Browse content similar to 11/05/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics, where we're talking | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
about the Europe-wide contest that really matters. No, not Eurovision. | :00:38. | :00:46. | |
The European elections. There are local elections across England too | :00:47. | :00:49. | |
on May 22nd. The party leaders are campaigning ahead of polling day. | :00:50. | :00:53. | |
The results could be a pointer to the Big One, May 2015. We'll be | :00:54. | :00:59. | |
speaking to the man in charge of Labour's election battle plan. Has | :01:00. | :01:02. | |
the opposition really got its sights set on all-out victory in 2015? Or | :01:03. | :01:05. | |
will it just be content with squeaking home? And you can't | :01:06. | :01:12. | |
mention elections these days without talking about the impact of this | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
In the South: As the local dlections him if UKIP really | :01:17. | :01:22. | |
In the South: As the local dlections loom, have we just got too lany | :01:23. | :01:25. | |
councils with too many councillors sitting on them? And if a ther has | :01:26. | :01:27. | |
to be shed, which boroughs. What will make a | :01:28. | :01:28. | |
difference to the way you vote? And I'm joined by three journalists | :01:29. | :01:40. | |
guaranteed to bring a touch of Eurovision glamour to your Sunday | :01:41. | :01:43. | |
morning. With views more controversial than a bearded | :01:44. | :01:46. | |
Austrian drag act and twice the dress sense, it's Nick Watt, Helen | :01:47. | :01:56. | |
Lewis and Janan Ganesh. So you might have thought you've already heard | :01:57. | :01:58. | |
David Cameron promise an in-out referendum on EU membership in 017 | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
if he's still Prime Minister. Many times. Many, many times. Well he | :02:03. | :02:08. | |
obviously doesn't think you've been listening, because he's been saying | :02:09. | :02:11. | |
it again today. Here he is speaking to the BBC earlier. We will hold a | :02:12. | :02:15. | |
referendum by the end of 2017. It will be a referendum on an in-out | :02:16. | :02:19. | |
basis. Do we stay in a reformed European Union or do we leave? And | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
I've said very clearly that whatever the outcome of the next election, | :02:24. | :02:26. | |
and of course I want an overall majority and I'm hoping and | :02:27. | :02:29. | |
believing I can win an overall majority, that people should be in | :02:30. | :02:32. | |
no doubt I will not become Prime Minister unless I can guarantee that | :02:33. | :02:41. | |
we will hold a referendum. Here s saying there that an overall | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
majority there will definitely be a referendum. If these are the | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
minority position, he won't form a new coalition unless they agree to a | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
referendum, too. The Lib Dems a pulmonary agree to that. They | :02:56. | :02:58. | |
probably will because the Prime ministers have a strong argument | :02:59. | :03:02. | |
which is I gave you a referendum back in 2010 so the least I need is | :03:03. | :03:06. | |
theirs and the Lib Dems are the only party who have stood in recent | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
elections on a clear mandate to hold a referendum, so it is difficult for | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
them to say no, there was interesting the interview he did | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
earlier today. He named everything was going to ask for. The most | :03:19. | :03:21. | |
controversial with him, as he said in his speech last year, he wants to | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
take Britain out of the commitment to make the European Union and ever | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
closer union. That is a very big ask, but the point is, he may well | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
get it because the choice for the European Union now, France and | :03:37. | :03:39. | |
Germany, is a clear wonderful do Britain in or out? Previously, it | :03:40. | :03:45. | |
was can you put up with a British prime ministers being annoying? I | :03:46. | :03:48. | |
think you'll find the answer is they are willing to pay a price but not | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
any price to keep Britain in. In this scenario, Labour would have | :03:54. | :03:57. | |
lost the election again because we are talking the slowly happen if Mr | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
Cameron is the largest party or has an overall majority. Could you then | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
see Labour deciding we had better go along with a referendum, too? I | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
think that's unlikely because as I think that's unlikely because | :04:12. | :04:13. | |
there's a huge upside for that for I think what's interesting is the idea | :04:14. | :04:16. | |
he would for minority government. Would you get confidence and look at | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
other options that might well happen with the way the arithmetic is going | :04:22. | :04:24. | |
or is he going to hold out and say the only way I will be Prime | :04:25. | :04:27. | |
Minister is in a majority Conservative government? No, the | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
implication of his remarks was I wouldn't form a coalition government | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
unless my coalition partners would also agree to vote for a referendum. | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
He's basically talking about is negotiating strategy in those | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
coalition talks. It's a red line and a huge opportunity for the Lib Dems, | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
because they know David Cameron absolutely has to do, for accidental | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
reasons, as a person who survives as Tory leader, to ask for that | :04:55. | :04:58. | |
referendum, so they can ask anything they want in return and if I was | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
Nick Clegg, I would work out in the next year one absolute colossal | :05:04. | :05:06. | |
negotiating demand for those coalition talks. For a party around | :05:07. | :05:13. | |
10% in the polls, they will do have the Prime Minister over a barrel on | :05:14. | :05:16. | |
this one, assuming that coalition talks goes well. They could make | :05:17. | :05:27. | |
Michael Gove Tbyte meeting. OK, we need to move on. So, the politicians | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
are out and about on what used to be called the stump ahead of local and | :05:32. | :05:34. | |
European elections in less than two weeks' time. But, without wanting to | :05:35. | :05:37. | |
depress you on a damp Sunday morning, the party strategists are | :05:38. | :05:40. | |
already hard at work on their campaign plans for the General | :05:41. | :05:43. | |
Election next May. Yes, it's less than a year to go. They may have | :05:44. | :05:46. | |
taken their time, but Labour's battleplan for 2015 is starting to | :05:47. | :05:49. | |
take shape. As well as take promising to freeze your energy | :05:50. | :05:52. | |
bills, and reintroduce the 50p rate of tax, Ed Miliband now says he | :05:53. | :05:55. | |
wants to intervene in the housing market to keep rents down. There's | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
even talk that the party leadership wants to bring more railway lines | :06:01. | :06:05. | |
into public ownership. And Labour is gambling that its big push on the | :06:06. | :06:09. | |
cost of living will see it through to the general election despite | :06:10. | :06:13. | |
evidence that growth is firmly back. Labour's campaign chief Douglas | :06:14. | :06:15. | |
Alexander hopes it all adds up to victory next May. But so far, the | :06:16. | :06:23. | |
evidence is hitting home very thin. One survey today shows that 56% of | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
people don't think Mr Miliband is up to the job of Prime Minister. As we | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
head towards one of the least predictable general elections in 70 | :06:33. | :06:35. | |
years, has Labour got a message to win seats up and down the country? | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
And Labour's election co-ordinator and Shadow Foreign Secretary, | :06:41. | :06:47. | |
Douglas Alexander, joins me now Welcome to Sunday Politics. A lot of | :06:48. | :06:50. | |
these policies announced polar pretty well. By popular with the | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
country. When you add them together, it's a move to the left and what | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
would be wrong with that? I think is your packet suggests, the contours | :07:01. | :07:03. | |
in the coming campaign are becoming clear. Our judgement is the defining | :07:04. | :07:09. | |
issue of the year in British politics will be the widening gap | :07:10. | :07:12. | |
between the wealth of the country and the finances of ordinary | :07:13. | :07:15. | |
families. We believe it will be a cost of living election and we have | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
been setting out our thinking in relation to energy prices and rent, | :07:20. | :07:22. | |
but you will hear more from Labour Party in the coming months because | :07:23. | :07:25. | |
we're now less than one year away from a decisive moment. If the | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
leftish think tank suggested any of his policies in that Tony Blair | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
years, you would have opposed them. Let's be clear, when not going for | :07:36. | :07:41. | |
an interest but seeking to secure a majority for the only way to do that | :07:42. | :07:44. | |
is not simply to appeal to your base, but to the centre ground. I | :07:45. | :07:47. | |
believe we got genuine opportunities in the next year. You have the | :07:48. | :07:53. | |
Conservatives in a struggle with UKIP on the right of politics. The | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
Lib Dems 9% of trying to find their base, and there's a genuine | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
opportunity in the next year for Labour to dominate the centre ground | :08:02. | :08:05. | |
of politics and secure the majority Labour government we are planning | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
for in the coming year. I notice you didn't deny you wouldn't have | :08:11. | :08:20. | |
opposed. You say you have got an message for aspirational voters in | :08:21. | :08:24. | |
the South. This is what John Denham said. He thinks you're talking too | :08:25. | :08:27. | |
much to your core vote. He is right to recognise we took a | :08:28. | :08:43. | |
terrible beating in 2010. 29%. If you look at what we've done in the | :08:44. | :08:46. | |
last week, for example, the signature policy on rent Ed Miliband | :08:47. | :08:52. | |
announced to launch the campaign, there's now more than 9 million | :08:53. | :08:55. | |
people in the country in the private rented sector, more than 1 million | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
families. Many of them are in the south-east. They are seeing | :09:01. | :09:02. | |
circumstances where, suddenly, landlord will increase the rent and | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
they put the pressure involved in schooling, health care facing the | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
families, so it is important both in terms of policy and in terms of | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
politics that we speak to the whole country, not simply to one part of | :09:16. | :09:19. | |
it falls up what is the average rise in event last year? I don't know. | :09:20. | :09:27. | |
Can you tell me? 1%. 1% not in real terms. I'm not sure what the problem | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
is. It will happen to wages in last year, we are facing circumstances | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
where people will be worse off, up to ?1600 off worse and frankly, if | :09:38. | :09:44. | |
our opponents want to argue that the economy has healed and they deserve | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
a victory lap, good luck to them because actually, what we are | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
hearing from the Buddhist public, not just in the north and south is | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
not the cost living crisis is continuing and it affects families. | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
There was nothing aspirational about your party election broadcast for | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
the European elections. It looked like crude class war to money | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
people. That's a bit of it. Bedroom tax. Isn't it going to look bad that | :10:11. | :10:13. | |
two thirds of those affected are disabled? Who cares? They can't | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
fight back. Shall be lay-offs and NHS nurses? The National Health | :10:20. | :10:28. | |
Service? Oh yes. Mr Cameron? Who said that? Me. My gosh. The man has | :10:29. | :10:38. | |
shrunk. He's actually shrunk. What shall we do with him? Can we hunt | :10:39. | :10:43. | |
him? Nothing about Europe, Labour policy. News that the Tories would | :10:44. | :10:49. | |
result in negative campaigning and smear. You didn't tell you would be | :10:50. | :10:55. | |
just as bad. Let's start the party broadcast. The one thing guaranteed | :10:56. | :10:58. | |
to have most people reaching for the remote control these days are the | :10:59. | :11:05. | |
words, there now follows a party but the broadcast. I make no apology in | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
the factory to be innovative in how we presented. It's factual. It was a | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
policy -based critic of this government. And the Lib Dems role | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
within it. So you're claiming it's factual to betray the camera and | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
cabinet is not even knowing what the NHS is, -- the Cameron Cabinet. They | :11:23. | :11:30. | |
attack the disabled because they can't fight back. The Pinellas | :11:31. | :11:35. | |
Tanner severely Prime Minister Sun and he was treated during a short | :11:36. | :11:42. | |
life by the NHS. It's a fact many disabled people across the country | :11:43. | :11:45. | |
including in my constituency have been directly affected by the | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
bedroom tax. And ultimately, this Conservative led government, | :11:50. | :11:52. | |
including the Lib Dems, will be held accountable by the politicians. You | :11:53. | :11:58. | |
say that, the Prime Minister, who had a severely disabled son of. I | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
you not ashamed about? I shadowed Iain Duncan Smith of five months | :12:03. | :12:09. | |
also they don't have the excuses of seeing that saying nobody told them | :12:10. | :12:12. | |
the consequences of the bedroom tax. They went into this with their eyes | :12:13. | :12:15. | |
open. They knew about the hardship and difficulty. If they were | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
one-bedroom properties available across the country for people to | :12:20. | :12:22. | |
move into, their argument would be OK but they knew they were dealing | :12:23. | :12:29. | |
with the most vulnerable people Did you sign off that part of the | :12:30. | :12:32. | |
broadcast? Of course I stand by the fact of it. I wish David Cameron and | :12:33. | :12:38. | |
Iain Duncan Smith would apologise to the disabled people of the country | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
and the poorest people for the effects of the bedroom tax. I hope | :12:43. | :12:45. | |
we get that apology between now and election. As someone who thinks | :12:46. | :12:51. | |
integrity is important in politics, not ashamed of this kind of thing? | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
It's important we scrutinise the policies of this government as well | :12:58. | :13:00. | |
as adding a positive agenda for change. You want that you won't | :13:01. | :13:07. | |
promise this is the last time we'll see such a negative press campaign? | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
I don't think it is negative or personal to scrutinise the | :13:13. | :13:15. | |
government. So we'll get more of this? I'm less interested in the | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
background of the cabinet than their views. You call the upper-class | :13:20. | :13:25. | |
twits. It's for the British public to make a judgement in terms of the | :13:26. | :13:28. | |
British... That's how you depicted them. We are held in accountable for | :13:29. | :13:36. | |
the bedroom tax, the NHS, taxation, and our record they have to defend. | :13:37. | :13:40. | |
One reason are so fearful in this election is actually because they | :13:41. | :13:44. | |
know they have a poor record. Let's look at other part of the election | :13:45. | :13:49. | |
campaign. This poster. Particularly digitally doing the rounds. On that | :13:50. | :13:55. | |
shopping basket, can you tell us which items take the full 20% VAT? | :13:56. | :14:02. | |
It's representative of household shopping, which includes items like | :14:03. | :14:05. | |
cleaning products, and we know that food is not that trouble. People | :14:06. | :14:17. | |
don't go to the supermarket and say this is -- vatable. So you are | :14:18. | :14:25. | |
denying that ?450 extra is being paid? Yes, where'd you get that | :14:26. | :14:33. | |
figure? For an average family to pay ?450 a year extra VAT, they would | :14:34. | :14:40. | |
have to spend ?21,600 a year on vatable products at 20%. The average | :14:41. | :14:46. | |
take-home pay is only 21,009. They have got to spend on all sorts of | :14:47. | :14:51. | |
things which are zero VAT. So in addition to the items, has a range | :14:52. | :14:55. | |
of products people face in terms of VAT. How could an average family of | :14:56. | :15:01. | |
?21,000 a year spent 21,006 and the pound a year on 20% vatable items? | :15:02. | :15:10. | |
It's not an annual figure, is it? So what is it then? If it's an annual, | :15:11. | :15:19. | |
what is it? The increased VAT in this parliament is calculated over | :15:20. | :15:21. | |
the course of a Parliament. For the whole of the Parliament? And you're | :15:22. | :15:30. | |
illustrated this with a shopping basket which almost has no VAT on it | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
at all? People will be buying a weekly shop in the course of this | :15:36. | :15:38. | |
Parliament every week. Did you sign off on this as well? Of course. It | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
didn't dawn on you you're putting things on it which have no VAT? If | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
you want to argue some people go to the shops and say these are vatable | :15:48. | :15:53. | |
or not, I disagree. Even your rent cap announcement went wrong. You're | :15:54. | :16:01. | |
working on the rent rises and it turns out it wasn't. It was a post | :16:02. | :16:11. | |
your policy. It is the exception rather than the rule to have the | :16:12. | :16:14. | |
position we have at the moment. In Northern Ireland we have seen the | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
continued rise in terms of the rented sector but there is a | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
widespread recognition that for those people in the rented sector, | :16:23. | :16:30. | |
change is necessary. Are you coordinating this campaign? It seems | :16:31. | :16:36. | |
accident prone. This is a party that has set the agenda more effectively | :16:37. | :16:45. | |
than a Conservative party that said when David Cameron was elected he | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
wasn't going to bang on about Europe. The day after the election | :16:50. | :16:57. | |
we expect the Conservative party to be engulfed in crisis. I'm proud of | :16:58. | :17:04. | |
what we talk about and I think there is a clear contrast about a party | :17:05. | :17:07. | |
talking about issues people care about, and a Conservative party | :17:08. | :17:13. | |
talking about exclusively a referendum. Are you in charge of the | :17:14. | :17:19. | |
campaign? I am coordinating the campaign is, yes. The expensive | :17:20. | :17:25. | |
election guru you have hired, has he been involved in any of this? We | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
have started our discussions with him. You are going to have to brief | :17:31. | :17:35. | |
him about British politics because he doesn't know anything about it. I | :17:36. | :17:42. | |
make no apology for hiring him. He has a lot of experience in winning | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
tight elections and that is what we are expecting. If you are expecting | :17:49. | :17:54. | |
us to say, they have passed and we have to hold them accountable, then | :17:55. | :18:01. | |
I am sorry but we have a campaign that holds the Government and the | :18:02. | :18:04. | |
Conservatives to account for what I think is a very hopeless record in | :18:05. | :18:15. | |
government. Thank you. He leads a party with zero MPs but | :18:16. | :18:18. | |
his media presence is huge. He's had an expenses scandal, but the public | :18:19. | :18:22. | |
didn't seem to mind. He's got a privileged background but he's seen | :18:23. | :18:24. | |
as an anti-establishment champion. Nothing seems to stick to him, not | :18:25. | :18:27. | |
even eggs. I speak of course of Nigel Farage. We'll talk to him in a | :18:28. | :18:31. | |
moment, but first Giles has been out on the campaign trail ahead of | :18:32. | :18:34. | |
elections that could make or break the UKIP leader. | :18:35. | :18:37. | |
Nigel Farage likes a stage, and at this stage of the Euro and local | :18:38. | :18:40. | |
election campaign he is, like his party, in buoyant mood. They feel | :18:41. | :18:45. | |
they are on the verge of what they see as causing an earthquake in | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
British politics. Today Nigel is filling thousands seat venues and | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
bigger. Not that there's much sign of that at this press launch. But | :18:56. | :19:03. | |
it's a threat with serious money behind it, that they believe the | :19:04. | :19:06. | |
media and the political elite just haven't realised yet, much less | :19:07. | :19:09. | |
learned how to counter it. Not that it's all been plain sailing. | :19:10. | :19:11. | |
Offensive comments from some candidates has not only seen UKIP | :19:12. | :19:14. | |
labelled as racist, but necessitated a rally by the party to visibly and | :19:15. | :19:20. | |
verbally challenge that. The offensive idiotic statements made by | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
this handful of people have been lifted up and presented to the great | :19:25. | :19:27. | |
British public as if they represent the view of this party, which they | :19:28. | :19:33. | |
do not. They never have and they never will. APPLAUSE | :19:34. | :19:44. | |
I don't care what you call us, but from this moment on, please do not | :19:45. | :19:53. | |
call must trust a racist party. We are not a racist party. | :19:54. | :20:02. | |
The need to say that is not just about the European and local | :20:03. | :20:05. | |
elections even at that campaign launch it's clear UKIP's leader has | :20:06. | :20:08. | |
set his sights firmly on the ultimate prize. I come from the | :20:09. | :20:10. | |
south of England and I would not want to be seen as an opportunist | :20:11. | :20:14. | |
heading to the north, north Norfolk or whatever it will be. I will make | :20:15. | :20:19. | |
my mind up and stand in the general election for somewhere in Kent, East | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
Sussex, Hampshire, somewhere in my home patch. Back at UKIP HQ they are | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
still drilling down how the last fortnight of campaigning should go. | :20:30. | :20:38. | |
They aren't taking any chances, and one imagines having offices above | :20:39. | :20:41. | |
those of Max Clifford is a reminder how fragile built reputations can be | :20:42. | :20:44. | |
of the bubble bursting. They want their reputation to be built on | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
votes and they know anything but significant success on May 22nd and | :20:49. | :20:50. | |
some seats in Westminster in 20 5 isn't going to be good enough. And | :20:51. | :20:58. | |
after that, having sold yourselves as the honest outsiders, that stance | :20:59. | :21:01. | |
is harder to maintain once your people are on the inside. And subtle | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
changes from the past are already noticeable. The ordinary man of the | :21:06. | :21:11. | |
people stance is still working. Characteristically outside a pub, | :21:12. | :21:14. | |
Nigel Farage is glad handed by a customer. Two weeks to go, let's | :21:15. | :21:20. | |
cause an upset. Wouldn't that be great? The only sign that such an | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
interaction is different now is the ever presence of bodyguards who | :21:26. | :21:37. | |
shadow his every move. Over lunch ahead of Question Time, a radio | :21:38. | :21:40. | |
appearance, and then off to Scotland, I ask him if some of those | :21:41. | :21:44. | |
minded to vote UKIP who see him as a man they'd be comfortable having a | :21:45. | :21:47. | |
drink with are the sort of people he'd be entirely comfortable sitting | :21:48. | :21:50. | |
down with. Every political party attracts support from across the | :21:51. | :21:52. | |
spectrum and there will be some magnificent people who vote for us | :21:53. | :22:00. | |
and some ne'er-do-wells. The one common thing about UKIP voters is | :22:01. | :22:06. | |
that they are often not very political. And it's that people s | :22:07. | :22:10. | |
army that if UKIP can get to a polling booth might just create that | :22:11. | :22:12. | |
earthquake they want. Nigel Farage joins me now. When you | :22:13. | :22:19. | |
decided not to stand at the new work by election coming said if you lost | :22:20. | :22:22. | |
it that the bubble would have burst. What did you mean by that? I | :22:23. | :22:43. | |
was asked at seven 20p -- at 7: 1pm if I would stand, I have decided by | :22:44. | :22:49. | |
the next morning that I would not. I didn't know he was going to resign. | :22:50. | :22:55. | |
You claim only a handful of UKIP candidates have ever said things | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
that are either stupid or offensive, I'm right on that, yes? 0.1%, I d | :23:00. | :23:08. | |
rather it was non-. But why have you chosen a candidate to fight this | :23:09. | :23:11. | |
by-election that has said many things most people would regard as | :23:12. | :23:18. | |
stupid or offensive? Roger is fighting this for us, someone of 70 | :23:19. | :23:23. | |
years of age who grew up with a strong Christian Bible background, | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
in an age when homosexuality was imprisonable. He had a certain set | :23:29. | :23:32. | |
of views which he maintained for many years which he now says he | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
accepts the world has moved on and he is relaxed about it. The comments | :23:37. | :23:42. | |
about homosexuality are not from the dark ages, they are from two or | :23:43. | :23:49. | |
three years ago. From when he was a Conservative, yes, so will you be | :23:50. | :23:55. | |
asking David Cameron that question? I have never seen a single comment | :23:56. | :23:58. | |
from Roger that would be deemed to be offensive. Do you regard his | :23:59. | :24:04. | |
comments on homosexuality as offensive? When he grew up, | :24:05. | :24:09. | |
homosexuality was illegal in this country. But this was in 2012 but he | :24:10. | :24:19. | |
said that. Most people have his age still feel uncomfortable about it -- | :24:20. | :24:29. | |
of his age. In 2012 he said, if two men can be married, why not three, | :24:30. | :24:36. | |
why not a commune. Many people in this country are disconcerted by the | :24:37. | :24:41. | |
change in the meaning of marriage and in a tolerant society we | :24:42. | :24:44. | |
understand that some people have different views. But he has changed | :24:45. | :24:50. | |
his views now in only two years He says he is more relaxed about it. | :24:51. | :25:00. | |
Was he your candidate? He is a first-class campaigner who has had | :25:01. | :25:04. | |
30 years in industry, he served in the European Parliament, he is a | :25:05. | :25:09. | |
good candidate. This morning's papers suggest you are about to | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
select Victoria Ayling for Grimsby, but she is on camera saying that, of | :25:15. | :25:20. | |
immigrants, I just want to send a lot back. This is all very | :25:21. | :25:23. | |
interesting, and we can talk about it, all we could talk about the fact | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
that in 12 days we have a European election and every voter across the | :25:29. | :25:33. | |
UK can vote on it and it is really interesting. Are you happy to pick a | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
candidate that says of immigrants, I just want to send a lot back? I have | :25:40. | :25:47. | |
seen the tape, it is a complete misquote and she says it in the | :25:48. | :25:53. | |
context of illegal immigrants. I have seen the full quote and in the | :25:54. | :25:59. | |
context it is not about illegal immigrants. Let's come onto the | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
European campaign, you have used a company that employs Eastern | :26:05. | :26:08. | |
European is to deliver leaflets in London and the Home Counties. Have | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
we? I'm told that in Croydon one branch might have done that. Have | :26:14. | :26:19. | |
you found some indigenous Brits to deliver leaflets in Europe? We have | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
thousands joining the party every month and they are not all | :26:25. | :26:28. | |
indigenous because what is interesting is that in today's | :26:29. | :26:34. | |
opinion polls, UKIP is above the Lib Dems and the Conservatives amongst | :26:35. | :26:45. | |
the indigenous voting. We have not agreed a manifesto for | :26:46. | :27:00. | |
the general election, we will do over the course of the summer. This | :27:01. | :27:08. | |
is in your local election. We are having local elections in some part | :27:09. | :27:11. | |
of the country but we are fighting a European election. It is impossible | :27:12. | :27:15. | |
with the British media to have an intelligent debate on the European | :27:16. | :27:21. | |
question. But as I say, we are also fighting the local elections too. | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
You have promised these tax cuts, how much will they cost? I have met | :27:27. | :27:32. | |
-- read the local election manifesto and it doesn't make those promises. | :27:33. | :27:37. | |
We do talk about local services we do talk about the need to keep | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
council tax down but we don't talk about income tax. Absolutely not. In | :27:43. | :27:49. | |
local election campaigning you say you would restore cuts to policing, | :27:50. | :27:56. | |
double prison places, restore cuts to front line NHS, spend more on | :27:57. | :28:03. | |
roads, how much would that cost You are obviously reading different | :28:04. | :28:07. | |
documents to me. We are voting for local councillors in district | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
councils who have got little local budgets. Every party in a manifesto | :28:12. | :28:18. | |
puts his aspirations in it. Have you read it? Of course I have, cover to | :28:19. | :28:24. | |
cover, which is why I'm saying you are misquoting it. By the way, on | :28:25. | :28:31. | |
the bubble bursting, you told that to Norman Smith of the BBC. 75% of | :28:32. | :28:38. | |
British laws are now made in the European Union. Now AstraZeneca is | :28:39. | :28:43. | |
potentially going to be taken over by Pfizer. The BBC is refusing to | :28:44. | :28:48. | |
show the public that that decision cannot be taken here but by an | :28:49. | :28:52. | |
elected European commissioner, and we sit and argue about what is in or | :28:53. | :29:00. | |
not in the local election manifesto. It is my job, but let me come on to | :29:01. | :29:10. | |
AstraZeneca. Is it your view that a British government should stop the | :29:11. | :29:17. | |
takeover of AstraZeneca? It cannot. Can we please get this clear. I sat | :29:18. | :29:26. | |
next to Chuka Umunna the other day at question time and he said what | :29:27. | :29:32. | |
could and couldn't be done. He said I am being studiously neutral, and | :29:33. | :29:36. | |
the reason is we don't have this power. That is what the European | :29:37. | :29:43. | |
elections is about. Should France have the takeover of the food | :29:44. | :29:55. | |
company Danan? We seem to do things to the Nth degree and nobody else | :29:56. | :30:03. | |
does, perhaps because we have this culture and we obey it. In your | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
view, you don't think Pfizer should be able to take over AstraZeneca? | :30:09. | :30:16. | |
There is some good science within AstraZeneca which is in danger of | :30:17. | :30:21. | |
being asset stripped and lost. Because it is run by a Swede and a | :30:22. | :30:27. | |
Frenchman and most of its employees are overseas. I understand that but | :30:28. | :30:33. | |
there are still some good science being produced here. What did you | :30:34. | :30:36. | |
think of the Prime Minister saying he would not form a government after | :30:37. | :30:42. | |
the election unless he was able to have a referendum in 2017? I sat | :30:43. | :30:50. | |
here talking to you and you said to me that David Cameron had given a | :30:51. | :30:55. | |
cast-iron guarantee that if David Cameron becomes Prime Minister he | :30:56. | :30:57. | |
will have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, but he didn't deliver on | :30:58. | :31:03. | |
that. He knows that people struggle to believe the renegotiation is | :31:04. | :31:07. | |
worth a row of beans. He is saying he will not form a government unless | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
he can go forward with the referendum. I know he is desperately | :31:13. | :31:16. | |
trying to pretend to be Eurosceptic whilst at the same time saying he | :31:17. | :31:20. | |
will campaign for Britain to remain in. In a sense, that is what this | :31:21. | :31:25. | |
election is about. We have three traditional parties, all of whom | :31:26. | :31:28. | |
passionately believe in the continued membership of the European | :31:29. | :31:32. | |
Union and we have UKIP saying we want trade and cooperation but there | :31:33. | :31:36. | |
is a bigger and better world out there. You are now travelling with I | :31:37. | :31:44. | |
think four bodyguards, has this affected you and your family life? I | :31:45. | :31:52. | |
can't stand it. I've always wondered about the place and on my own thing. | :31:53. | :31:56. | |
Sadly we have a couple of organisations out there headed up by | :31:57. | :32:00. | |
senior Labour Party figures who purport to be against fascism and | :32:01. | :32:03. | |
extremism, who received funding from the Department of communities, from | :32:04. | :32:08. | |
the trade unions, who have acted in a violent wait more than once. You | :32:09. | :32:12. | |
are saying the Labour Party is behind the threats? No, I said a | :32:13. | :32:18. | |
taxpayer funded, trade union funded and headed by senior Labour Party | :32:19. | :32:21. | |
figures, and I'm happy for them to come to my meetings and have an | :32:22. | :32:25. | |
itinerant with me, but it's not so much fun when there are banging you | :32:26. | :32:29. | |
over the head. I is still keen to be an MP? Yes, what UKIP will then do | :32:30. | :32:34. | |
is target before the general election next year for the one life | :32:35. | :32:39. | |
be easier if you just went to the Lords? That's the last thing I want | :32:40. | :32:45. | |
to do. There's an awful lot to do. Most of all, I will not rest until | :32:46. | :32:50. | |
we are free from political union and government from Brussels. Nigel | :32:51. | :32:52. | |
Farage, thank you for being with us. It's just gone 11.30am. You're | :32:53. | :32:55. | |
watching the Sunday Politics. We say goodbye to viewers in Scotland, who | :32:56. | :32:58. | |
leave us now for Sunday Politics Scotland. Coming up here in 20 | :32:59. | :33:01. | |
a Welcome to Sunday Politics South. big stories of the week. First | :33:02. | :33:12. | |
a Welcome to Sunday Politics South. My name's Peter Henley. We've got | :33:13. | :33:15. | |
rather a different programmd for you today. We're looking at the local | :33:16. | :33:22. | |
elections, which are just 10 days away now, and we've invited in | :33:23. | :33:25. | |
politicians from the three parties which run local authorities in our | :33:26. | :33:28. | |
region. Paul Harvey is a Labour councillor from Basingstoke and | :33:29. | :33:30. | |
Deane Borough Council, Donn` Jones is the leader of the Conservative | :33:31. | :33:33. | |
group on Portsmouth City Cotncil and Keith House is the Liberal Democrat | :33:34. | :33:36. | |
leader of Eastleigh Borough Council. And the deal is that they'rd here to | :33:37. | :33:39. | |
talk about their party's eldctoral prospects Thursday week, not to | :33:40. | :33:41. | |
electioneer about their indhvidual councils. Councillors electdd in | :33:42. | :33:50. | |
2010 with their seats at st`ke. What are Labour working on? Doorstep | :33:51. | :33:58. | |
action, talking to as many people as we can. The key point coming across | :33:59. | :34:05. | |
for us, public transport, housing. The pitch were making on rented | :34:06. | :34:08. | |
housing in particular strikds a chord in the south`east. Thd economy | :34:09. | :34:31. | |
is improving. Is all about dconomy? There are local issues that | :34:32. | :34:35. | |
actually, what the Conservatives are focused on is money and how well off | :34:36. | :34:41. | |
people are in their pockets and ensuring that taxation is going | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
down, public services are protected, like public health | :34:47. | :34:53. | |
spending, and the Conservathves in the region are focused on m`king | :34:54. | :34:57. | |
sure that we stand up for those people to go out and work, pay taxes | :34:58. | :35:03. | |
and ensure they are getting something back from the comlunity in | :35:04. | :35:06. | |
which they live. I am the d`ughter of a bricklayer. I am a classic | :35:07. | :35:16. | |
example of a conservative. Hn 2 10, these councillors were separate | :35:17. | :35:21. | |
They were Lib Dems in a verx different way. Are you trying to | :35:22. | :35:30. | |
draw apart from the Conserv`tives? In local government, we do not stand | :35:31. | :35:40. | |
with the Conservatives. Where we are running councils, we are st`nding on | :35:41. | :35:47. | |
our record of success. We are standing on our record of holding | :35:48. | :35:51. | |
parties to account, making progress in the future and preparing for the | :35:52. | :35:55. | |
general election as well. Btt Liberal Democrats are saying, | :35:56. | :36:00. | |
surely, we have nothing to do with that Nick Clegg? Of course we are in | :36:01. | :36:05. | |
government and we have a grdat record in government, too. Three | :36:06. | :36:12. | |
items in our manifesto promhses Pensions, education, taking millions | :36:13. | :36:18. | |
of people out of income tax, those are Liberal Democrat achievdments in | :36:19. | :36:27. | |
government. Liberal Democrats have the best record in the country of | :36:28. | :36:32. | |
keeping taxation down. That's not true! Look at our own region. We | :36:33. | :36:38. | |
have that council tax incre`ses for two out of the last three ydars in | :36:39. | :36:43. | |
Portsmouth. Even though a Conservative Secretary of State has | :36:44. | :36:49. | |
put forward the freeze grants, that was not taken advantage of. Localism | :36:50. | :36:58. | |
is the answer but if we look at the country as a whole, Liberal Democrat | :36:59. | :37:02. | |
councils have a better record of holding council tax town burn either | :37:03. | :37:13. | |
Conservatives all labour. You are in government and the cost of living | :37:14. | :37:18. | |
crisis people are suffering, through fuel bills and cuts to local | :37:19. | :37:24. | |
governments, those have slashed services in social care, supporting | :37:25. | :37:29. | |
people, public transport, and both of you are responsible for that | :37:30. | :37:34. | |
That is something that does concern voters. A Labour alternativd cares | :37:35. | :37:50. | |
about people. Neither of yot can escape the fact you are responsible | :37:51. | :37:55. | |
for that in government. This is the Labour copout, to be fair. Lake `` | :37:56. | :38:03. | |
many local councils have avoided cuts. Many councils have cut things | :38:04. | :38:14. | |
to make it look like they h`ve got to cut deeper than they need to He | :38:15. | :38:20. | |
is saying what he has just said about the cost of living crhsis in | :38:21. | :38:26. | |
the UK is like a mother givhng her child Swedes 365 days of" | :38:27. | :38:30. | |
distancing, why are my child's teeth falling out? `` days a year. The | :38:31. | :38:42. | |
cost of living crisis is because the Labour Party failed to get ` grip of | :38:43. | :38:46. | |
the balance sheet for ten ydars in government, and that's why ` | :38:47. | :38:52. | |
Conservative and Liberal co`lition government have had to make tough | :38:53. | :38:57. | |
decisions and tough cuts. Btt actually, to make sure the balance | :38:58. | :39:02. | |
sheet is healthy for generations are people going forward. If we had done | :39:03. | :39:05. | |
it your way, the country wotld be bankrupt and we would have lost our | :39:06. | :39:11. | |
credit rating. It would probably be minus now. That would have ` | :39:12. | :39:14. | |
knock`on effect for every btsiness, borrow and savour in this country. | :39:15. | :39:24. | |
The issue is they are cutting to the bone now. In Hampshire county | :39:25. | :39:29. | |
council, we're talking about ?1 5 million cuts to public transport. | :39:30. | :39:38. | |
There have been protests about services, but in local government, a | :39:39. | :39:45. | |
lot of efficiency has been found. Talk to people in housing arrears, | :39:46. | :39:50. | |
facing eviction, in the food banks because they can't afford to heat | :39:51. | :39:55. | |
their homes because of fuel poverty, talk to people in real crishs. You | :39:56. | :40:01. | |
can't and shouldn't deny it. There is a genuine issue in terms of | :40:02. | :40:03. | |
inequality that we are seeing because of the policies of the | :40:04. | :40:10. | |
coalition. There have been huge claims made by the Liberal Democrats | :40:11. | :40:15. | |
about how they have helped people and yet, it isn't found. Yes and no. | :40:16. | :40:25. | |
You have been popping up wh`t has been done as a coalition government. | :40:26. | :40:33. | |
Where I sit in Hampshire, IC cuts but I believe are the wrong way of | :40:34. | :40:41. | |
managing public sector finance. I have labelled them the Consdrvative | :40:42. | :40:45. | |
cuts of choice because they have decided to hit vulnerable pdople, | :40:46. | :40:49. | |
mainly because vulnerable pdople's electro` voice is not as lotd. `` | :40:50. | :41:01. | |
electoral voice. The bedrool taxes is not a tax. It's a reducthon in | :41:02. | :41:05. | |
benefits. He is talking abott the crisis of people who are behng | :41:06. | :41:09. | |
forced to move out of their home or have a massive loss of incole | :41:10. | :41:12. | |
because they are living in ` three`bedroom council house and | :41:13. | :41:20. | |
their children have moved ott. What I would say to him, he needs to look | :41:21. | :41:26. | |
at the crisis of the family who have got three small children under the | :41:27. | :41:30. | |
age of five who are living hn a one`bedroom flat that is dalp | :41:31. | :41:34. | |
because they are overcrowded and I would say, look at their crhsis Why | :41:35. | :41:40. | |
have we brought in this bedroom tax? Because we have a housing crisis. | :41:41. | :41:45. | |
And look at the lack of affordable housing and building and sed people | :41:46. | :41:50. | |
who cannot get on the ladder, who cannot get a home. When you talk | :41:51. | :41:55. | |
about the bedroom tax, let's talk about the two thirds of people who | :41:56. | :41:59. | |
are disabled hit by the bedroom tax to have no option. I have a case of | :42:00. | :42:05. | |
a disabled couple who need two bedrooms or their equipment and they | :42:06. | :42:11. | |
are trapped. They have got to reduce to a one bed flat. They can't put | :42:12. | :42:16. | |
the equipment in one`bedrool. That is an exception where you h`ve | :42:17. | :42:24. | |
overridden them. The spare room subsidy is right but the pr`ctice | :42:25. | :42:28. | |
has caused the difficulty. The policy should have been implemented | :42:29. | :42:34. | |
more sympathetically. Peopld with disabilities are a classic dxample. | :42:35. | :42:39. | |
That is something the government will get to, hopefully. There is a | :42:40. | :42:47. | |
great deal at stake. There are around 50 district | :42:48. | :42:49. | |
councils, county councils or unitary authorities in our region, `nd that | :42:50. | :42:52. | |
doesn't include all the parhsh councils. That's a whole lot of | :42:53. | :42:55. | |
local government. Is it maybe too much? In tough economic timds, when | :42:56. | :42:58. | |
all councils are looking to save money, could we maybe save ` | :42:59. | :43:01. | |
substantial amount by doing away with some councils and, shock | :43:02. | :43:05. | |
horror, councillors? Our Dorset political reporter, Tristan Pascoe, | :43:06. | :43:07. | |
has been considering who might be suitable for the chop. | :43:08. | :43:12. | |
Because of the financial crhsis and economic downturn, councils have | :43:13. | :43:15. | |
seen huge cuts in their funding from government. Many are now sh`ring | :43:16. | :43:21. | |
services and merging departlents. This stretch of coastline rdally | :43:22. | :43:23. | |
typifies the arguments for reducing bureaucracy locally. From hdre, you | :43:24. | :43:27. | |
can see Christchurch, Bourndmouth, Poole and Purbeck to the West, each | :43:28. | :43:30. | |
with their own distinct identities, but each with their own sep`rate | :43:31. | :43:37. | |
authorities. One group in Dorset is calling for a brand`new unitary | :43:38. | :43:39. | |
authority from Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch. We could see a | :43:40. | :43:45. | |
reduction in the number of councillors, for example, from | :43:46. | :43:48. | |
around 125 to about 54, which is the size of Bristol, with all the | :43:49. | :43:50. | |
benefits of promoting, internationally, a major | :43:51. | :43:56. | |
conurbation. To actually have one management is going to save, we | :43:57. | :43:59. | |
believe, quite a lot of mondy, several million in the year one | :44:00. | :44:02. | |
Right. Pay attention. This is Dorset. Currently, `ll | :44:03. | :44:12. | |
councils are signed up to the Dorset Waste Partnership, with the | :44:13. | :44:14. | |
exception of the two unitarx authorities in Bournemouth `nd | :44:15. | :44:17. | |
Poole. Still with me? Good. In the east of the county, Christchurch | :44:18. | :44:19. | |
Borough Council are currently involved in a partnership whth East | :44:20. | :44:23. | |
Dorset District Council. Thdy also share a joint chief executive. | :44:24. | :44:27. | |
They're involved in the Stotr Valley Partnership, for revenues and | :44:28. | :44:29. | |
benefits, with North Dorset District Council, soon to be joined by the | :44:30. | :44:35. | |
borough of Poole. Wake up at the back! In the west of the cotnty | :44:36. | :44:38. | |
West Dorset District Council and Weymouth and Portland Borough | :44:39. | :44:40. | |
Council currently share manx services and there are ongohng | :44:41. | :44:42. | |
discussions to bring North Dorset District Council into a tripartite | :44:43. | :44:49. | |
system. That's an awful lot of sharing of services. So why not cut | :44:50. | :44:52. | |
out the middleman altogether, the districts, and have a singld unitary | :44:53. | :44:54. | |
for Dorset? District councillors in West Dorset | :44:55. | :45:03. | |
get a minimum of ?4,000 each as their council allowance. Thdre are | :45:04. | :45:05. | |
48 of them. That's more district councillors than there are county | :45:06. | :45:08. | |
councillors, of which there are only 45. I would rather have a shngle, | :45:09. | :45:11. | |
unitary, rural authority th`t saves money but packs a punch in the | :45:12. | :45:14. | |
battle with the conurbation which, at the moment, takes most of the | :45:15. | :45:18. | |
resources that are availabld in this county. The middle tier is ` huge | :45:19. | :45:26. | |
waste of money. Shows just how money... How much money really has | :45:27. | :45:32. | |
been wasted over many, many years. With that sort of level of | :45:33. | :45:34. | |
representation, makes me wonder what they all do, to be honest whth you. | :45:35. | :45:38. | |
Should there be one authority for all Dorset? It would probably make | :45:39. | :45:41. | |
more sense but that's not rdally going to happen any time soon, I | :45:42. | :45:44. | |
wouldn't have thought. I thhnk it would be the way forward, as other | :45:45. | :45:47. | |
authorities are doing as well across the land. I don't expect thd left | :45:48. | :45:51. | |
hand what the right hand's doing. So, the people are up for it. What | :45:52. | :45:57. | |
about the county council le`der The current coalition made it clear | :45:58. | :46:00. | |
when they came to power in 2010 there would be no local govdrnment | :46:01. | :46:03. | |
reorganisation. But here in Dorchester, you've got 20 town | :46:04. | :46:05. | |
councillors, 48 district cotncillors and 45 county councillors. That s | :46:06. | :46:14. | |
too many, isn't it? It is always a temptation to think it is a panacea | :46:15. | :46:19. | |
for change by reducing the number of members. All those members `re | :46:20. | :46:22. | |
working hard for their commtnities and doing it because they to. We | :46:23. | :46:28. | |
shouldn't undervalue what they do. The biggest cost of any council is | :46:29. | :46:34. | |
the service it delivers. But potentially there are huge savings | :46:35. | :46:39. | |
to be made. In Wiltshire, fhve years ago, they did exactly that. They | :46:40. | :46:44. | |
reduce the number of councillors from more than 250 down to 88. They | :46:45. | :46:52. | |
also reduce their property portfolio from 98 council buildings to three, | :46:53. | :46:56. | |
including this new hub in S`lisbury, and saved a tonne of cash in the | :46:57. | :47:03. | |
process. We have saved ?100 million over four years. It was difficult. | :47:04. | :47:13. | |
But many people in Wiltshird only thought there was one counchl in the | :47:14. | :47:21. | |
beginning. And people said to us, we want a council that delivers us good | :47:22. | :47:26. | |
services are good value for money. But despite the obvious fin`ncial | :47:27. | :47:30. | |
benefits, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. | :47:31. | :47:43. | |
People's perceptions of councils, they don't realise they provide | :47:44. | :47:48. | |
services. Local government having three tiers can be confusing for the | :47:49. | :48:04. | |
public. It's important for councillors who do a lot of work in | :48:05. | :48:11. | |
the community. There is a great deal of talk back efficiency but also | :48:12. | :48:15. | |
representation and making stre people's voices are heard. That s | :48:16. | :48:23. | |
the real benefit of the smaller tier councils. A group of people in the | :48:24. | :48:27. | |
community were able to choose what they want to take the most local | :48:28. | :48:33. | |
decisions. We also have this European election. It's hugd. Is | :48:34. | :48:40. | |
UKIP going to make a differdnce to Labour? The way the Labour vote is | :48:41. | :48:47. | |
holding up across the south`east, it's holding up strongly. Btt UKIP | :48:48. | :48:58. | |
has this message of anti`politics. It is trying to tap into solething | :48:59. | :49:03. | |
that is relating to how people feel about politics, but when yot talk | :49:04. | :49:06. | |
about local councillors and what they do on the ground, that such an | :49:07. | :49:14. | |
important part of their rold. Hampshire is so remote from | :49:15. | :49:17. | |
Basingstoke because it is in Winchester. You feel remote, so who | :49:18. | :49:22. | |
is your representative in Winchester? There is a real issue of | :49:23. | :49:28. | |
remoteness. When it comes to UKIP, they are not there. They must take | :49:29. | :49:36. | |
votes from conservatives. Originally, they were a right of | :49:37. | :49:39. | |
centre party, but now, they are appealing to everybody. I do believe | :49:40. | :49:48. | |
they are taking votes across the board. Where you have got trade | :49:49. | :49:53. | |
unions against the cuts, a left of centre original party. They are big | :49:54. | :50:03. | |
in Oxford but don't exist in most parts of the south`east. Thdy are a | :50:04. | :50:09. | |
great protest party. They are tending to take votes from other | :50:10. | :50:13. | |
parties. Labour and Conserv`tives, last year, we saw those votds | :50:14. | :50:20. | |
collapse. However, a bubble is about to burst. | :50:21. | :50:24. | |
Now our regular round`up of the political week in the South in 0 | :50:25. | :50:27. | |
seconds, and this week, it's a jungle out there. | :50:28. | :50:40. | |
The personal details of 18,000 people in Berkshire were | :50:41. | :50:50. | |
accidentally released into the wild. Wokingham council sold them after | :50:51. | :50:52. | |
what they said was a software glitch. Residents may find they get | :50:53. | :50:58. | |
junk mail that they weren't expecting to get through thd post. | :50:59. | :51:05. | |
No apology from water for the shooting of migratory birds, | :51:06. | :51:13. | |
discussed by MPs this week. Our turtledoves have declined bx 95 | :51:14. | :51:20. | |
since 1970. Flocking to Bournemouth, though | :51:21. | :51:24. | |
international students. Language schools reported a 30% incrdase in | :51:25. | :51:28. | |
places. Finally, our snappy politichan | :51:29. | :51:38. | |
feature went viral. This twdet went wild on the Internet. | :51:39. | :51:51. | |
A great shot! Is there anything new on the campaign trail? Talkhng to | :51:52. | :51:58. | |
people. It's true. My best experience was I walked round the | :51:59. | :52:02. | |
corner from my door and this woman runs at an herbage armours. She | :52:03. | :52:06. | |
said, I wanted to tell you how I will vote. `` runs out in hdr | :52:07. | :52:19. | |
pyjamas. One of my candidatds, Frank Jonas, he has got a big motorbike | :52:20. | :52:25. | |
and he has taken to riding `round Portsmouth on his motorbike would | :52:26. | :52:35. | |
vote Frank on the back. Sochal media is a big thing, so Facebook, | :52:36. | :52:43. | |
Twitter, taking photographs of the streets you have just canvassed | :52:44. | :52:48. | |
Don't steal the idea! That's the Sunday Politics hn the | :52:49. | :52:51. | |
South. Thanks to my guests, Paul Harvey, Donna Jones and Keith House. | :52:52. | :52:54. | |
Next week, we'll be grilling some of the politicians who'd like to | :52:55. | :52:57. | |
represent us in Brussels. If you bump into the PM or any othdr | :52:58. | :53:00. | |
politician, don't forget to tweet it to #snapapolitician, but for now, | :53:01. | :53:01. | |
it's back to Andrew. the website now. Now it is back to | :53:02. | :53:04. | |
you, Andrew. Welcome back, let's go straight to | :53:05. | :53:22. | |
our panel. What did you make of Mr Alexander's defence of the Labour | :53:23. | :53:27. | |
party election broadcast? It is difficult for them because they | :53:28. | :53:30. | |
started by saying they were not going to do negative campaigning and | :53:31. | :53:34. | |
they have thrown that away for an advert which is funny but crude in | :53:35. | :53:42. | |
the class war sense. He didn't look thrilled to be defending it. There | :53:43. | :53:49. | |
is a page in Tony Blair's memoirs talking about negative campaigning, | :53:50. | :53:53. | |
and he says that anything too extreme turns off the average voter | :53:54. | :53:58. | |
so his line of attack on Hague was funny jokes but... I think this | :53:59. | :54:10. | |
failed the Blair test, it was too vicious. If your strategy is to | :54:11. | :54:17. | |
shore up your car vote, that advert was genius. If your strategy is to | :54:18. | :54:21. | |
reach out to a broader number of voters, Middle Britain, then that | :54:22. | :54:26. | |
advert was a complete disaster. It looks like there is a lot of | :54:27. | :54:30. | |
negativity and smears all round in the next year. That definitely looks | :54:31. | :54:42. | |
the way we are going. They will be essentially trying to re-run by -- | :54:43. | :55:01. | |
the American election. I am slightly puzzled why we cannot have our own | :55:02. | :55:06. | |
election gurus who live here and understand the country. I should | :55:07. | :55:11. | |
point out that the ?450 extra VAT that was claimed in that Labour | :55:12. | :55:16. | |
poster, both Ed Balls and the Labour Treasury team have said that is ?450 | :55:17. | :55:23. | |
per year. Nonsense the VAT rise one year. I should also point out that | :55:24. | :55:28. | |
Nigel Farage said to Norman Smith, the BBC is always reliable Norman | :55:29. | :55:36. | |
Smith that if you run in Newark and lost the bubble would burst. I | :55:37. | :55:40. | |
should also point out that although a number of the tax rises I | :55:41. | :55:45. | |
mentioned on council tax, minimum wage tax and some other things that | :55:46. | :55:50. | |
UKIP wants to cuts, a couple of these are in the local manifesto but | :55:51. | :55:56. | |
several are not. They are on the UKIP website, which is still current | :55:57. | :56:03. | |
and dated 2014. We like to make sure we are absolutely right. Let's talk | :56:04. | :56:08. | |
about Nick Clegg and Michael Gove and the latest spat. Let me show you | :56:09. | :56:13. | |
this headline in the Observer this morning. From both the Independent, | :56:14. | :56:22. | |
he called him a zealot, lunatic is of -- another word. Do we take this | :56:23. | :56:33. | |
seriously? It hinges on this question of what counts as an area | :56:34. | :56:38. | |
of need in education. The Lib Dems say an area of need is one where | :56:39. | :56:42. | |
there are not enough school places to meet local demand. He says it can | :56:43. | :56:47. | |
also be a place where there are surplus places but that is for a | :56:48. | :56:51. | |
reason. Local places don't trust those schools to do a good job for | :56:52. | :57:03. | |
their kids. It surprises me because there isn't a yawning distance | :57:04. | :57:09. | |
between David Laws and Michael Gove. David Laws has found himself between | :57:10. | :57:14. | |
a rock and a hard place because I asked -- as I understand it most Lib | :57:15. | :57:18. | |
Dems don't like the free schools but Mr laws was quite sympathetic to it | :57:19. | :57:22. | |
and he is now having to this respect it. When they asked people who are | :57:23. | :57:29. | |
the most hated politicians in a poll were this week, Michael Gove is off | :57:30. | :57:34. | |
the charts, far above David Cameron or George Osborne. This is | :57:35. | :57:48. | |
tit-for-tat war. The Liberal Democrats believe Michael Gove had a | :57:49. | :57:51. | |
hand in leaking the document that showed Nick Clegg was opposing the | :57:52. | :57:55. | |
tougher Chris Grayling position on knife crime. They are saying there | :57:56. | :58:00. | |
were Cabinet ministers who never usually attend the sub Cabinet | :58:01. | :58:05. | |
meeting, they turned up and the document is leaked so what we are | :58:06. | :58:09. | |
getting is tit for tat on that. It is inevitable but it is not good for | :58:10. | :58:14. | |
either side of the Coalition. Voters will look at it and say it is | :58:15. | :58:20. | |
politics of the playground. I read in the Mail on Sunday this morning | :58:21. | :58:31. | |
that some Tory insiders are accusing Lib Dems of spreading rumours about | :58:32. | :58:35. | |
the camera in marriage. The rebuttals of education story is that | :58:36. | :58:43. | |
the free school meals is sucking money away. I always thought they | :58:44. | :58:52. | |
would work together without fuss and yet it has been more the source of | :58:53. | :58:58. | |
disagreement then I would have expected a couple of years ago. Is | :58:59. | :59:04. | |
it serious? It is serious obviously, using that language, but is it fatal | :59:05. | :59:11. | |
for the Coalition? I think it is a road bump because I don't think | :59:12. | :59:13. | |
anybody wants to dissolve the Coalition. It is a challenge for | :59:14. | :59:18. | |
Labour because where do they stand on the free schools? They invented | :59:19. | :59:22. | |
the Academy programme so it is difficult for them to take a | :59:23. | :59:26. | |
hands-off approach at this stage. There was a danger for Michael Gove | :59:27. | :59:30. | |
that he looks ideological but the danger for the Liberal Democrats is | :59:31. | :59:33. | |
that they are breaking the rules for the Coalition they said that they | :59:34. | :59:37. | |
wouldn't break which is that they looked like opposition in | :59:38. | :59:43. | |
government. Is Michael Gove's position safe? Very safe. If he | :59:44. | :59:50. | |
moves in a reshuffle that will be to a a job. That's all for today. The | :59:51. | :59:56. | |
Daily Politics will be back on BBC Two at lunchtime from Tuesday | :59:57. | :59:59. | |
onwards. I'll be back here on BBC One at 11am next week. Remember if | :00:00. | :00:02. | |
it's Sunday, it's the Sunday Politics. | :00:03. | :00:08. |