Browse content similar to 07/10/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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$:/STARTFEED. Later in the programme: As the Conservatives | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
gather for their Spring Conference in Birmingham, we'll hear from | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
Andrew RT Davies - the party's leader in the National Assembly for | :01:31. | :01:41. | |
:01:41. | :01:41. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2130 seconds | :01:41. | :37:11. | |
Hello. And, on the Sunday Politics Wales: We're drawing to the end of | :37:11. | :37:14. | |
conference season. It is the Conservatives' turn this week in | :37:14. | :37:17. | |
Birmingham. We'll hear from Andrew RT Davies - the party's leader in | :37:17. | :37:19. | |
the National Assembly. And, as unions campaign for the so-called | :37:19. | :37:22. | |
living wage for council workers, is it affordable at a time of spending | :37:22. | :37:26. | |
cuts? Joining me today are the Conservative AM, David Melding, and | :37:26. | :37:36. | |
:37:36. | :37:36. | ||
the Labour AM, Julie Morgan. Weir began last week's programme with | :37:36. | :37:41. | |
looking ahead to the draft budget. I suppose now of the discussion | :37:41. | :37:47. | |
starts between your party - Labour - and the other parties to get an | :37:47. | :37:51. | |
agreement. Where would you like to see this agreement? We are open to | :37:51. | :37:57. | |
discussion with two of the other parties, I think. Not David's | :37:57. | :38:02. | |
party! We will be in discussion with David's party. There will be a | :38:02. | :38:08. | |
lot of the things and the Budget we will be in agreement on. I spoke to | :38:08. | :38:13. | |
Plaid Cymru on Wednesday after it was announced the start they focus | :38:13. | :38:21. | |
on finding jobs for young people. The Liberal Democrats focus on | :38:21. | :38:25. | |
underprivileged students. Do you have any preference? Would you like | :38:25. | :38:30. | |
to see one favoured over the other questions up obviously, we would | :38:30. | :38:36. | |
like both. We will have to work out what is the best one to get through. | :38:36. | :38:43. | |
It has very important things in it. We're helping the most deprived | :38:43. | :38:47. | |
young children. I'm sure all parties will want to support that. | :38:47. | :38:53. | |
It seems that the party has been sidelined. What can you add to this | :38:53. | :38:59. | |
budget discussion? Labour/Conservative combination is | :38:59. | :39:04. | |
not normal politics. We would concentrate on health. We're using | :39:04. | :39:07. | |
our presence in the assembly chamber to emphasise how much we | :39:07. | :39:13. | |
need to spend on health, above what is in the Budget. Especially at the | :39:13. | :39:19. | |
time of great structural change in Wales. That is our focus at the | :39:19. | :39:23. | |
moment. We will leave it there for now. Another conference Sunday and | :39:23. | :39:25. | |
another conference interview for our correspondent, David Cornock, | :39:25. | :39:28. | |
today in Birmingham. He's been talking to the Conservative | :39:28. | :39:34. | |
Assembly leader, Andrew RT Davies. Hello from Birmingham where the | :39:34. | :39:38. | |
Conservatives meet. They find themselves behind in the polls. It | :39:38. | :39:44. | |
could be a tricky conference for David Cameron. Led South -- let's | :39:44. | :39:49. | |
find out more from Andrew RT Davies. We have had the budget was dubbed | :39:49. | :39:55. | |
the various tax initiatives that went wrong. We had the fiasco over | :39:55. | :40:00. | |
the West Coast main land -- main line. You have a chief whip who | :40:00. | :40:05. | |
swears at police officers. How do you think the Government is doing? | :40:05. | :40:10. | |
You have painted a bleak picture. What we have had is a massive | :40:10. | :40:14. | |
inward investment programme for the investigation of the Great Western | :40:14. | :40:20. | |
line to Swansea. �2 million worth of investment will come from that. | :40:20. | :40:24. | |
We have falling inflation and falling unemployment. The | :40:24. | :40:29. | |
indicators in some of the green shoots we require, after the | :40:29. | :40:33. | |
devastation left by the last Labour government are there. We're putting | :40:33. | :40:40. | |
in solid foundations to make sure the economy grows. The economy was | :40:40. | :40:44. | |
growing when the Conservatives came to power. Now it is in recession. | :40:45. | :40:51. | |
We have had massive inward investor -- investment. It has not happened | :40:52. | :40:57. | |
yet. It is a very positive sign. We have falling unemployment and | :40:57. | :41:01. | |
falling inflation. That is supported by a record low interest | :41:01. | :41:05. | |
rates, which is a prerequisite for businesses to invest so they can | :41:05. | :41:08. | |
borrow at attractive rates. Households are having their | :41:08. | :41:13. | |
mortgages kept down. A do not underestimate the challenges. | :41:13. | :41:18. | |
Ultimately there are positives out there. As a party, what we must do | :41:18. | :41:23. | |
is be positive in our outlook and gave -- engage with the public. | :41:23. | :41:27. | |
know that the Chancellor and the Prime Minister have both said there | :41:27. | :41:31. | |
will have to be more spending cuts in future. When David Cameron and | :41:31. | :41:35. | |
George Osborne ring you are asking for advice, what will you tell them | :41:36. | :41:41. | |
question but it is about getting the economy growing. -- what will | :41:41. | :41:47. | |
you tell them? What I Lukacs as leader of the West Conservatives in | :41:47. | :41:50. | |
the National Assembly is the abject failure to deliver any economic | :41:50. | :41:58. | |
strategy within the Welsh Assembly. Forgive me, the question is about | :41:58. | :42:02. | |
cuts. We are building an economy that is starting to show the green | :42:02. | :42:09. | |
shoots of gross. We will have higher tax receipts and up or pay | :42:09. | :42:13. | |
for public services. From my perspective, we have a worse | :42:13. | :42:19. | |
government that is buoyed have any ideas regarding the economy and | :42:19. | :42:23. | |
Enterprise -- enterprise. Only in the Third World Kenya have that | :42:23. | :42:28. | |
ideology in the ministry that is supposed to be growing the economy. | :42:28. | :42:33. | |
-- Kang you have. What about all these benefits that go to wealthy | :42:33. | :42:38. | |
pensioners? Why should David Jones, Secretary of State for Wales, get | :42:38. | :42:45. | |
help with his winter fuel bills? Why should someone with access to a | :42:45. | :42:50. | |
shaver get a free bus pass? That is what the Welsh Conservatives had | :42:50. | :43:00. | |
:43:00. | :43:00. | ||
been championing. -- a chauffeur. We think that 40% tax payer should | :43:00. | :43:05. | |
pay a modest contribution to this - - to their prescriptions. That | :43:05. | :43:12. | |
would free up �35 million to pay for key services, like cancer | :43:12. | :43:16. | |
services and investment in hospices, to help the bar rubble in society. | :43:16. | :43:26. | |
That is where Welsh Labour is subsidising the wealthiest. That is | :43:26. | :43:31. | |
not social justice. We will never do that. The Prime Minister has | :43:31. | :43:38. | |
your confidence. Do you have the confidence of the ams in your team? | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
On your initiative to rebrand the National Assembly Welsh parliament | :43:42. | :43:47. | |
commit you did not consult them first? I have the complete | :43:47. | :43:53. | |
confidence of my members. The rebranding of the Welsh Assembly | :43:53. | :43:56. | |
and a Welsh parliament means the general public will understand but | :43:56. | :44:01. | |
the parliament does and the executive does. Parliament raise | :44:01. | :44:05. | |
tax, don't they question but that would help in people's | :44:05. | :44:10. | |
understanding of where responsibility lies. -- don't they? | :44:10. | :44:15. | |
We have an executive because of the Government of Wales. The need to | :44:15. | :44:19. | |
have a Welsh parliament. We will continue to have that discussion. | :44:19. | :44:25. | |
We are holding there were as government to account. Enjoy your | :44:25. | :44:35. | |
:44:35. | :44:36. | ||
week. -- the Welsh government. What do my guests make of that? A robust | :44:36. | :44:39. | |
defence of UK government policy and the work being carried out by the | :44:39. | :44:47. | |
group you are a member of. I think so. There is quite a lot we can do | :44:47. | :44:51. | |
in the Assembly and the worst government can do. The broad | :44:51. | :44:58. | |
parameters, the major economic decisions, are taken at UK level. - | :44:58. | :45:03. | |
- the Welsh government. We have been asked to co-operate as best as | :45:03. | :45:09. | |
possible so we can get the best policies for Wales. As one might | :45:09. | :45:13. | |
expect from David, an all- encompassing answer, reaching out | :45:13. | :45:18. | |
to other parties. Andrew RT Davies, not quite as kind to your party. | :45:18. | :45:26. | |
Boyd have any ideas on the economy, subsidising wealthy individuals. -- | :45:26. | :45:31. | |
for aid of any ideas. It is a bit like a record. The major economic | :45:31. | :45:37. | |
decisions have failed. There is general feeling that we are in real | :45:37. | :45:43. | |
trouble. We have not got out of the problems. On a local level, there | :45:43. | :45:48. | |
seems to be a continuous, like a record playing from the | :45:49. | :45:52. | |
Conservatives about these universal benefits. I feel very strongly that | :45:52. | :45:57. | |
the Labour government in rows is committed to the universal benefits, | :45:57. | :46:03. | |
as a way of helping people in very tough times. The Scottish Labour | :46:03. | :46:09. | |
leader it is turning back on universal benefits. It only seems | :46:09. | :46:14. | |
to be the Labour Party in Wales that thinks that. It is the only | :46:14. | :46:18. | |
part where the Labour Party is in power. We appreciate how important | :46:18. | :46:23. | |
it is for people to have free prescriptions. I am interested in | :46:23. | :46:30. | |
what was said. It sounds like he will get rid of the universal bus | :46:30. | :46:33. | |
pass. With free prescriptions, if you take into account people who | :46:33. | :46:38. | |
are told, or will he take the free prescriptions of pensioners and | :46:38. | :46:43. | |
young people and people with chronic disabilities? People with | :46:43. | :46:49. | |
cancer. That comes to over 90% of the people. That leaves and a 10%. | :46:49. | :46:56. | |
It is not worth the administration to do that. -- under 10%. I think | :46:56. | :47:04. | |
it is like a tired old record. you think Andrew RT Davies with his | :47:04. | :47:11. | |
attacks on government are misguided? I think Julie is wrong | :47:11. | :47:19. | |
with the prescriptive charges. Only 15% of people that had | :47:19. | :47:25. | |
prescriptions were paying for them. It is a substantial amount. You | :47:25. | :47:31. | |
make choices. The free bus pass scheme was estimated to cost about | :47:31. | :47:37. | |
15 million to 20 million, it now costs about 70 million. This has to | :47:38. | :47:42. | |
be examined for efficiency and effectiveness at the time of | :47:42. | :47:47. | |
economic austerity. It may be right to keep them going. It is not | :47:47. | :47:53. | |
beyond politics to ask these questions. The cost for free | :47:53. | :48:00. | |
prescriptions has gone down. But is a sign of their success. Let's take | :48:00. | :48:04. | |
a look at Andrew RT Davies. He has come under attack lately from | :48:04. | :48:09. | |
people criticising his leadership from without the party. If you read | :48:09. | :48:14. | |
the press, for within his own party, how do you weigh up his first 15 | :48:14. | :48:19. | |
months in charge? New leaders in the first couple of years have to | :48:19. | :48:23. | |
establish themselves. It takes a while to do this. Nick Bourne went | :48:23. | :48:28. | |
through this. There are always murmurings. He led from the front | :48:28. | :48:33. | |
but it is rocky at times. Andrew has demonstrated, he is a big | :48:33. | :48:38. | |
personality and he has ideas. Not everyone immediately will agree | :48:38. | :48:42. | |
with the ideas. The big decisions he has made, he has led and got | :48:42. | :48:50. | |
them right. Calling the Assembly a parliament, who could object to | :48:50. | :48:54. | |
that? Parliament is a wonderful, British word. It is to ride from | :48:54. | :49:02. | |
the French, of course. -- it is derived. He is seeing whether party | :49:02. | :49:12. | |
:49:12. | :49:14. | ||
is going. The question of a more autonomous Welsh party is one to be | :49:14. | :49:17. | |
considered. Council workers across Wales face a postcode lottery in | :49:17. | :49:20. | |
trying to access the so-called living wage of �7.20 an hour from | :49:20. | :49:23. | |
employers. The Unison trade union has told BBC Wales it is | :49:23. | :49:25. | |
unacceptable that authorities vary in their approach to introducing | :49:25. | :49:35. | |
:49:35. | :49:36. | ||
the wage level. It is Roald Dahl Day at this primary-school. | :49:36. | :49:40. | |
Children at the Breakfast Club are happy to be dressed as favourite | :49:40. | :49:45. | |
storybook characters. The people who serve them are happier as well. | :49:45. | :49:50. | |
The council is increasing wages to �7.20 an hour - the so-called | :49:50. | :49:55. | |
living wage. That is the minimum income necessary to provide shelter, | :49:55. | :50:00. | |
clothing and nutrition. It is over �1 an hour more than the minimum | :50:00. | :50:05. | |
wage. Because of the pay freeze on the public sector workers, then the | :50:05. | :50:09. | |
gap between the minimum wage and the lowest paid local authority | :50:09. | :50:14. | |
member of staff had reduce substantially. With the | :50:14. | :50:18. | |
introduction now of the living wage, then that differential would be | :50:18. | :50:23. | |
further maintained. The living wage is not an idea which is short of | :50:23. | :50:28. | |
support in Wales. It is a Welsh Labour manifesto pledge. At a time | :50:28. | :50:33. | |
of intense pressure on council budgets, not all local of parities | :50:33. | :50:37. | |
can afford to implement it. Even some who are eager to do so face | :50:37. | :50:43. | |
some obstacles. There is a cost to the living wage. Generally speaking, | :50:43. | :50:47. | |
there is an equation which goes something like this, in the sense | :50:47. | :50:52. | |
that if you increase costs, you reduce overtime and your ability to | :50:52. | :50:56. | |
Remploy people. We have to balance those things. Caerphilly has | :50:56. | :51:05. | |
followed Cardiff, which had a living wage in July. It will cost | :51:05. | :51:09. | |
the authority were million pounds the year, �500 per staff member. | :51:09. | :51:19. | |
The story is not so enticing elsewhere. -- �1 million a year. In | :51:19. | :51:27. | |
that other ages, -- in the other areas, they have announced no such | :51:28. | :51:32. | |
plans. A postcode lottery in the availability of the living wage is | :51:32. | :51:37. | |
not acceptable. We're heading very quickly to a minimum wage work | :51:38. | :51:42. | |
force in local government. That is unacceptable. They deliver some of | :51:42. | :51:46. | |
the most important services. What statement are we saying to workers | :51:46. | :51:52. | |
where we are paying them closer and closer to the minimum age -- wage? | :51:52. | :51:58. | |
A policy group has been set up. Naturally we would like to see the | :51:58. | :52:04. | |
implementation of the living wage right across Wales. Not only would | :52:04. | :52:10. | |
-- with local authorities. They want to regenerate the whole area. | :52:10. | :52:13. | |
When we have contractors who will be engaging with the authority to | :52:13. | :52:17. | |
undertake certain works, we will be encouraging those as well to | :52:17. | :52:22. | |
implement the living wage for their members of staff. At a time of | :52:22. | :52:27. | |
financial cutbacks, the living wage poses a problem to the Government | :52:27. | :52:32. | |
and council bosses alike. Civil servants and NHS workers are paid | :52:32. | :52:41. | |
at least �7.20 an hour. Counterparts in local government | :52:42. | :52:45. | |
means they should increase. Julie Morgan, at a time of cuts, is this | :52:45. | :52:52. | |
really affordable? I think it is certainly something we should look | :52:52. | :52:56. | |
at. It is clear that the minimum wage does not take into account | :52:56. | :53:02. | |
different situations in different places. For example, rents and | :53:02. | :53:06. | |
housing costs can vary enormously. It is certainly something that | :53:06. | :53:10. | |
should be looked out. There are other ways of dealing with the | :53:10. | :53:15. | |
problems of the minimum wage have not been as wide as it should. That | :53:15. | :53:18. | |
is what the last Labour government introduced with the tax credits | :53:18. | :53:23. | |
will stop her purpose was to deal with this sort of thing. We should | :53:23. | :53:26. | |
be looking at it and measuring the affordability with the Budget that | :53:26. | :53:32. | |
is available. Where does the Conservative Party stand on this? | :53:32. | :53:37. | |
It is derived from the Labour Party manifesto commitment. It started | :53:37. | :53:42. | |
with the Catholic Church. I have sympathy for the views that we need | :53:42. | :53:46. | |
to have policies and improve the lot of the lowest paid. People who | :53:46. | :53:51. | |
take modest employment, the work ethic has to be strengthened so you | :53:51. | :53:56. | |
encourage people to take jobs where tax is as low as possible and the | :53:56. | :54:00. | |
benefits system does not discriminate against them. It is | :54:00. | :54:05. | |
really important that we do that. I am not against looking at these | :54:06. | :54:11. | |
aspirations. At the moment it will be difficult. The Government at UK | :54:11. | :54:15. | |
level is concentrating on raising the threshold at which to start to | :54:15. | :54:21. | |
pay tax. That helps people on low incomes vary considerably. At the | :54:21. | :54:27. | |
moment, councils are facing cuts. How would you make the case for | :54:27. | :54:31. | |
those to start paying the living wage when they might have to lay | :54:31. | :54:36. | |
people off? This needs to be balanced. I'm not saying every | :54:36. | :54:42. | |
council should do it. It is a Labour commitment, isn't it? It is | :54:42. | :54:45. | |
up to individual councils. There have to measure it against what | :54:45. | :54:52. | |
they cannot do. -- they have. I am pleased that Cardiff will do it - | :54:52. | :54:56. | |
my local authority. It has presumably measured that against | :54:56. | :55:01. | |
what would be lost. It is in the manifesto as something we would | :55:01. | :55:05. | |
aspire to than something we need to look very carefully at. The issue | :55:05. | :55:11. | |
of poverty - child poverty - has to be addressed through work. There is | :55:11. | :55:17. | |
a consistent battle in Wales, public versus private. Contractors | :55:17. | :55:23. | |
carrying out work for the council pay star of the living wage. What | :55:23. | :55:32. | |
do you think about that? -- pay staff. As a Conservative, I would | :55:32. | :55:39. | |
like to see wage rates increase. Especially for lower-paid workers. | :55:39. | :55:44. | |
We want the market to work more effectively. That is the aim. | :55:44. | :55:49. | |
Begets more money into the economy. People on low incomes have to spend | :55:49. | :55:55. | |
all day it earned because they do not have that much income to save. | :55:55. | :56:00. | |
-- all they earn. It is really important that we focus on a part | :56:00. | :56:03. | |
of the economy. That is where we get most economic growth | :56:03. | :56:13. | |
:56:13. | :56:14. | ||
potentially. We will catch up later with the year after the next item. | :56:14. | :56:17. | |
-- with you. Time for a whiz around some of the political stories of | :56:17. | :56:23. | |
the week in 60 seconds. The Finance Minister is talking to opposition | :56:24. | :56:26. | |
Am's after the worst government outlined its spending plans for the | :56:26. | :56:31. | |
next year in the draft budget. She said it was a Budget for wealth -- | :56:31. | :56:38. | |
growth and jobs. The Prime Minister said there were no plans to change | :56:38. | :56:42. | |
the law to reduce the legal time limit for abortions after Jeremy | :56:42. | :56:48. | |
Hunt suggested halving the limit from 24 to 12 weeks. Leslie | :56:48. | :56:52. | |
Griffiths said this suggestion was not in the best interest of women | :56:52. | :56:56. | |
in Wales. Hysteric was how the Presiding Officer described the law | :56:56. | :57:02. | |
that makes English and Welsh the official languages of the National | :57:02. | :57:07. | |
Assembly. The official languages Bell puts English and Welsh on an | :57:07. | :57:15. | |
equal footing. -- bail. Barbara Jones from the Philippe Baku was | :57:15. | :57:25. | |
:57:25. | :57:45. | ||
the women that -- car for -- By -- woman kissed. They do have | :57:45. | :57:49. | |
equal status in the chamber. We have to make some choices as to | :57:49. | :57:53. | |
when things are translated and the policies around that. We had an | :57:53. | :57:56. | |
excellent debate in the chamber run the languages bail. One of the | :57:56. | :58:00. | |
powerful points that was made by the former Presiding Officer is | :58:01. | :58:05. | |
that we need to support certain parts of the work - particularly | :58:05. | :58:09. | |
legislation - so you can pass laws in Welsh genuinely as well as of | :58:09. | :58:17. | |
this league doing at the same time in English. -- in Welsh of fiercely. | :58:17. | :58:23. | |
The need to focus on the law-making we do. Julie, we touched on the | :58:23. | :58:28. | |
story on abortion in the 60 seconds. Some comments from Jeremy Hunt. The | :58:28. | :58:32. | |
Prime Minister said that was the views of Jeremy Hunt and not of the | :58:32. | :58:36. | |
Government, to reduce the abortion deadline to 12 weeks instead of 24. | :58:36. | :58:42. | |
What you make of the whole debate? I am staggered that a new health | :58:42. | :58:50. | |
secretary - if they are his personal views, he is the Health | :58:50. | :58:56. | |
Secretary - has thought about reducing it by half. He has made | :58:56. | :59:01. | |
his views clear before the party conference. I was in Westminster | :59:01. | :59:06. | |
the last time abortion was debated. There was a clear balance to keep | :59:06. | :59:12. | |
it at 24 weeks. That was a medical evidence. It is foolhardy of Jeremy | :59:12. | :59:17. | |
Hunt to put this suggestion for it, which would Riyait penalise the | :59:17. | :59:25. | |
most vulnerable women, the ones who have abortions later on. 90% a done | :59:25. | :59:30. | |
in the first 13 weeks. It is the older women, the younger women, | :59:30. | :59:36. | |
where there are fears about the health of the women and of the | :59:36. | :59:41. |