Browse content similar to 28/04/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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tackling from team captain Andrew RT Davies as the Welsh Conservatives | :01:22. | :01:32. | |
:01:32. | :01:32. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2299 seconds | :01:32. | :39:52. | |
met for their Spring conference at Wales, we'll hear conservative | :39:52. | :39:55. | |
Assembly leader Andrew RT Davies and the prime minister as we discuss the | :39:55. | :39:59. | |
economy and where next on powers for the Assembly. And I've been to | :39:59. | :40:02. | |
Beaumaris on Anglesey to speak to some of the candidates ahead of the | :40:02. | :40:09. | |
council elections on Thursday. Joining me are to MPs - for the | :40:09. | :40:15. | |
Conservatives, Glyn Davies, and Plaid Cymru's Jonathan Edwards. Just | :40:15. | :40:19. | |
looking at this story in the Telegraph - Iain Duncan Smith | :40:19. | :40:22. | |
talking about wealthy pensioners handing back some of their | :40:22. | :40:27. | |
provisions, like free bus passes. What is your thinking on that? I | :40:27. | :40:31. | |
don't think I agree with that. I think there is a big debate to be | :40:31. | :40:34. | |
had about benefits for the better off and I think that'll feature a | :40:34. | :40:43. | |
lot in the manifestoes at the next general election. If people feel | :40:43. | :40:53. | |
:40:53. | :40:59. | ||
they want to give away the money they have, because they don't need | :40:59. | :41:06. | |
need it. Maybe some of them will be giving it back when actually they | :41:06. | :41:10. | |
should be taking it. I don't think it's a particularly well thought out | :41:10. | :41:17. | |
intervention. Is he proposing that when the pensioner use the bus, they | :41:17. | :41:21. | |
send a cheque to the Department of work and pensions? I'm a supporter | :41:21. | :41:28. | |
of universal benefits. If you are going to means test, you have to | :41:28. | :41:30. | |
means test to start you can't just leave it to people to decide for | :41:30. | :41:37. | |
themselves? It's not the first time we've had this debate. A lot of | :41:37. | :41:40. | |
people are receiving benefits who clearly don't need them because of | :41:40. | :41:46. | |
university of benefit principle. There are different ways of doing | :41:46. | :41:49. | |
that. I just don't think the idea of going back to the government, apart | :41:49. | :41:56. | |
from the distinct difficulties, is a good one. I think it's far better to | :41:56. | :42:00. | |
go to local charities who are under pressure. We'll be talking about | :42:00. | :42:03. | |
that much more in the future. In the meantime, the Welsh Conservatives | :42:03. | :42:07. | |
have gathered for their conference yesterday in Swansea's Liberty | :42:07. | :42:11. | |
Stadium. Over the past few weeks, we've heard from the Assembly | :42:11. | :42:15. | |
leaders of the other main parties are for our final conference | :42:15. | :42:18. | |
interview it's the turn of Andrew RT Davies, the Welsh Conservative | :42:18. | :42:24. | |
leader in the Assembly. He taught about a clause four moment for the | :42:24. | :42:27. | |
Conservatives when it came to accepting devolution. Afterwards, | :42:27. | :42:33. | |
our political editor asked what he meant by that. It's more than the | :42:33. | :42:36. | |
Welsh Conservatives. It's the centre-right in politics that want | :42:36. | :42:40. | |
to turn the clock back to 1987. That can't happen. The Welsh people are | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
talking positively about devolution. They don't necessarily like the | :42:45. | :42:49. | |
politicians involved in the process but they do like decisions being | :42:49. | :42:59. | |
:42:59. | :42:59. | ||
made taken here in Wales. Do you really need still to tell people in | :42:59. | :43:07. | |
your party that you don't go back to 1997 to fight devolution? I think | :43:07. | :43:12. | |
it's wider than the Conservative Party. Party has been successful in | :43:12. | :43:15. | |
adopting devolution but there are plenty in the centre-right who still | :43:15. | :43:19. | |
want to continue that discussion. But if you look at the landscape we | :43:19. | :43:23. | |
operate in now, it's the Labour Party who we have to focus our fire | :43:23. | :43:29. | |
on and show them there is a real alternative. Show them you can | :43:29. | :43:32. | |
improve education attainment levels and offer teachers hope in the | :43:32. | :43:35. | |
classroom and, above all, you can get an economy moving to offer | :43:35. | :43:38. | |
chances for communities to regenerate themselves and create | :43:38. | :43:43. | |
prosperity. He said we need to look at what the Conservatives can do | :43:43. | :43:46. | |
with devolution. The Labour government say they know what they | :43:46. | :43:49. | |
are doing with things in government ASH, cutting, slashing, devastating | :43:49. | :43:55. | |
damaging. Well, all the Labour government is doing in Cardiff Bay | :43:55. | :44:00. | |
is sitting on their big, fat, lazy answers. We got to make sure the | :44:00. | :44:10. | |
:44:10. | :44:12. | ||
public understand that Carwyn Jones is driving down standards in | :44:12. | :44:18. | |
education. Is that kind of language appropriate? Carwyn Jones's talk | :44:18. | :44:22. | |
when he took the mantle of First Minister in 2011 was about a change | :44:22. | :44:25. | |
of attitude, delivering for the people of Wales. What have they | :44:25. | :44:30. | |
delivered? All they have delivered as a continuation of sitting behind | :44:30. | :44:34. | |
their desks, assuming the mantle of a right to rule in Wales. | :44:34. | :44:38. | |
chatting up and using that sort of language isn't convincing people. | :44:38. | :44:45. | |
disagree. We don't just shout at them. We talk about putting money | :44:45. | :44:48. | |
into small businesses, the Housing strategy. We talk of what we would | :44:48. | :44:53. | |
like to do with taxation if the powers arrived in Cardiff Bay. We | :44:53. | :44:58. | |
are offering an alternative. I accepted is up to us to campaign | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
hard and that's what we're doing. David Cameron was asked earlier | :45:02. | :45:07. | |
whether we can now call you a Welsh party be the - do we still have to | :45:07. | :45:10. | |
call you Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Conservatives in the Welsh | :45:10. | :45:15. | |
Assembly? Is that it? Is not as good as it is not as good as going to | :45:15. | :45:19. | |
get? David Cameron told you straight that I was leader of the world | :45:19. | :45:24. | |
Conservatives... The people of Wales no clearly where their priorities | :45:24. | :45:28. | |
lie. It's not discussing the political internal organisation of | :45:28. | :45:34. | |
parties. They want alternatives for health, solutions for education, and | :45:34. | :45:38. | |
they want money in their economy so the villages, towns and cities of | :45:38. | :45:40. | |
this great country of ours can compete with the rest of the UK, | :45:40. | :45:44. | |
Europe and the world. And as was Conservative leader, I will be | :45:44. | :45:48. | |
making sure that message is positive, strong and features all | :45:48. | :45:54. | |
parts of Wales. -- Welsh Conservative. I play on the rugby | :45:54. | :45:59. | |
pitch very often for the veterans team in the Assembly and we beat the | :45:59. | :46:06. | |
House of Commons often. Football may be a bit too far for me! As we | :46:06. | :46:11. | |
heard, the Prime Minister was also at the Liberty Stadium. David | :46:11. | :46:19. | |
Cameron was asked about comments made by Danny Alexander who said | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
Wales should have major powers overborrowing and income tax to | :46:23. | :46:30. | |
vault. Let's look at the evidence, listen to what the people of Wales | :46:30. | :46:35. | |
while stopped let's see what's right for people of Wales. I think what | :46:35. | :46:43. | |
people can see there is proper respect. That's as it should be but | :46:43. | :46:50. | |
for further changes, let's set a bit of a tester - what's going to create | :46:50. | :46:56. | |
more jobs in Wales, more wealth in Wales? Glynn, we heard from Andrew | :46:56. | :47:03. | |
RT Davies that he was going to have a go pitch side and he also had a go | :47:03. | :47:04. | |
at Labour with some colourful language will stop those that | :47:04. | :47:12. | |
useful? I was a bit shocked to see that Sun repeating what he said. I | :47:12. | :47:22. | |
:47:22. | :47:24. | ||
certainly wouldn't have used one of the words that he used. -- Betsan. I | :47:24. | :47:28. | |
think not having that free Assembly days of the important issue. It was | :47:28. | :47:31. | |
good to see him looking pretty confident, pretty natural and, I | :47:31. | :47:41. | |
thought, showing a bit of leadership. That's an -- Betsan was | :47:41. | :47:47. | |
repeating quite a few things. Were you surprised by the language, in | :47:48. | :47:51. | |
from the conference? I don't think there's anything wrong with calling | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
them lazy but I think the second part of the statement was over the | :47:55. | :48:02. | |
mark. The UK government's policies are something that we strongly | :48:02. | :48:05. | |
criticise but if you're not happy with what the UK government are | :48:05. | :48:11. | |
doing, surely you should make the case for assuming responsibility. | :48:11. | :48:19. | |
The Welsh Government, would say they are not lazy. The Prime Minister | :48:19. | :48:23. | |
said they were lifting the income tax threshold to the level where | :48:23. | :48:30. | |
people start paying tax. Big economic policies to try and get | :48:30. | :48:37. | |
growth. It interesting to see the diverging between the Chief | :48:37. | :48:43. | |
Secretary and the Prime Minister. Danny Alexander is in number ten at | :48:43. | :48:46. | |
the Treasury so is it the two coalition parties in dispute? My | :48:46. | :48:51. | |
understanding is that the Treasury are quite keen to implement this | :48:51. | :48:56. | |
because they've just done it for from | :48:56. | :49:01. | |
from the secretary of state for Wales, and from the Labour | :49:01. | :49:04. | |
government in Cardiff. I think the Labour Party are the status quo | :49:04. | :49:12. | |
party. They are the most anti-devolution party. What's going | :49:12. | :49:16. | |
on behind the scenes? We're all hearing the rumours. Danny Alexander | :49:16. | :49:22. | |
said he would not allow the response to the commission that did not | :49:22. | :49:27. | |
include tax powers. You to did later saying MPs don't support that. | :49:27. | :49:32. | |
don't figure majority of MPs support that. I do. I'm unusually | :49:32. | :49:38. | |
supportive, perhaps, of tax-raising powers for the Assembly. I think it | :49:38. | :49:43. | |
will transform the Assembly if that happened. But the Prime Minister is. | :49:43. | :49:47. | |
There is not even to had. We're probably going to have to have a | :49:47. | :49:51. | |
referendum because so many people are committed to delivering on that | :49:51. | :49:56. | |
but I hope we get there. I would argue for that and I think it is | :49:56. | :49:59. | |
crucial for development of devolution. The fiscal | :49:59. | :50:03. | |
accountability element, in my view, is far more important than talking | :50:03. | :50:08. | |
about transfer of other powers. They have to be decided on, whether they | :50:08. | :50:14. | |
are right or not, but fiscal accountability has to be an element | :50:14. | :50:24. | |
:50:24. | :50:24. | ||
and it will form the -- transform the debate. One of the things people | :50:24. | :50:27. | |
might be surprised by was that you had both the Welsh Secretary and the | :50:27. | :50:30. | |
Prime Minister talking about the Welsh Government bailing on economic | :50:30. | :50:35. | |
development where is all the major levers with the UK government. If | :50:35. | :50:38. | |
the Welsh economy is stagnating, it's not principally the fault of | :50:38. | :50:43. | |
the Welsh ministers, is it? There is an issue of responsibility between | :50:44. | :50:51. | |
Westminster and Cardiff Bay. Income tax is still with the UK government. | :50:51. | :50:53. | |
The impact of those would apply across Britain. But to the extent | :50:53. | :50:58. | |
that Wales is performing more poorly than that, you've got to give some | :50:58. | :51:06. | |
responsibility to the Welsh Government. It isn't avoid | :51:06. | :51:14. | |
responsibility -- devoid of responsibility. The economy has | :51:14. | :51:17. | |
collapsed down to the lowest levels in Britain. I'm keen on having the | :51:17. | :51:20. | |
Welsh Government and the UK government not really attacking each | :51:20. | :51:30. | |
:51:30. | :51:33. | ||
other. I just take the view that what matters is Wales. There is the | :51:33. | :51:36. | |
accountability issue but the other reason we need the job great images | :51:36. | :51:39. | |
in Wales is that would incentivise the Welsh Government to develop the | :51:39. | :51:44. | |
Welsh economy if it wants to invest in public services. But there been | :51:44. | :51:48. | |
logjams by the Labour government and Parliament. They don't want the | :51:48. | :51:58. | |
:51:58. | :51:59. | ||
complete package, only taxes. The timetable outlined is slipping. We | :51:59. | :52:03. | |
put down amendments in my name and by Parliamentary colleagues, and the | :52:03. | :52:09. | |
Labour Party didn't even bother to turn up for the debate. Barry | :52:09. | :52:12. | |
Alexander was quite clear that the income tax powers unlock powers | :52:13. | :52:16. | |
overborrowing - you don't get one without the other. Do you support | :52:16. | :52:21. | |
that? That's the key point. The greater the fiscal independence you | :52:21. | :52:25. | |
have at your disposal, the greater the borrowing capacity. The one | :52:25. | :52:28. | |
thing really holding that the Welsh economy at the moment is the savage | :52:28. | :52:35. | |
cut to capital budgets - about 40%. Slightly less than the Labour Party | :52:35. | :52:37. | |
had planned under Alistair Darling but that is a huge headwind for the | :52:37. | :52:42. | |
Welsh economy. We have the intergovernment negotiations where | :52:42. | :52:52. | |
:52:52. | :52:52. | ||
both the governments agreed that the leaders were important. We need to | :52:52. | :52:57. | |
start generating some are meant. you agree you can't have one without | :52:57. | :53:01. | |
the other? Yes, I do. For meaningful borrowing powers, minor taxes aren't | :53:01. | :53:06. | |
going to deliver that. For meaningful borrowing powers for the | :53:06. | :53:09. | |
Welsh Government, you've got to have the income tax transferred to the | :53:09. | :53:15. | |
Assembly. Thank you. Voters on Anglesey go to the polls | :53:15. | :53:19. | |
on Thursday to elect a new council, year after the Welsh local | :53:19. | :53:23. | |
authorities were elected. The delay was due to the Welsh Government | :53:23. | :53:26. | |
sending in a team of commissioners to take over the running of the | :53:26. | :53:29. | |
Council amid allegations of political infighting. I've been to | :53:29. | :53:33. | |
Beaumaris to find out whether a new voting system and smaller number of | :53:33. | :53:37. | |
councillors signals a new beginning for this troubled local authority. | :53:37. | :53:40. | |
The picturesque scenes belie the political problems that have plagued | :53:40. | :53:44. | |
this island for years. It's a big area. It's a beautiful part of the | :53:44. | :53:49. | |
country. That beauty does belie some of the problems. We need jobs for | :53:49. | :53:54. | |
young people. There are tourists and local residents. There are areas of | :53:54. | :53:59. | |
social deprivation. How Anglesey council is elected is changing. | :53:59. | :54:05. | |
Individual wards have got, replaced by a 11 new multimember wards. 107 | :54:05. | :54:10. | |
candidates are vying for the 30 seats on the council. Nine of the | :54:10. | :54:13. | |
candidates are fighting for three seats here. I came to Beaumaris in | :54:14. | :54:17. | |
the heart of the new water to speak to some of them about what they are | :54:17. | :54:21. | |
offering voters. Independents have always featured heavily in Anglesey | :54:21. | :54:27. | |
politics. My priorities are fighting for services - frontline services. | :54:27. | :54:33. | |
I'm also saying that I think in this month county should be investing in | :54:33. | :54:43. | |
:54:43. | :54:47. | ||
what it's got. -- Ynys Mon. We got to start rebuilding the communities. | :54:47. | :54:50. | |
But the political parties believe the organisation required for | :54:50. | :54:57. | |
fighting the new larger multimember wards favours them. We're not going | :54:57. | :55:00. | |
to beat one group one week and another group the next week. We need | :55:00. | :55:06. | |
discipline among the councillors. It's not going to be easy. We're | :55:06. | :55:13. | |
going to end up saying no to more people than we'd like but it's about | :55:13. | :55:17. | |
priorities and essential services. The luxuries, although very worthy, | :55:17. | :55:22. | |
will probably not get the help they deserve. Our main priority is the | :55:22. | :55:27. | |
49% of people of Anglesey and all the people, not just the minority of | :55:27. | :55:30. | |
people. There's no point going on the past. Now was the time for | :55:30. | :55:34. | |
improvements. The future is in our hands and we must grab hold of this | :55:34. | :55:40. | |
opportunity as an island altogether. We must really work hard so that | :55:40. | :55:44. | |
we're caring for our elderly people, which mean the world to us, looking | :55:44. | :55:49. | |
after our young people. The local Liberal Democrat and | :55:49. | :55:53. | |
Conservative candidates weren't available for interview themselves. | :55:53. | :55:56. | |
We need a clear-cut consensus as to where where going to go after the | :55:56. | :56:04. | |
election. It's about, together for the best interests of the island | :56:04. | :56:07. | |
after the election rather than infighting and party political | :56:07. | :56:12. | |
debates. Our aim would be to set out an overall strategy of developing | :56:12. | :56:19. | |
for the island. That's never been done. Nobody is looked at the island | :56:19. | :56:22. | |
in total and looked at what needs to be done. Once you've got that | :56:22. | :56:27. | |
strategy in place, other issues like employment, education and transport | :56:27. | :56:33. | |
can fit into that strategy. So we'll get a plan in place for the island. | :56:33. | :56:37. | |
That needs to be our first priority. The message across the board from | :56:37. | :56:42. | |
candidates seems remarkably similar - Anglesey needs a new direction. | :56:42. | :56:46. | |
Anglesey needs a change of that's the message that it will really | :56:46. | :56:49. | |
grasping because people on the island are fed up with the status | :56:49. | :56:58. | |
quo. Maybe we do want a new council, infused with new ideas. | :56:58. | :57:01. | |
These have been turbulent times in Anglesey politics. The commissioners | :57:01. | :57:05. | |
who been responsible for the Council believe that they have steadied the | :57:05. | :57:11. | |
ship. On Thursday it will be up to voters to decide the course ahead. | :57:11. | :57:14. | |
As they journey forward, residents will be forgiven for hoping the mist | :57:14. | :57:17. | |
might finally be lifting from Anglesey politics. | :57:17. | :57:20. | |
It's a lot warmer in the studio than it was during those pieces to | :57:20. | :57:26. | |
camera. You can see a full list of candidates across Anglesey on our | :57:26. | :57:31. | |
website, bbc.co.uk/Walesnews. Time for a quick look back at the | :57:31. | :57:39. | |
political stories of the week in 60 seconds. | :57:39. | :57:44. | |
Health Minister announced measures aimed at reducing pressure on | :57:44. | :57:47. | |
emergency health services. He said he was taking action to prevent | :57:47. | :57:50. | |
hospital beds being taken up by patients who could be care for | :57:50. | :57:55. | |
elsewhere. The charity Age company was concerned that older patients | :57:55. | :58:00. | |
would be at the pressure to leave hospital prematurely. | :58:00. | :58:05. | |
David Cameron said the Labour Welsh Government were cutting spending, | :58:05. | :58:09. | |
with waiting times up, waiting lists up and quality down. Ed Miliband | :58:09. | :58:12. | |
said Mr Cameron was out of touch and that hospitals in England were full | :58:12. | :58:20. | |
to bursting. MP Nick Smith urged David Cameron to | :58:20. | :58:24. | |
update the law on negligence after the collapse of operating jasmine, | :58:24. | :58:28. | |
the biggest care home investigation ever in the UK. He said a new | :58:28. | :58:33. | |
investigation into care home abuse in south-east Wales can clear a high | :58:33. | :58:36. | |
bar for a criminal conviction. And Colin Davies held a Commons | :58:36. | :58:39. | |
debate on the effect of the recent bad weather conditions on up with | :58:39. | :58:49. | |
:58:49. | :58:49. | ||
cheap farmers. -- Glyn Davies. -- upland sheep farmers. | :58:49. | :58:54. | |
What was the main message you were trying to get across their? My aim | :58:54. | :58:58. | |
was to address what I see as a growing disconnect between the wider | :58:58. | :59:05. | |
British population and what happens in the uplands. I think people are | :59:05. | :59:09. | |
less and less understanding and the recent snowfalls did cause a huge | :59:09. | :59:13. | |
disaster. I don't think the people of Britain understood it. Very large | :59:13. | :59:17. | |
numbers of members of Parliament joined in that debate and we kept it | :59:17. | :59:22. | |
is quite a consensual debate and it actually serve the purpose - exactly | :59:22. | :59:27. | |
the purpose that I wanted to address what I see as a growing disconnect. | :59:27. | :59:32. | |
You represent a roll constituency as well. What is your take on this? | :59:32. | :59:37. | |
During the cold weather, I visited farmers in North Carmarthenshire and | :59:37. | :59:43. | |
about 50 miles to the north, the area had escaped the weather. It was | :59:43. | :59:49. | |
the luck of the draw. We're aware that the environment committee with | :59:49. | :59:55. | |
Dafydd Ellis Thomas is now looking at this issue. This could impact the | :59:55. | :59:59. | |
industry for nine, ten years. It'll be interesting to see what that | :59:59. | :00:03. | |
committee comes up with in terms of recommendations. Let's focus on the | :00:03. | :00:09. | |
ruble economy. In terms of small and medium enterprises, they really are | :00:09. | :00:18. | |
the blood of the rule communities. -- roll. How important is it to get | :00:18. | :00:23. | |
the strategy right for supporting small to medium enterprises? The key | :00:23. | :00:26. | |
thing to remember about the Welsh economy is that the private sector | :00:26. | :00:31. | |
is very reliant on the public sector so if you're cutting back on one | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
public investment, that impacts on the private sector. The rhetoric we | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
see from the UK government doesn't apply in terms of the Welsh | :00:38. | :00:45. | |
Government. SMEs are hugely important to Wales. The tourism | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
industry is massively important. We have to do what we can to help | :00:49. | :00:55. | |
them. The Welsh Government is doing a very good job. I think the UK | :00:55. | :00:59. | |
government is doing a very good job. I'm having a series of meetings | :00:59. | :01:03. | |
with banks. I think banks are changing their attitude. They've | :01:03. | :01:07. | |
been much more positive than they were. The Welsh economy depends on | :01:07. | :01:10. | |
the success of SMEs, particularly when public sector jobs are being | :01:10. | :01:18. | |
reduced. We do everything we can to help them. Getting the finance | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
structure is key. The Conservatives have come up with a policy. We come | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
up with a policy with a bank focus. That's the sort of policy we need to | :01:27. | :01:31. | |
be having - how do we create liquidity for small businesses to | :01:31. | :01:36. | |
allow them to expand. infrastructure is important because | :01:36. | :01:39. | |
there is superfast broadband, which whether you are in agriculture or a | :01:39. | :01:46. | |
small business, is essential. just have enquiry into this issue. | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
We're seeing superfast broadband developing in Cardiff and Swansea | :01:49. | :01:51. | |
but in many of the areas that we represent, they are broadband | :01:52. | :01:58. | |
blackspots. We need to be looking at those issues. If you are going to | :01:58. | :02:01. | |
have a future in the global economy, when the world is developing, you | :02:01. | :02:07. | |
have to have those key structures in place. I agree. Broadband is | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
absolutely crucial. We're going to see a position when even property | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
prices where there was an access to broadband are going to collapse will | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
stop people will bring children weather is no broadband because it | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
would damage the education opportunities. You won't be able to | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
claim benefits without broadband before long! We will leave it | :02:26. | :02:32. | |
there. You can watch more tonight with Huw Edwards on the Wales Report | :02:32. | :02:36. |