with the government of Somalia. Should we
:13:53. > :13:57.give more, bigger part of the budget to disaster relief or not? I think
:13:58. > :14:01.we get it about right, we have to be flexible and we are. This Philippine
:14:02. > :14:08.relief is on top of the work in Syria. Where can you show me a
:14:09. > :14:12.correlation between us giving aid to some failed nation, or nearly failed
:14:13. > :14:17.nation, and that cutting down on terrorism? If you look at the work
:14:18. > :14:20.we have done in Pakistan, a huge amount of work. Some of it
:14:21. > :14:28.short-term. It is written by terrorism. That is -- ridden by
:14:29. > :14:35.terrorism. That is not going to fix it self in a sense. Look at the work
:14:36. > :14:45.that we do in investing in education. The things that little
:14:46. > :14:52.girls like Malala talk about as being absolutely key. We are ramping
:14:53. > :14:58.up our aid to Pakistan, it will be close to half ?1 billion by the time
:14:59. > :15:04.of the election. Why should British taxpayers be giving half ?1 billion
:15:05. > :15:09.to a country where only 0.5% of people in Pakistan pay income tax,
:15:10. > :15:19.and 70% of their own MPs don't pay income tax. It is a good point and
:15:20. > :15:23.that is why we have been working with their tax revenue authority to
:15:24. > :15:34.help them increase that and push forward the tax reform. You are
:15:35. > :15:40.right, and I have setup a team that will go out and work with many of
:15:41. > :15:44.these countries so they can raise their own revenues. You really think
:15:45. > :15:57.you will raise the amount of tax by sending out the British HRM see How
:15:58. > :16:02.many troops I we sending out to protect them? They don't need
:16:03. > :16:16.troops. We make sure that we have a duty of care alongside our staff,
:16:17. > :16:20.but we have to respond to any crisis like the Philippines, and alongside
:16:21. > :16:25.other countries we have two work alongside them so that they can
:16:26. > :16:31.reinvest in their own public services. If they can create their
:16:32. > :16:35.own taxes, will we stop paying aid? We need to look at that but the new
:16:36. > :16:43.Pakistan Government has been very clear it is a priority and we will
:16:44. > :16:50.be helping them in pursuing that. Let me show you a picture. Who are
:16:51. > :16:57.these young women? I don't know I'm sure you are about to tell me. They
:16:58. > :17:01.are the Ethiopian Spice Girls and I'm surprised you don't know because
:17:02. > :17:09.they have only managed to become so famous because your department has
:17:10. > :17:13.financed them to the tune of ?4 million. All of the work we do with
:17:14. > :17:19.women on the ground, making sure they have a voice in their local
:17:20. > :17:24.communities, making sure they have some control over what happens to
:17:25. > :17:33.their own bodies in terms of tackling FGM, female genital
:17:34. > :17:37.mutilation... Did you know your department has spent ?4 million on
:17:38. > :17:46.the Ethiopian Spice Girls? Yes, I do, and we have to work with girls
:17:47. > :17:50.and show them there is a life ahead of them with opportunity and
:17:51. > :17:54.potential that goes beyond what many of them will experience, which
:17:55. > :18:06.includes early and forced marriage. It is part of the work we do with
:18:07. > :18:10.local communities to change attitudes everything you have just
:18:11. > :18:14.said is immeasurable, and they broadcast on a radio station that
:18:15. > :18:26.doesn't reach most of the country so it cannot have the impact. It only
:18:27. > :18:26.reaches 20 million people and the project has been condemned saying
:18:27. > :18:35.there were serious inefficiencies. That aid report was done a while ago
:18:36. > :18:39.now, and it was talking about the project when it first got going and
:18:40. > :18:44.a lot of improvements have happened since. I would go back to the point
:18:45. > :18:47.that we are working in very difficult environments where we are
:18:48. > :18:53.trying to get longer term change on the ground and that means working
:18:54. > :18:57.directly with communities but also investing for the long-term,
:18:58. > :19:03.investing in some of these girls start changing attitudes in them and
:19:04. > :19:14.their communities. Why does the British taxpayers spend ?5 million
:19:15. > :19:20.on a Bangladesh version of Question Time? We work with the BBC to make
:19:21. > :19:40.sure we can get accountabilities... That is bigger then the BBC Question
:19:41. > :19:48.Time Normal -- budget. That includes the cost of David Dimbleby's
:19:49. > :19:52.tattoo! We are working to improve people's prospects but also we are
:19:53. > :19:56.working to improve their ability to hold their governments to account so
:19:57. > :20:00.that when they are not getting services on the ground, they have
:20:01. > :20:08.ways they can raise those concerns with the people who are there to
:20:09. > :20:12.deliver services for them. In your own personal view, should the next
:20:13. > :20:18.Conservative Government, if there is one, should you continue to ring
:20:19. > :20:23.fence spending on foreign aid? But it is critical that if we are going
:20:24. > :20:27.to spend 7.7% of our national income, we should make sure it is in
:20:28. > :20:32.our national interest and that means having a clear approach to
:20:33. > :20:37.humanitarian responses, in keeping the country safe, and a clearer
:20:38. > :20:43.approach on helping drive economic development and jobs so there is a
:20:44. > :20:49.long-term end of the dependency Do you believe in an shrine in the
:20:50. > :20:55.percentage of our GDP that goes on foreign aid in law? Yes, and that is
:20:56. > :21:04.a coalition agreement. There have been a lot of agreements that you
:21:05. > :21:09.are sceptical about ring fencing. We are focused on shaking up the
:21:10. > :21:22.economy and improving our public finances. Why haven't you done that?
:21:23. > :21:28.At the end of the day we will be accountable but we are committed to
:21:29. > :21:33.doing that. You are running out of time, will you do it? I hope we can
:21:34. > :21:40.find the Parliamentary time, but even if we don't, we have acted as
:21:41. > :21:46.if that law is in place and we have already met 0.7% commitment. If you
:21:47. > :21:53.are British voter that doesn't believe that we should enshrine that
:21:54. > :21:57.in by law, which means that with a growing economy foreign aid will
:21:58. > :22:01.rise by definition, and if you think we should be spending less money on
:22:02. > :22:09.the Ethiopian Spice Girls, for whom should you wrote in the next
:22:10. > :22:15.election? I think we have a very sensible approach. I don't know what
:22:16. > :22:21.the various party manifestoes.. The only party who thinks we shouldn't
:22:22. > :22:31.be doing this is UKIP. I think you have to look at the response to both
:22:32. > :22:38.the Philippines crisis and Children In Need. Of all the steps we are
:22:39. > :22:44.taking to get the country back on track, it shows the British people
:22:45. > :22:51.will respond to need when they need it and it is one of the things that
:22:52. > :22:54.makes Britain's special. Thank you. "It's always winter but
:22:55. > :22:57.never Christmas" - that's how doctors describe life inside
:22:58. > :22:59.accident and emergency. The College of Emergency Medicine have warned
:23:00. > :23:03.that this year could bring the "worst crisis on record". If that
:23:04. > :23:06.dire prediction comes, expect a spring of political recriminations,
:23:07. > :23:10.but how prepared are the NHS in England? And what do they make of
:23:11. > :23:19.this autumnal speculation? Giles has been to Leeds to find out.
:23:20. > :23:24.This winter has already come to our hospitals. It had an official start
:23:25. > :23:33.date, November the 3rd. That is when weekly updates are delivered to the
:23:34. > :23:38.NHS's most senior planners, alerting them to any sudden changes in
:23:39. > :23:46.patient numbers coming in. Where do they numbers register most then
:23:47. > :23:50.A They are the barometer for what is going on everywhere else, and
:23:51. > :23:55.they are the pressure point, so if the system is beginning to struggle
:23:56. > :24:03.then it is in the A department that we see the problems. It is not
:24:04. > :24:09.that the problems are the A departments, but they are the place
:24:10. > :24:14.where it all comes together. Plans to tackle those problems start being
:24:15. > :24:23.drawn up in May and they look at trends, even taking notice of any
:24:24. > :24:33.flu epidemics in New Zealand. They also look at the amount of bets But
:24:34. > :24:36.the weather, economic realities structural reforms, and changes to
:24:37. > :24:41.the general health of the population, are all factors they
:24:42. > :24:46.have to consider. We get huge amounts of information through the
:24:47. > :24:51.winter in order to help the NHS be the best it can be, but we had to
:24:52. > :24:56.redouble our efforts this year because we expected to be a
:24:57. > :25:03.difficult winter. We know the NHS is stretched so we are working hard to
:25:04. > :25:10.be as good as we can be. That means they are looking at winter staffing
:25:11. > :25:14.levels, plans to ask for help from neighbouring hospitals, and
:25:15. > :25:20.dovetailing help with GP surgeries, and still having the ability to move
:25:21. > :25:26.up an extra gear, a rehearsed emergency plan if the NHS had to
:25:27. > :25:30.face a major disease pandemic. You spend any time in any of our
:25:31. > :25:35.hospitals and you realise the NHS knows that winter is coming and they
:25:36. > :25:38.are making plans, but you also get a palpable feeling amongst health
:25:39. > :25:46.workers across the entire system that they do get fed up of being
:25:47. > :25:49.used as a political football. Doctors and all health care
:25:50. > :25:54.professionals are frustrated about the politics that surrounds the NHS
:25:55. > :25:58.in health care. They go to work to treat patients as best as they can,
:25:59. > :26:04.and the political knock-about does not help anyone. I find it
:26:05. > :26:08.frustrating when there is a commentary that suggests the NHS
:26:09. > :26:15.does not planned, when it is surprised by winter, and wherever
:26:16. > :26:21.that comes from it is hard to take, knowing how much we do nationally
:26:22. > :26:30.and how much our hard working front line staff are doing. When the
:26:31. > :26:36.Coalition have recently tried to open up the NHS to be a more
:26:37. > :26:43.independent body, it is clear the NHS feel they have had an unhealthy
:26:44. > :26:47.dose of political wrangling between parties on policy. The NHS is not
:26:48. > :26:53.infallible or making any guarantees, but they seem confident that they
:26:54. > :26:56.and their patients can survive the winter.
:26:57. > :27:04.Joining me now from Salford in the Shadow Health Secretary, Andy
:27:05. > :27:09.Burnham. Tell me this, if you were health secretary now, you just took
:27:10. > :27:19.over in an emergency election, what would you do to avoid another winter
:27:20. > :27:25.crisis? I would immediately halt the closure of NHS walk-in centres. We
:27:26. > :27:30.heard this week that around one in four walk-in centres are closed so
:27:31. > :27:34.it makes no sense whatsoever for the Government to allow the continued
:27:35. > :27:40.closure of them. I would put nurses back on the end of phones and
:27:41. > :27:47.restore an NHS direct style service. The new 111 service is not in a
:27:48. > :27:54.position to provide help to people this winter. I think the time has
:27:55. > :27:58.come to rethink how the NHS care is particularly for older people so I
:27:59. > :28:03.propose the full integration of health and social care. It cannot
:28:04. > :28:09.make any sense any more to have this approach where we cut social care
:28:10. > :28:13.and let elderly people drift to hospitals in greater numbers. We
:28:14. > :28:21.have two rethink it as a whole service. So you would repeal some of
:28:22. > :28:26.the Tory reforms and move commissioning to local authorities
:28:27. > :28:32.so the NHS should brace itself for another major top-down health
:28:33. > :28:35.reorganisation? No, unlike Andrew Lansley I will work with the
:28:36. > :28:47.organisations ie inherit. He could work with primary care trusts but he
:28:48. > :28:53.turned it upside down when it needed stability. I will not do that but I
:28:54. > :29:06.will repeal the health and social care act because last week we heard
:29:07. > :29:09.that hospitals and health services cannot get on and make sensible
:29:10. > :29:15.merger collaborations because of this nonsense now that the NHS is
:29:16. > :29:20.bound by competition law. Let me get your views on a number of ideas that
:29:21. > :29:25.have been floated either by the press or the Coalition. We haven't
:29:26. > :29:37.got much time. Do you welcome the plan to bring back named GPs for
:29:38. > :29:42.over 75s? Yes, but it has got harder to get the GP appointment under this
:29:43. > :29:46.Government because David Cameron scrapped the 48-hour guarantee that
:29:47. > :29:51.Tony Blair brought in. He was challenged in the 2005 election
:29:52. > :29:55.about the difficulty of getting a GP appointment, and Tony Blair brought
:29:56. > :30:02.in the commitment that people should be able to get that within 48
:30:03. > :30:06.hours. That has now been scrapped. Do you welcome the idea of allowing
:30:07. > :30:14.everyone to choose their own GP surgery even if it is not in our
:30:15. > :30:19.traditional catchment area? I proposed that just before the last
:30:20. > :30:22.election, so yes. Do you welcome the idea of how a practice is being
:30:23. > :30:30.rated being a matter of public record, and of us knowing how much,
:30:31. > :30:34.at least from the NHS, our GP earns? Of course, every political party
:30:35. > :30:37.supports transparency in the NHS. More information for the public of
:30:38. > :30:44.that kind is a good thing. Do you welcome this plan to make it will
:30:45. > :30:51.form the collect in an NHS hospital -- make wilful neglect a criminal
:30:52. > :30:54.offence. It is important to say you can't pick and mix these
:30:55. > :30:58.recommendations, you can't say we will have that one and not the
:30:59. > :31:03.others. It was a balanced package that Sir Robert Francis put forward.
:31:04. > :31:06.My message is that it must be permitted in full. If we are to
:31:07. > :31:12.learn the lessons, the whole package must be addressed, and that includes
:31:13. > :31:17.safe staffing levels across the NHS. Staff have a responsible to two
:31:18. > :31:20.patients at the government also has responsible at T2 NHS staff and it
:31:21. > :31:33.should not let them work in understaffed, unsafe conditions -- a
:31:34. > :31:43.responsibility to NHS staff. Is there a part of the 2004 agreements
:31:44. > :31:48.that you regret and should be undone? A lot of myths have been
:31:49. > :31:53.built up about the contract. When it came in, there was a huge shortage
:31:54. > :31:58.of GPs across the country. Some communities struggle to recruit.
:31:59. > :32:04.This myth that the government have built, that the 2004 GP contract is
:32:05. > :32:12.responsible for the AM decries is, it is spin of the worst possible
:32:13. > :32:17.kind -- the A crisis. You would redo that contract? It was redone
:32:18. > :32:22.under our time in government and change to make it better value for
:32:23. > :32:24.money. GPs should be focused on improving the health of their
:32:25. > :32:32.patients and that is a very good principle. Not so great if you can't
:32:33. > :32:37.get 24-hour access. I agree with that. We brought in evening and
:32:38. > :32:41.weekend opening for GPs. That is another thing that has gone in
:32:42. > :32:44.reverse under Mr Cameron. It is much harder to get a GP appointment under
:32:45. > :32:55.him and that is one of the reasons why A is an oppressor. -- under
:32:56. > :33:00.pressure. What do you make of the review into intimidatory tactics by
:33:01. > :33:04.unions? If there has been intimidation, it is unacceptable,
:33:05. > :33:12.and that should apply to unions as well as employers. Was Unite wrong
:33:13. > :33:16.to turn up and demonstrate? I don't know the details, this review will
:33:17. > :33:19.look into that presumably. I need reassurance that this is not a
:33:20. > :33:23.pretty cool call by Mr Cameron on the designed to appear near the
:33:24. > :33:35.election -- that this is not a political call. Are you sponsored by
:33:36. > :33:44.unite? No. Do you get any money from Unite? No. What have you done wrong?
:33:45. > :33:51.It seems others are getting money from Unite. Can I tell you what I
:33:52. > :33:54.think is the scandal of British party political funding, two health
:33:55. > :34:02.care companies have given ?1.5 million in donations to the Tory
:34:03. > :34:06.party, they have ?1.5 billion in NHS contracts. I wonder why you don't
:34:07. > :34:11.spend much time talking about that and obsess over trade union funding.
:34:12. > :34:18.We are happy to talk about that. We see from e-mails that Mr Miliband's
:34:19. > :34:23.closest advisers regard Mr Ed Balls as a bit of a nightmare, do you see
:34:24. > :34:29.a bit of a nightmare about him as well? I don't at all, he is a very
:34:30. > :34:33.good friend. I can't believe that you are talking about those e-mails
:34:34. > :34:38.on a national political programme. My goodness, you obviously scraping
:34:39. > :34:42.the barrel today. I have been in front-line labour politics for 20
:34:43. > :34:46.years. I can't remember the front bench and the wider party being as
:34:47. > :34:50.united as it is today and it is a great credit to Ed Miliband and Ed
:34:51. > :34:53.Balls. We are going into a general election and we are going to get rid
:34:54. > :34:58.of a pretty disastrous coalition government. It was worth spending a
:34:59. > :35:02.few seconds to establish your not having nightmares. Thank you for
:35:03. > :35:04.joining me. It's just gone 11:30am. You're
:35:05. > :35:06.watching the Sunday Politics. Coming up in just over 20 minutes, I'll be
:35:07. > :35:23.talking to the MP accused of Log onto Sunday Politics South. I am
:35:24. > :35:30.Peter Henley. Today, paying the Living Wage. It may only be an extra
:35:31. > :35:37.pound an hour but it may make a huge difference to the poorly paid. More
:35:38. > :35:47.on that in a moment. Let us meet the two politicians who would be for the
:35:48. > :35:51.next 20 minutes. Tony Page is the deputy leader of Reading are Council
:35:52. > :35:59.and George Hollingbery is the Conservative MP for Meon Valley.
:36:00. > :36:04.There is talk of rebalancing committee funding. You are the
:36:05. > :36:10.losers on that. We were. He took a reduction for the Home Office but he
:36:11. > :36:13.has fiddled the figures to discrimination against the urban
:36:14. > :36:24.areas such as Reading, Slough and Oxford. You are saying this is
:36:25. > :36:27.politically motivated? Certain authorities felt they should get
:36:28. > :36:33.more money and we have taken the hit. It is no surprise that others
:36:34. > :36:38.have seen a reduction whatsoever. That is of some significance. You
:36:39. > :36:43.got 20% less from the Home Office. We will ask you about that. He has
:36:44. > :36:50.decided on the criteria that the police use, reported crime and drug
:36:51. > :36:59.abuse, it is transparent and not fiddled. Just because he cannot get
:37:00. > :37:09.his head around eight, dated method, that does not mean it is not fatal.
:37:10. > :37:17.`` get his head around a complicated method that does not mean it is not
:37:18. > :37:27.fiddled. The reduction we have seen recently is threatened. He is not
:37:28. > :37:34.here to defend himself, defend him. He is making a rather dim political
:37:35. > :37:45.County Laois and that if it is true that Oxford, Reading and Slough are
:37:46. > :37:50.the areas that are being ignored for political reasons, he will be heard
:37:51. > :37:54.at the political level. It is more likely it is done sensibly. People
:37:55. > :38:05.are there to make the judgement when the results come through in a few
:38:06. > :38:11.years. That is the risky takes. There are more people in urban areas
:38:12. > :38:17.than elsewhere. You sound like you are quite keen on the PCC thing. We
:38:18. > :38:23.need to bring responsible a tea to a local level, to make sure there is
:38:24. > :38:26.someone who is accountable. 7% of people knew some thing about police
:38:27. > :38:35.authorities. There was a statistic on the BBC website the other day
:38:36. > :38:39.that 30% of people did not know about Police and Crime Commissioner
:38:40. > :38:48.'s. It ignored the fact that there were 62% to did. A lot of the
:38:49. > :38:59.decisions they have made in the controversy around them is the
:39:00. > :39:04.reason for that. That is democracy! He is not standing again, so he is
:39:05. > :39:07.not bothered. He is wreaking havoc on areas like Reading and Slough
:39:08. > :39:17.where these reductions that we have got to grapple with and the
:39:18. > :39:27.consequence is he is walking away. What have lashed cosmetics what have
:39:28. > :39:33.Lush Cosmetics, Barclays and Oxford City Council got in common? They are
:39:34. > :39:39.paying the Living Wage. This is James who with his
:39:40. > :39:43.colleagues are among the lowest paid workers at Dorchester Town Council.
:39:44. > :39:53.Because their employers is dedicated to paying staff a Living Wage, they
:39:54. > :40:00.are being paid more than the minimum wage. It is only ?1 more a week but
:40:01. > :40:06.it makes a difference. Every double helps. I would want a little bit
:40:07. > :40:10.more but you cannot be greedy. The money will go further and it will
:40:11. > :40:17.help with the bills. With the economy at the moment, it will
:40:18. > :40:19.help. It is a good initiative. Everybody is struggling at the
:40:20. > :40:26.moment. With inflation and everything, without pay rises,
:40:27. > :40:33.everything is much tighter and it is harder to live. The national minimum
:40:34. > :40:40.wage of ?6 31 is set by the Chancellor. The Living Wage, which
:40:41. > :40:44.is ?7 85 outside of London, is set independently and based on the cost
:40:45. > :40:50.of living. Unlike the minimum wage, it is not legally enforceable. Here
:40:51. > :40:54.is the rub, employers choose to pay the Living Wage on involuntary
:40:55. > :40:59.basis. He in Dorset, campaigners are trying to convince the county
:41:00. > :41:03.council to explore the benefits of paying the Living Wage for their
:41:04. > :41:10.staff and contractors. We are talking about dinner ladies, carers,
:41:11. > :41:18.the people who are integral the running of our services. There are
:41:19. > :41:22.very silly as issues at the moment. There are mothers of the community
:41:23. > :41:30.who are struggling to get by without charities and benefits. We want
:41:31. > :41:38.everybody to be getting a fair wage for a fair day 's pay. This part of
:41:39. > :41:45.South Dorset is almost entirely dependent on its tourist industry.
:41:46. > :41:52.Two hotels have recently gone into administration. Can local employers
:41:53. > :41:57.afford to pay the Living Wage? The minimum wage is too low but unless
:41:58. > :42:02.the Living Wage is enforced by the government and it is a level playing
:42:03. > :42:07.field, it will not happen. We have a lot of tourism jobs on the beach and
:42:08. > :42:09.in the hotels and restaurants and then in the winter a lot of those
:42:10. > :42:17.people are unemployed again. The average wage is a lot lower against
:42:18. > :42:25.the country. We have an average wage here of 18,000. If you take the top
:42:26. > :42:30.10% off, that drops dramatically. The Living Wage is essential for low
:42:31. > :42:35.earners but unless it is enforced, it will not happen. What about the
:42:36. > :42:38.biggest employers? Can Dorset County Council afford to pay the Living
:42:39. > :42:45.Wage given the huge cuts to local authority funding? In the next three
:42:46. > :42:48.years, we need to find ?43 million on top of the 60 million we have
:42:49. > :42:55.already found. That is a lot of money, 30% of our Budget. We are
:42:56. > :43:00.very labour`intensive hit, like in any authority, so we have to keep a
:43:01. > :43:07.close watch on how pay costs. So you support the idea in principle of the
:43:08. > :43:12.lowest paid being paid a Living Wage but you cannot afford it? You can
:43:13. > :43:16.argue the time has come but you need to see what the pros and cons are
:43:17. > :43:21.before you make a decision. So neither ruled in or out. It was
:43:22. > :43:24.referred to another council committee for further
:43:25. > :43:30.consideration. Meanwhile, the authorities nearby save they are
:43:31. > :43:35.happy to continue paying for the scheme. We are happy we have the
:43:36. > :43:38.money to meet the bill and we think it is the right and proper thing to
:43:39. > :43:44.do for the lowest paid staff. They get more money, it is a simple as
:43:45. > :43:48.that. They deserve to be able to take home enough money without
:43:49. > :43:53.having to claim benefits. That is what we are about. The Living Wage
:43:54. > :43:57.campaign is backed by all of the major parties will stop even the
:43:58. > :44:04.Prime Minister says it is an idea whose time has come. If Dorset juice
:44:05. > :44:12.to pay a Living Wage, they may have to dig deep to find it.
:44:13. > :44:15.As James said, it every little helps. Brighton city council
:44:16. > :44:21.established a Living Wage commission back in 2011.
:44:22. > :44:27.Bill Randall was the leader of the Green Party and he joins us now.
:44:28. > :44:32.What difference has it made? It has made a difference to begin
:44:33. > :44:37.with for about 350 of our employees who are now paid a Living Wage. It
:44:38. > :44:41.was a priority for us, it was a manifesto commitment to do it and we
:44:42. > :44:51.found the money when he came in. They were they work harder `` do
:44:52. > :44:57.they work harder? If you pay the Living Wage, you get less sickness,
:44:58. > :45:00.less of a staff turnover and you get a better turn up from your staff. It
:45:01. > :45:04.is about fairness, that is the bottom line. We have not stopped
:45:05. > :45:09.just with the City Council. We set up a commission, chaired by the
:45:10. > :45:13.chairman of the Chamber of Commerce. She is now leading the
:45:14. > :45:17.work on it through the Chamber of Commerce. It is the only two
:45:18. > :45:19.business to business Living Wage campaign in Britain and about an
:45:20. > :45:30.hundred and five companies in the city have no signed up for it. ``
:45:31. > :45:33.have now signed up for it. Many of the companies in the country are in
:45:34. > :45:37.Brighton and Hove. So it is a success. I understand the idea of a
:45:38. > :45:46.level playing field, ensuring that employees do it as well as the
:45:47. > :45:50.council. Is there not blackmail ? There is no coercion. As I say, the
:45:51. > :45:56.Chamber of Commerce is doing it, so it is business to business. You
:45:57. > :46:01.mention that report, how can they see the increased productivity in a
:46:02. > :46:07.hotel? You any have a certain number of runs, you can only set a certain
:46:08. > :46:11.number. They may not necessarily change the beds any quicker. I can
:46:12. > :46:17.only refer you to their report. They are convinced of the worth of this.
:46:18. > :46:21.I cannot say for sure that employers are working harder. I say that all
:46:22. > :46:26.of our staff are working hard in difficult times. There is that
:46:27. > :46:28.question of fairness. There is a difference between the Living Wage
:46:29. > :46:43.and the minimum wage. Brighton generally is a low`wage city. At
:46:44. > :46:55.least 50... It is a question of fairness, and I'm pleased with it. A
:46:56. > :47:02.good idea, how about raising the minimum wage? The minimum wage is
:47:03. > :47:12.about at the level it should be given the difficulties of
:47:13. > :47:22.captivating it and `` of calculating it and the economic climate. If they
:47:23. > :47:26.want to encourage local businesses to take part in the scheme, I can
:47:27. > :47:32.see no reason not to do that at all. It seems that if we can afford to
:47:33. > :47:36.pay a Living Wage, then we should try and do so. The recovery is very
:47:37. > :47:40.delicate at the moment and we need to be extraordinarily careful about
:47:41. > :47:46.how we push this forward. The voluntary way forward is the right
:47:47. > :47:54.way. It is not legally enforceable, that is what you are trying to say.
:47:55. > :47:58.Reading council has had a low paid policy for the last 25 years.
:47:59. > :48:00.Although we are not formally accredited as a Living Wage
:48:01. > :48:05.authority, we already pay more than the Living Wage, never mind the
:48:06. > :48:09.minimum wage. We are committed to using all legal procurement
:48:10. > :48:15.mechanisms to push that through into the supply chain. Bill will
:48:16. > :48:21.understand that it is a legal minefield out there. We as local
:48:22. > :48:30.authorities inherited policies from the Thatcher`era. I'm picking a lot
:48:31. > :48:39.of that is still a minefield. We are still committed to go as far as we
:48:40. > :48:51.can. George's point is fine. If our expert edge was not capped by
:48:52. > :49:00.central government... `` our expenditure. We may return to that
:49:01. > :49:11.question! Would you rather see a minimum wage or higher? The other
:49:12. > :49:16.side is that you do raise more money through tax and reduction of
:49:17. > :49:19.benefits. At the moment, employers are supported and subsidised through
:49:20. > :49:22.the taxation and benefit system. I would rather see the money go
:49:23. > :49:30.straight to the people who work for them. That is a really good point
:49:31. > :49:35.and I add saluki get that. The interesting `` I absolutely get
:49:36. > :49:38.that. The interesting thing is they have to worry about the effect on
:49:39. > :49:45.the rest of the economy. We had that time of year when councils are
:49:46. > :49:50.wrestling with their budgets. In many cases, they blaming the reduced
:49:51. > :49:54.grant from central government. The man controlling the purse strings
:49:55. > :49:58.for that is the committees and local government secretary, Eric Pickles.
:49:59. > :50:02.He was speaking at the Oxford Union debating society earlier this week.
:50:03. > :50:10.Helen Catt went along to the gym. What odds which are saying `` went
:50:11. > :50:13.along to speak to him. They say they have reduced managers by 14%,
:50:14. > :50:17.reduced another of councillors. They are saying that this is the time and
:50:18. > :50:28.they will have to start looking at front line services. where else can
:50:29. > :50:34.a local authority go? The most important thing is to protect the
:50:35. > :50:40.front line. Or us what is the point in being a council? You have said
:50:41. > :50:47.that councils should be looking to their reserves. Oxygen has said that
:50:48. > :51:00.`` Oxfordshire has said that most of its funds are capped. It is part of
:51:01. > :51:03.a policy. There are no restrictions on the amount they can raise by a
:51:04. > :51:07.council tax will stop they would have to have a referendum if they
:51:08. > :51:14.wanted to increase that. That is a legitimate thing to do. Ultimately,
:51:15. > :51:18.it is the people of Oxfordshire that should decide, not the county
:51:19. > :51:26.council. Ultimately, put it to the people. They will not hear a peep
:51:27. > :51:31.out of me. You back a referendum in Oxfordshire? It is better than
:51:32. > :51:38.sneaking below the referendum threshold. In North Oxfordshire
:51:39. > :51:42.recently, there have been for developers who have wanted to build
:51:43. > :51:45.there. The council has said no, the local people have said no and you
:51:46. > :51:50.have overturned the decision. How do you square that with the idea of
:51:51. > :51:56.putting local people in charge? It is straightforward. If there is an
:51:57. > :52:01.adopted plan, that kind of thing would not happen. I am looking
:52:02. > :52:08.forward to seeing a general overall plan being adopted between all of
:52:09. > :52:12.the councils. It is not that they haven't started work on a local
:52:13. > :52:19.plan. It is in the process the feeling is that they were being
:52:20. > :52:22.penalised for being a bit slow. They are not being penalised for being
:52:23. > :52:26.slow, bless them. What it is about is whether or not they have robust
:52:27. > :52:35.figures that stand up to scrutiny with regard to numbers and size.
:52:36. > :52:40.After all, I think it was Spiderman's uncle who advised him
:52:41. > :52:48.with great power comes great responsible to. They to devise the
:52:49. > :52:58.numbers. Thank you. Eric Pickles quoting Spiderman's
:52:59. > :53:04.uncle. If there is a limit, there is a limit. Oxfordshire should be
:53:05. > :53:10.allowed to have the full accountability of setting out a
:53:11. > :53:16.Budget and then having elections, as we do in Reading. We have annual
:53:17. > :53:25.election is. That is our mandate. It is petty to have these interfering
:53:26. > :53:31.rules from central government. Eric Pickles knows full well that the use
:53:32. > :53:36.of reserves is a one`off. At a time when we have huge pressures coming
:53:37. > :53:39.down the track, educational expansion, we have to find 60
:53:40. > :53:45.million for new primary schools. The government has given 19 million
:53:46. > :53:47.towards a six 2 million capital programme but we are committed to
:53:48. > :53:53.funding the rest. We will have to borrow money. Borrowing money costs
:53:54. > :53:59.money. That will come out of our reserves. It is a simpler stick,
:54:00. > :54:02.knee jerk response from Eric Pickles to suggest we dip into reserves.
:54:03. > :54:09.Most local authorities have reserves in marked and none have got
:54:10. > :54:18.sufficient levels to use more than a million or two. Is he right to keep
:54:19. > :54:22.banging on? The Labour government capped councils. There was no
:54:23. > :54:28.option. You could only take it to a certain level and now you can. You
:54:29. > :54:35.can take it through that level. It was wrong then and it is wrong now.
:54:36. > :54:41.Is he just teasing, saying why would you not hold a referendum? I see no
:54:42. > :54:51.reason why not. If the council feels a strong reason to raise the limit,
:54:52. > :54:59.they have to sell it to the people. The history of this is not great. It
:55:00. > :55:06.has not always gone well for the government. You can convince people
:55:07. > :55:11.of the need to do more and spend more money. Give us control over the
:55:12. > :55:15.budgets in totality. Allow us to raise the money, allow us to raise
:55:16. > :55:19.business rates and then we can control our Budget and then we can
:55:20. > :55:24.go to election. Eric robs us blind and an expert 's as to justify a
:55:25. > :55:36.couple of percent increase. Local taxation, race to spend by you. Now
:55:37. > :55:45.our round`up in 62 seconds. `` 60 seconds.
:55:46. > :55:49.17,000 jobs and nearly ?1 billion of investment was announced in the
:55:50. > :55:53.Southampton, Portsmouth city deal. There were complaints that the
:55:54. > :55:59.merry`go`round does not help the shipyard workers. This is not
:56:00. > :56:02.mitigation for the job cuts at BAE Systems. That has to be a separate
:56:03. > :56:07.agreement. Protest against the closure continued through the week,
:56:08. > :56:13.with calls for work to be returned from Scotland. Meanwhile, one
:56:14. > :56:17.airline is making a fifth of their workforce redundant and pulling out
:56:18. > :56:23.of Gatwick. A review of Jimmy Savile's time at local hospitals has
:56:24. > :56:30.led to 35 new recommendations. It would appear that people had degrees
:56:31. > :56:32.of knowledge. A father whose son committed suicide after being
:56:33. > :56:39.bullied on a school bus is calling for better supervision. Meanwhile,
:56:40. > :56:46.Oxfordshire County Council says that a call to cap school transport will
:56:47. > :56:52.not lead to school closures. That city deal, the sort of powers
:56:53. > :56:59.that you called forebear. It is being offered in the case of
:57:00. > :57:10.Portsmouth as some sort of helpful for getting people back to work. The
:57:11. > :57:14.city deal has been in the building phase and negotiation stage for a
:57:15. > :57:20.long time. What there is is some new streams of funding to get the ease
:57:21. > :57:25.the pain. They are retraining some better work on placing long`term
:57:26. > :57:29.unemployed long people and so on. It is new funding for that. You got the
:57:30. > :57:35.city deal, are you happy with that? It is focused on training and those
:57:36. > :57:42.who are not in education, employment or training. We are looking to make
:57:43. > :57:45.better use of money that is not being spent. We are looking back
:57:46. > :57:47.from central government departments and pulling it together and
:57:48. > :57:53.hopefully targeting in a more effective way. Spiderman's uncle was
:57:54. > :57:57.right, there is a lot going on at local authority level that will make
:57:58. > :58:06.a difference. Yet to be seen. The ideas are good. Thank you to my
:58:07. > :58:07.guests. You can keep up`to`date with the politics in the region on my
:58:08. > :58:11.blog. For now, it is back to Andrew. if we hear more. Thank you. Andrew,
:58:12. > :58:28.it is back to you. Who'd be an MP? It's a good
:58:29. > :58:31.question. Certainly something Mark Pritchard must have asked himself
:58:32. > :58:34.when his picture graced the front page of the Daily Telegraph, with
:58:35. > :58:37.allegations that he had offered to set up business deals overseas in
:58:38. > :58:40.return for hundreds of thousands of pounds. Mr Pritchard dismissed the
:58:41. > :58:42.claims as hurtful and wrong. He referred himself to the
:58:43. > :58:44.Parliamentary Standards Commissioner who has now said there is
:58:45. > :58:47.insufficient evidence to investigate. In a moment we'll talk
:58:48. > :58:50.to Mr Pritchard, but first let's take a look back at how the story
:58:51. > :58:54.unfurled. A Conservative MP has denied allegations that he used his
:58:55. > :58:58.Parliamentary contacts for financial gain... The daily Telegraph says
:58:59. > :59:05.Mark Pritchard offered to broker investments overseas. In a statement
:59:06. > :59:13.he said the allegations made by the Telegraph are false. Mr Pritchard
:59:14. > :59:18.was secretly filmed... What do you make of these allegations? He has
:59:19. > :59:21.referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for
:59:22. > :59:30.standards to clear his name and I suspect this story will reopen the
:59:31. > :59:38.debate about what MPs should be allowed, having business interests
:59:39. > :59:48.elsewhere. Is it not clear that you did ask for money in consultancy
:59:49. > :59:52.services? First of all I would like to apologise for the sunglasses I
:59:53. > :00:01.have had a lot of comments about that. On a serious point, these
:00:02. > :00:08.claims by the Telegraph of false. You didn't ask for ?3000? They are
:00:09. > :00:12.false, hurtful and malicious. It is known widely that I have sued the
:00:13. > :00:17.Telegraph previously. I have also been critical of their coverage of
:00:18. > :00:21.the plebgate affair, their reporting of that. I have been supportive of
:00:22. > :00:26.the cross-party Royal Charter and I know that some people in the media
:00:27. > :00:31.don't like my position on that. That is why it is malicious. I believe in
:00:32. > :00:38.a free press. That free press also has a responsibility to be fair
:00:39. > :00:43.accurate and lawful. In discussions with this business who turned out to
:00:44. > :00:49.be a Telegraph reporter, it is true that you ask for ?3000 a month
:00:50. > :00:56.consultancy fee. The point is.. That is the point. No. That video
:00:57. > :01:01.has been cut and pasted to serve the Telegraph's story. The story was
:01:02. > :01:06.that we want to get Mark Bridger, for whatever reason, at any cost. --
:01:07. > :01:10.Mark Bridger hard. I would not go down the line they were hoping I
:01:11. > :01:17.would go down. Everything I own outside of Parliament is openly
:01:18. > :01:19.declared. We are allowed to have outside witness interests. The
:01:20. > :01:24.Telegraph need to say clearly whether they accept that or they
:01:25. > :01:29.don't. I think you need to say clearly whether you asked for the
:01:30. > :01:33.money or not. You then went on to ask for ?300,000 if it was a 10
:01:34. > :01:40.million deal, you asked for 3% commission. Let me be clear, if I
:01:41. > :01:44.was asking for income in return for lobbying, or raising issues in
:01:45. > :01:49.Parliament, or setting up Parliamentary groups, or going to
:01:50. > :01:54.ministers, writing to ministers that would be completely
:01:55. > :02:00.inappropriate. I was approached by somebody to advise them on business.
:02:01. > :02:03.It is entirely proper and entirely within the rules for members of
:02:04. > :02:10.Parliament to have outside consultancies and interests. Did you
:02:11. > :02:13.or didn't you? I am answering the question in the way that I want to
:02:14. > :02:17.answer it, not in the way that fits a particular narrative. The
:02:18. > :02:21.narrative, unfortunately, of some parts of the Telegraph and to be
:02:22. > :02:26.fair, there are some very good journalists, I know there is a
:02:27. > :02:30.dispute about the direction of that paper at senior parts. Do they want
:02:31. > :02:35.to return to being a Catholic, objective newspaper or do they want
:02:36. > :02:40.to slip into the slippery slope of being an agnostic rag, looking for
:02:41. > :02:42.sensationalist headlines? Part of this has come from your membership
:02:43. > :02:51.of these all-party Parliamentary groups. You were in Malta when you
:02:52. > :02:55.are first approached, I think you were on a trip there, Hungary is
:02:56. > :02:59.another one, there is an uncomfortable overlap between your
:03:00. > :03:03.political and business interests. I have no business interests in any of
:03:04. > :03:09.those countries. Some of the country is the Telegraph mentioned, let me
:03:10. > :03:14.be clear, I have not even visited. You were boasting that you knew the
:03:15. > :03:20.Albanian Prime Minister and the Mayor of Teheran and the previous
:03:21. > :03:24.prime minister. I make no apology for making foreign trips. I think it
:03:25. > :03:29.is unfortunate we have a narrative developing in some parts of the
:03:30. > :03:33.press that if a politician goes abroad at the taxpayers expense it
:03:34. > :03:36.is wrong. If they go abroad at a host government's expense it is
:03:37. > :03:41.wrong. If they go abroad with a charity, NGO and private company,
:03:42. > :03:46.even if it is declared, it is wrong. We want people with an international
:03:47. > :03:51.perspective in Parliament. Look at this map. You are a member of 5
:03:52. > :03:56.country groups. I don't know what Canada has done not to deserve you,
:03:57. > :04:03.or Australia. 54 groups, you are a part of. You're like... This is the
:04:04. > :04:06.Mark Pritchard British Empire. That is very kind. If I had global
:04:07. > :04:14.interests that white I would not be in Parliament. No, no, no. That is
:04:15. > :04:18.the point... It is the suspicion, that you used these groups to drum
:04:19. > :04:22.up business for your consultants. Prove it, that is the trouble. These
:04:23. > :04:31.sorts of headlines, create suspicion. I am suing the
:04:32. > :04:37.Telegraph... Have you issued a writ? I expect an apology. Have you issued
:04:38. > :04:45.a writ? I have just answered your question. It is yes or no, have you
:04:46. > :04:49.issued a writ? I am in final legal discussions tomorrow about issuing a
:04:50. > :04:54.writ. You have raised something for top the fact is that is inaccurate.
:04:55. > :05:01.I am a member of 40-something Parliamentary groups, of which I
:05:02. > :05:07.make no apology. We have got 54 Let me answer the question if I may It
:05:08. > :05:12.would be very useful. There are 196 countries around the world, it is
:05:13. > :05:20.less than a quarter of the country groups on my figures. I make no
:05:21. > :05:23.apology. One of my regrets is not having visited Syria, I don't know
:05:24. > :05:29.if I am a member of the Syria group, part I should become a member, I
:05:30. > :05:32.make no apology. -- perhaps I should become. When it came to the Syria
:05:33. > :05:40.vote, I was blind sided foot of yes, we have excellent briefings. I had
:05:41. > :05:44.to make a judgement based on part knowledge with nothing beats being
:05:45. > :05:49.on the ground, as even BBC journalists recognised this week.
:05:50. > :05:52.Nothing beats being on the ground. You posted about your connections in
:05:53. > :05:56.Albania to getting a business contract. You meet these people
:05:57. > :06:02.through these all Parliamentary groups. That is where there is an
:06:03. > :06:08.unhealthy overlap. That is what the Telegraph said, let's wait and see.
:06:09. > :06:11.Look... You are a newspaperman, you know lots of people in the newspaper
:06:12. > :06:15.industry, as well as being a respected broadcaster. I am not
:06:16. > :06:20.going to prejudice my legal proceedings against the Telegraph. I
:06:21. > :06:26.make no apology. A good politician has to be local am a national and
:06:27. > :06:31.international. Hang on hang on - has to be local, national and
:06:32. > :06:35.international. We need politicians who get out of the Westminster
:06:36. > :06:38.bubble, who have a business hinterland, who keep their foot in
:06:39. > :06:45.the real world and have an international perspective. And ask
:06:46. > :06:48.for 3% commission? I have answered the question. It was a cut and
:06:49. > :06:53.pasted video, photo shopped to suit the agenda of the Telegraph. They
:06:54. > :06:55.need to get back to serious news reporting and I wish those well at
:06:56. > :07:00.the senior part of the Telegraph who want to get to those days. We look
:07:01. > :07:03.forward to the writ. Thank you. Now - there's been more good news on
:07:04. > :07:06.the economy for George Osborne this week - inflation's down, growth
:07:07. > :07:08.forecasts have been revised up and unemployment has fallen again. On
:07:09. > :07:12.Friday the former Bullingdon boy donned a head torch and went down't
:07:13. > :07:15.pit for just one of many photo opportunities ahead of the Autumn
:07:16. > :07:18.Statement, which he'll deliver in the Commons on fifth December. And,
:07:19. > :07:25.who knows, he might even take his hard hat off for that.
:07:26. > :07:35.# Going underground. # Let the boys all saying and let
:07:36. > :07:41.the boys all shout for tomorrow # Lah, lah, love, love.
:07:42. > :07:49.# I talk and talk until my head explodes.
:07:50. > :07:53.# Make this boy shout, make this boy scream.
:07:54. > :08:03.# Going underground. # Going underground.
:08:04. > :08:09.# I'm going underground. # I'm going underground.
:08:10. > :08:17.George Osborne in his heart out he probably sleeps with it on. This
:08:18. > :08:21.Autumn Statement is becoming a more important part of the political
:08:22. > :08:25.calendar for the coalition. It looks like this is where they are finally
:08:26. > :08:31.going to come up with some kind of response to Ed Miliband's game
:08:32. > :08:35.changing electricity price freeze. The idea which is mooted is they
:08:36. > :08:40.will move people's green tax on two general bills which is not an answer
:08:41. > :08:43.but cosmetically it could have apolitical impact. George Osborne is
:08:44. > :08:50.receiving a lot of representations from lobby groups, business, MPs on
:08:51. > :08:54.his own side, for tax cuts and extra bits spending and he has to spend
:08:55. > :08:56.the next two weeks reminding people of something that has been skewered
:08:57. > :09:06.by the economic recovery. This country has a fiscal deficit which
:09:07. > :09:09.is twice that of France, supposedly the crisis economy in western Europe
:09:10. > :09:12.or if you accept it will take another parliament again to
:09:13. > :09:15.eliminate this deficit, we are not even halfway through the age of
:09:16. > :09:20.austerity. He is in no position to give anything away. He has to hold
:09:21. > :09:24.the line. Danny Alexander has been useful but this is his real
:09:25. > :09:28.challenge. He is going to give stuff away. When the Autumn Statement
:09:29. > :09:33.comes away, 15 months from an election, Nick Clegg has been
:09:34. > :09:38.talking about raising the tax allowance threshold even further,
:09:39. > :09:42.talk of moving green levies of the electricity bills, he is going to
:09:43. > :09:44.give stuff away. We will get funding for free school meals that Nick
:09:45. > :09:49.Clegg mentioned in his party conference. The significance of the
:09:50. > :09:53.Autumn Statement is twice a year, a Chancellor stands up and we all look
:09:54. > :09:57.at the state of the economy. If you talk to members of the Chancellor's
:09:58. > :10:01.circle, it is interesting how nervous they are. They say, don t
:10:02. > :10:04.assume we are going to have this wonderful growth for ever, don't
:10:05. > :10:09.assume everything is fine in the eurozone. I think what would help
:10:10. > :10:14.the Chancellor is if somebody was able to see some of that humility in
:10:15. > :10:14.public. It is recognised that he was far too triumphalist
:10:15. > :10:22.speech he made on the 9th of September, when he said to Ed Balls,
:10:23. > :10:23.we have one and you cannot make an economic policy on the cost of
:10:24. > :10:36.living -- we have... Won. economic policy on the cost of
:10:37. > :10:40.people don't seem to learn from Norman Lamont's green shoots. Labour
:10:41. > :10:46.has moved from complaining there is no growth, now there is, to say
:10:47. > :10:46.has moved from complaining there is is gross but living standards are
:10:47. > :10:51.not rising. If the economy grows by nearly 3% next year, even the bank
:10:52. > :10:56.is saying it will grow by 2.8%, living standards could start to
:10:57. > :10:58.rise. It does but everybody in a difficult position politically if
:10:59. > :11:02.the economy starts growing, ironically. We need to remind
:11:03. > :11:08.ourselves that economy, the natural direction of an economy is to grow.
:11:09. > :11:13.Unless the politicians screw up Unless you have some idiot in
:11:14. > :11:16.charge! It is not a cause for the Morris dance that they seem to be
:11:17. > :11:20.doing, certainly on the Tory side. Osborne is put in a difficult
:11:21. > :11:26.position goes he will have to stop giving stuff away, he cannot push
:11:27. > :11:33.the austerity line at the same time as jangling his magical growth - he
:11:34. > :11:39.will have to start giving stuff away. It puts Labour in a difficult
:11:40. > :11:45.position, it is very unlikely that living standards will match GDP Not
:11:46. > :11:51.since 2003, GDP has been a great indicator. Wages have stagnated for
:11:52. > :11:56.ten years, food has gone up 17% energy has gone up 24%. That is a
:11:57. > :12:01.decade in which everybody has got poorer. The real sweet spot comes
:12:02. > :12:06.when wages start to outstrip inflation. It is a sweet spot and
:12:07. > :12:11.will be a huge challenge for Ed Miliband. As ever on the economy
:12:12. > :12:14.with a sweet spot, you have a danger moment because that is when the
:12:15. > :12:18.governor of the Bank of England will have to look at interest rates.
:12:19. > :12:21.Everything he was saying last week was when we move toward 7%
:12:22. > :12:25.unemployment come that is not the trigger for raising interest rates,
:12:26. > :12:31.it is the moment when we look at it. Everything was saying he did not
:12:32. > :12:33.want to do that. When do you anticipate wages outstripping
:12:34. > :12:40.inflation? It hasn't happened for so long. The second half of next year.
:12:41. > :12:42.Wages and prices are not the sole measure of living standards, there
:12:43. > :12:45.are broader measures which no one seems willing to use.
:12:46. > :12:49.That's all for today. The Daily Politics will be back at tomorrow at
:12:50. > :12:52.midday on BBC Two and I will back here on BBC One at 11:00am next
:12:53. > :13:57.week. Remember if it's Sunday, it's the Sunday Politics.
:13:58. > :14:00.I'm Nigel Slater, a cook. And I'm Adam Henson, a farmer.
:14:01. > :14:04.all back in touch with where our food really comes from.
:14:05. > :14:08.You asked me to grow some durum wheat to produce your pasta.