Browse content similar to 17/11/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics. | :00:36. | :00:39. | |
Downing Street announces an inquiry into allegations of hardball tactics | :00:40. | :00:42. | |
and intimidation by unions in industrial disputes. That's our top | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
story. Thousands dead. Hundreds of | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
thousands without homes. Millions affected. What is Britain doing to | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
help the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan? We'll ask | :00:57. | :00:57. | |
International Development Secretary Justine Greening. | :00:58. | :01:03. | |
Winter is coming and so, it seems, is another crisis in England's | :01:04. | :01:06. | |
hospitals. I'll be asking the Shadow Health Secretary how he'd put a stop | :01:07. | :01:07. | |
Later in the programme: Police to | :01:08. | :01:09. | |
Later in the programme: Police commissioners are a year old. | :01:10. | :01:15. | |
They're supposed to make the police more accountable and reduce crime. | :01:16. | :01:18. | |
We'll hear from the man doing the job in | :01:19. | :01:20. | |
fatalities on the capital's streets, and renewed calls to get lorries off | :01:21. | :01:23. | |
the roads in peak hours. With me, the best and brightest | :01:24. | :01:37. | |
political panel that money can buy. Janan Ganesh, Nick Watt and this | :01:38. | :01:39. | |
week, Zoe Williams, who'll be tweeting their thoughts throughout | :01:40. | :01:44. | |
the programme. The Government has announced a | :01:45. | :01:47. | |
review to investigate what the Prime Minister has called "industrial | :01:48. | :01:49. | |
intimidation" by trade union activists. Bruce Carr QC will chair | :01:50. | :02:02. | |
a panel to examine allegations of the kind of tactics that came to | :02:03. | :02:05. | |
light during the Grangemouth dispute, when the Unite union took | :02:06. | :02:07. | |
their protests - replete with a giant rat - outside the family homes | :02:08. | :02:14. | |
of the firms' bosses. Earlier this morning the Cabinet office minister, | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
Francis Maude spoke to the BBC and this is what he had to say. To look | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
at whether the law currently works and see if it is ineffective in | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
preventing the kind of intimidatory activity that was alleged to have | :02:28. | :02:32. | |
taken place around range mouth during the previous disputes -- | :02:33. | :02:41. | |
Grangemouth. We make no presumptions at the beginning of this. I do think | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
it is a responsible thing for the government to establish what | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
happened and really do a proper review into whether the law is | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
adequate to meet the needs. That was Francis Maude. This is a purely | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
political move, isn't it? Unite did this a couple of times, it is hardly | :03:02. | :03:06. | |
happening all over the country but the government want to say, we are | :03:07. | :03:09. | |
prepared to investigate Unite properly, Labour isn't. This seemed | :03:10. | :03:16. | |
a lot worse when I thought it was a real rat. I thought it was a giant | :03:17. | :03:23. | |
dead rat. I am not sure if you know much about rats but real rats are | :03:24. | :03:26. | |
not this big, even the ones in London. The thing is, obviously it | :03:27. | :03:32. | |
is naked politics but I think it is more intelligent than it looks. They | :03:33. | :03:38. | |
are trying to taint Miliband as a week union puppet and that doesn't | :03:39. | :03:44. | |
really wash. They hammer away with it and it might wash for some | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
people. But it really castrates Miliband in the important issues he | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
has to tackle. Zero hours, living wage, all of those things in which | :03:54. | :03:57. | |
he needs to be in concert with the unions, and to use their expertise. | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
He is making them absolutely toxic to go anywhere near. It keeps the | :04:04. | :04:16. | |
Unite story alive, have to kill -- particularly since Mr Miller band is | :04:17. | :04:19. | |
under pressure to reopen the investigation into what Unite are up | :04:20. | :04:33. | |
to -- Mr Miliband. They are frustrated, not only at the BBC but | :04:34. | :04:37. | |
the media generally at what they think is a lack of coverage. I see | :04:38. | :04:40. | |
the political rationale from that respect. There is a risk. There are | :04:41. | :04:46. | |
union members who either vote Tory or are open to the idea of voting | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
Tory. All Lib Dem. If the party comes across as too zealous in as -- | :04:53. | :05:04. | |
its antipathy, there is an electoral consequence. Ed Miliband has been | :05:05. | :05:11. | |
careful to keep a distance. Yes, they depend on vast amounts of | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
money. When Len McCluskey had a real go at the Blairites, Ed Miliband was | :05:17. | :05:19. | |
straight out there with a very strong statement. Essentially Len | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
McCluskey wanted Blairites in the shadow cabinet sacked and Ed | :05:24. | :05:28. | |
Miliband was keen to distance himself or for that is why it is not | :05:29. | :05:33. | |
quite sticking. Another story in the Sunday papers this morning, the Mail | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
on Sunday got hold of some e-mails. When I saw the headline I thought it | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
was a huge cache of e-mails, it turns out to be a couple. They peel | :05:44. | :05:49. | |
away the cover on the relationship between Ed Miliband and Ed Balls, | :05:50. | :05:56. | |
with some of Ed Miliband's cohorts describing what Mr balls is trying | :05:57. | :06:03. | |
to do as a nightmare. How bad are the relations? They are pretty bad | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
and these e-mails confirm the biggest open signal in Westminster, | :06:09. | :06:10. | |
which is that relations are pretty tense, -- open secret. That Ed | :06:11. | :06:16. | |
Miliband doesn't feel that Ed Balls is acknowledging the economy has | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
grown that Labour needs to admit to past mistakes. The sort of great | :06:22. | :06:29. | |
open signal is confirmed. On a scale of 1-10, assuming that Blair-Brown | :06:30. | :06:36. | |
was ten. I think it is between six and seven. They occupy this joint | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
suite of offices that George Cameron and -- David Cameron and George | :06:41. | :06:46. | |
Osborne had. It is not just on the economy that there were tensions, | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
there were clearly tensions over HS2, Ed Balls put a huge question | :06:51. | :06:57. | |
over it at his conference. There will be more tensions when it comes | :06:58. | :07:00. | |
to the third runway because my information is that Mr balls wants | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
to do it and Ed Miliband almost resigned over it when he was in | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
government. I don't think Ed Miliband is thinking very | :07:12. | :07:13. | |
politically because he has tried live without Ed Balls and that is | :07:14. | :07:19. | |
not tenable either. -- life without. He has defined a way of making it | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
work. That is where Tony Blair had the edge on any modern politician. | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
He didn't want to make Ed Balls his Shadow Chancellor, he had to. | :07:29. | :07:32. | |
Somebody said to him, if you make Ed Balls Shadow Chancellor, that will | :07:33. | :07:35. | |
be the last decision you take as leader of the Labour Party. Is it as | :07:36. | :07:45. | |
bad? I was surprised at how tame the e-mails were. At the FT it is | :07:46. | :07:57. | |
compulsory, one French word per sentence! To call him a nightmare, | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
compared to what they are willing to say in briefings, conversations, | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
bits of frustrations they express verbally come what is documented in | :08:07. | :08:09. | |
the e-mails is actually pretty light. It has been a grim week for | :08:10. | :08:15. | |
the people of the Philippines as they count the cost of the | :08:16. | :08:18. | |
devastation wrought by Typhoon Haiyan. HMS Daring has just arrived | :08:19. | :08:24. | |
near the worst hit areas - part of Britain's contribution to bring aid | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
to the country. It has been one of the worst natural | :08:29. | :08:32. | |
disasters in the history of the Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan hit the | :08:33. | :08:35. | |
country nine days ago, leaving devastation in its wake. The numbers | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
involved are shocking. The official death toll is over 3600 people, with | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
many thousands more unaccounted for. More than half a million people have | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
lost their homes and the UN estimates 11 million have been | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
affected. David Cameron announced on Friday that the UK government is to | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
give an extra ?30 million in aid, taking the total British figure ?250 | :08:59. | :09:05. | |
million. An RAF Sea 17 aircraft landed yesterday with equipment to | :09:06. | :09:07. | |
help aid workers get too hard to reach areas. HMS Illustrious is on | :09:08. | :09:13. | |
its way and due to arrive next weekend. The British public have | :09:14. | :09:21. | |
once again dipped into their pockets and given generously. They have | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
given more than ?30 million to the Disasters Emergency Committee. | :09:26. | :09:28. | |
The International Development Secretary, Justine Greening, joins | :09:29. | :09:31. | |
me now for the Sunday Interview. Good morning, Secretary of State. | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
How much of the ?50 million that the government has allocated has got | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
through so far? All of it has landed on the ground now. HMS Daring has | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
turned up, that will be able to start getting help out to some of | :09:46. | :09:48. | |
those more outlying islands that have been hard to reach. We have | :09:49. | :09:54. | |
seen Save the Children and Oxfam really being able to get aid out on | :09:55. | :09:58. | |
the ground. We have a plane taking off today that will not read just | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
carrying out more equipment to help clear the roads but will also have | :10:03. | :10:09. | |
their staff on board, too. We have ?50 million of aid actually on the | :10:10. | :10:16. | |
ground? We instantly chartered flights directly from Dubai where we | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
have preprepared human Terry and supplies, and started humanity work | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
-- humanitarian supplies. A lot of it has now arrived. I think | :10:25. | :10:36. | |
we have done a huge amount so far. We have gone beyond just providing | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
humanitarian supplies, to getting the Royal Air Force involved. They | :10:42. | :10:44. | |
have helped us to get equipment out there quickly. We have HMS | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
Illustrious sailing over there now. Why has that taken so long? It was | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
based in the Gulf and is not going to get there until two weeks after | :10:55. | :10:57. | |
the storm first hit and that is the one ship we have with lots of | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
helicopters. The first decision we took was to make sure we could get | :11:02. | :11:05. | |
the fastest vessel out there that was able to help HMS Daring. HMS | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
Illustrious was just finishing an exercise and planning to start to | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
head back towards the UK. We have said to not do that, and diverted | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
it. Shouldn't it have happened more quickly? We took the decisions as | :11:19. | :11:24. | |
fast as we were able to, you can't just turn a big warship around like | :11:25. | :11:29. | |
the HMS Illustrious. We made sure we took those decisions and that is | :11:30. | :11:32. | |
while it will be taking over from HMS Daring come and that is why HMS | :11:33. | :11:38. | |
Daring is ready there. It will be able to provide key support and | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
expertise that has not been there so far. The US Navy is doing the heavy | :11:43. | :11:48. | |
lifting here. The US Navy had the USS Washington, there is an aircraft | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
carrier, 80 planes, 5000 personnel and they have the fleet, they are | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
doing the real work. We obviously helping but the Americans are taking | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
the lead. It is a big international effort. Countries like the US and | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
the UK, that have a broader ability to support that goes beyond simply | :12:07. | :12:15. | |
call humanitarian supplies -- have made sure we have brought our | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
logistics knowledge, we have sent out our naval vessels. It shows we | :12:20. | :12:23. | |
are working across government to respond to this crisis. Why does | :12:24. | :12:32. | |
only just over 4% of your aid budget go on emergency disaster and | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
response? A lot depends on what crises hit in any given year. We | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
have done a huge amount, responding to the crisis in Syria, the conflict | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
there and the fact we have 2 million refugees who have fled the country. | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
We are part of an international effort in supporting them. Shouldn't | :12:49. | :12:54. | |
we beginning more money to that rather than some of the other | :12:55. | :12:57. | |
programmes where it is harder to see the results question of if we were | :12:58. | :13:04. | |
to give more money to the refugees, it would be a visible result. We | :13:05. | :13:07. | |
could see an improvement in the lives of children, men and women. | :13:08. | :13:14. | |
What we need to do is alongside that is stop those situations from | :13:15. | :13:17. | |
happening in the first place. A lot of our development spend is helping | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
countries to stay stable. Look at some of the work we are doing in | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
Somalia, much more sensible. Not just from an immigration but there | :13:27. | :13:32. | |
is a threat perspective. There is a lot of terrorism coming from | :13:33. | :13:36. | |
Somalia. You only have to look at Kenya recently to see that. Which is | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
why you talk about what we do with the rest of the spend. It is why it | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
is responsible to work with the government of Somalia. Should we | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
give more, bigger part of the budget to disaster relief or not? I think | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
we get it about right, we have to be flexible and we are. This Philippine | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
relief is on top of the work in Syria. Where can you show me a | :14:02. | :14:08. | |
correlation between us giving aid to some failed nation, or nearly failed | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
nation, and that cutting down on terrorism? If you look at the work | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
we have done in Pakistan, a huge amount of work. Some of it | :14:18. | :14:20. | |
short-term. It is written by terrorism. That is -- ridden by | :14:21. | :14:28. | |
terrorism. That is not going to fix it self in a sense. Look at the work | :14:29. | :14:36. | |
that we do in investing in education. The things that little | :14:37. | :14:45. | |
girls like Malala talk about as being absolutely key. We are ramping | :14:46. | :14:52. | |
up our aid to Pakistan, it will be close to half ?1 billion by the time | :14:53. | :14:58. | |
of the election. Why should British taxpayers be giving half ?1 billion | :14:59. | :15:05. | |
to a country where only 0.5% of people in Pakistan pay income tax, | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
and 70% of their own MPs don't pay income tax. It is a good point and | :15:10. | :15:19. | |
that is why we have been working with their tax revenue authority to | :15:20. | :15:23. | |
help them increase that and push forward the tax reform. You are | :15:24. | :15:34. | |
right, and I have setup a team that will go out and work with many of | :15:35. | :15:40. | |
these countries so they can raise their own revenues. You really think | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
you will raise the amount of tax by sending out the British HRM see? How | :15:45. | :15:57. | |
many troops I we sending out to protect them? They don't need | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
troops. We make sure that we have a duty of care alongside our staff, | :16:03. | :16:16. | |
but we have to respond to any crisis like the Philippines, and alongside | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
other countries we have two work alongside them so that they can | :16:21. | :16:25. | |
reinvest in their own public services. If they can create their | :16:26. | :16:31. | |
own taxes, will we stop paying aid? We need to look at that but the new | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
Pakistan Government has been very clear it is a priority and we will | :16:37. | :16:43. | |
be helping them in pursuing that. Let me show you a picture. Who are | :16:44. | :16:50. | |
these young women? I don't know, I'm sure you are about to tell me. They | :16:51. | :16:57. | |
are the Ethiopian Spice Girls and I'm surprised you don't know because | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
they have only managed to become so famous because your department has | :17:02. | :17:09. | |
financed them to the tune of ?4 million. All of the work we do with | :17:10. | :17:14. | |
women on the ground, making sure they have a voice in their local | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
communities, making sure they have some control over what happens to | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
their own bodies in terms of tackling FGM, female genital | :17:25. | :17:33. | |
mutilation... Did you know your department has spent ?4 million on | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
the Ethiopian Spice Girls? Yes, I do, and we have to work with girls | :17:39. | :17:46. | |
and show them there is a life ahead of them with opportunity and | :17:47. | :17:50. | |
potential that goes beyond what many of them will experience, which | :17:51. | :17:54. | |
includes early and forced marriage. It is part of the work we do with | :17:55. | :18:06. | |
local communities to change attitudes everything you have just | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
said is immeasurable, and they broadcast on a radio station that | :18:12. | :18:14. | |
doesn't reach most of the country so it cannot have the impact. It only | :18:15. | :18:26. | |
reaches 20 million people and the project has been condemned saying | :18:27. | :18:26. | |
there were serious inefficiencies. That aid report was done a while ago | :18:27. | :18:35. | |
now, and it was talking about the project when it first got going, and | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
a lot of improvements have happened since. I would go back to the point | :18:41. | :18:45. | |
that we are working in very difficult environments where we are | :18:46. | :18:48. | |
trying to get longer term change on the ground and that means working | :18:49. | :18:53. | |
directly with communities but also investing for the long-term, | :18:54. | :18:57. | |
investing in some of these girls start changing attitudes in them and | :18:58. | :19:03. | |
their communities. Why does the British taxpayers spend ?5 million | :19:04. | :19:14. | |
on a Bangladesh version of Question Time? We work with the BBC to make | :19:15. | :19:20. | |
sure we can get accountabilities... That is bigger then the BBC Question | :19:21. | :19:40. | |
Time Normal -- budget. That includes the cost of David Dimbleby's | :19:41. | :19:48. | |
tattoo! We are working to improve people's prospects but also we are | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
working to improve their ability to hold their governments to account so | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
that when they are not getting services on the ground, they have | :19:57. | :20:00. | |
ways they can raise those concerns with the people who are there to | :20:01. | :20:08. | |
deliver services for them. In your own personal view, should the next | :20:09. | :20:12. | |
Conservative Government, if there is one, should you continue to ring | :20:13. | :20:18. | |
fence spending on foreign aid? But it is critical that if we are going | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
to spend 7.7% of our national income, we should make sure it is in | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
our national interest and that means having a clear approach to | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
humanitarian responses, in keeping the country safe, and a clearer | :20:34. | :20:37. | |
approach on helping drive economic development and jobs so there is a | :20:38. | :20:43. | |
long-term end of the dependency. Do you believe in an shrine in the | :20:44. | :20:49. | |
percentage of our GDP that goes on foreign aid in law? Yes, and that is | :20:50. | :20:55. | |
a coalition agreement. There have been a lot of agreements that you | :20:56. | :21:05. | |
are sceptical about ring fencing. We are focused on shaking up the | :21:06. | :21:09. | |
economy and improving our public finances. Why haven't you done that? | :21:10. | :21:23. | |
At the end of the day we will be accountable but we are committed to | :21:24. | :21:28. | |
doing that. You are running out of time, will you do it? I hope we can | :21:29. | :21:34. | |
find the Parliamentary time, but even if we don't, we have acted as | :21:35. | :21:40. | |
if that law is in place and we have already met 0.7% commitment. If you | :21:41. | :21:46. | |
are British voter that doesn't believe that we should enshrine that | :21:47. | :21:53. | |
in by law, which means that with a growing economy foreign aid will | :21:54. | :21:57. | |
rise by definition, and if you think we should be spending less money on | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
the Ethiopian Spice Girls, for whom should you wrote in the next | :22:02. | :22:09. | |
election? I think we have a very sensible approach. I don't know what | :22:10. | :22:15. | |
the various party manifestoes... The only party who thinks we shouldn't | :22:16. | :22:21. | |
be doing this is UKIP. I think you have to look at the response to both | :22:22. | :22:31. | |
the Philippines crisis and Children In Need. Of all the steps we are | :22:32. | :22:38. | |
taking to get the country back on track, it shows the British people | :22:39. | :22:44. | |
will respond to need when they need it and it is one of the things that | :22:45. | :22:52. | |
makes Britain's special. Thank you. "It's always winter but | :22:53. | :22:55. | |
never Christmas" - that's how doctors describe life inside | :22:56. | :22:57. | |
accident and emergency. The College of Emergency Medicine have warned | :22:58. | :23:00. | |
that this year could bring the "worst crisis on record". If that | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
dire prediction comes, expect a spring of political recriminations, | :23:05. | :23:06. | |
but how prepared are the NHS in England? And what do they make of | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
this autumnal speculation? Giles has been to Leeds to find out. | :23:11. | :23:19. | |
This winter has already come to our hospitals. It had an official start | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
date, November the 3rd. That is when weekly updates are delivered to the | :23:25. | :23:33. | |
NHS's most senior planners, alerting them to any sudden changes in | :23:34. | :23:39. | |
patient numbers coming in. Where do they numbers register most then | :23:40. | :23:46. | |
A They are the barometer for what is going on everywhere else, and | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
they are the pressure point, so if the system is beginning to struggle | :23:52. | :23:55. | |
then it is in the A department that we see the problems. It is not | :23:56. | :24:03. | |
that the problems are the A departments, but they are the place | :24:04. | :24:09. | |
where it all comes together. Plans to tackle those problems start being | :24:10. | :24:14. | |
drawn up in May and they look at trends, even taking notice of any | :24:15. | :24:23. | |
flu epidemics in New Zealand. They also look at the amount of bets. But | :24:24. | :24:33. | |
the weather, economic realities, structural reforms, and changes to | :24:34. | :24:37. | |
the general health of the population, are all factors they | :24:38. | :24:41. | |
have to consider. We get huge amounts of information through the | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
winter in order to help the NHS be the best it can be, but we had to | :24:47. | :24:51. | |
redouble our efforts this year because we expected to be a | :24:52. | :24:56. | |
difficult winter. We know the NHS is stretched so we are working hard to | :24:57. | :25:03. | |
be as good as we can be. That means they are looking at winter staffing | :25:04. | :25:10. | |
levels, plans to ask for help from neighbouring hospitals, and | :25:11. | :25:14. | |
dovetailing help with GP surgeries, and still having the ability to move | :25:15. | :25:20. | |
up an extra gear, a rehearsed emergency plan if the NHS had to | :25:21. | :25:26. | |
face a major disease pandemic. You spend any time in any of our | :25:27. | :25:30. | |
hospitals and you realise the NHS knows that winter is coming and they | :25:31. | :25:35. | |
are making plans, but you also get a palpable feeling amongst health | :25:36. | :25:38. | |
workers across the entire system that they do get fed up of being | :25:39. | :25:46. | |
used as a political football. Doctors and all health care | :25:47. | :25:49. | |
professionals are frustrated about the politics that surrounds the NHS | :25:50. | :25:55. | |
in health care. They go to work to treat patients as best as they can, | :25:56. | :25:58. | |
and the political knock-about does not help anyone. I find it | :25:59. | :26:05. | |
frustrating when there is a commentary that suggests the NHS | :26:06. | :26:08. | |
does not planned, when it is surprised by winter, and wherever | :26:09. | :26:15. | |
that comes from it is hard to take, knowing how much we do nationally | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
and how much our hard working front line staff are doing. When the | :26:22. | :26:30. | |
Coalition have recently tried to open up the NHS to be a more | :26:31. | :26:36. | |
independent body, it is clear the NHS feel they have had an unhealthy | :26:37. | :26:43. | |
dose of political wrangling between parties on policy. The NHS is not | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
infallible or making any guarantees, but they seem confident that they | :26:48. | :26:53. | |
and their patients can survive the winter. | :26:54. | :26:56. | |
Joining me now from Salford in the Shadow Health Secretary, Andy | :26:57. | :27:04. | |
Burnham. Tell me this, if you were health secretary now, you just took | :27:05. | :27:09. | |
over in an emergency election, what would you do to avoid another winter | :27:10. | :27:19. | |
crisis? I would immediately halt the closure of NHS walk-in centres. We | :27:20. | :27:25. | |
heard this week that around one in four walk-in centres are closed so | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
it makes no sense whatsoever for the Government to allow the continued | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
closure of them. I would put nurses back on the end of phones and | :27:35. | :27:40. | |
restore an NHS direct style service. The new 111 service is not in a | :27:41. | :27:47. | |
position to provide help to people this winter. I think the time has | :27:48. | :27:54. | |
come to rethink how the NHS care is particularly for older people so I | :27:55. | :27:58. | |
propose the full integration of health and social care. It cannot | :27:59. | :28:03. | |
make any sense any more to have this approach where we cut social care | :28:04. | :28:09. | |
and let elderly people drift to hospitals in greater numbers. We | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
have two rethink it as a whole service. So you would repeal some of | :28:14. | :28:21. | |
the Tory reforms and move commissioning to local authorities | :28:22. | :28:26. | |
so the NHS should brace itself for another major top-down health | :28:27. | :28:32. | |
reorganisation? No, unlike Andrew Lansley I will work with the | :28:33. | :28:36. | |
organisations ie inherit. He could work with primary care trusts but he | :28:37. | :28:47. | |
turned it upside down when it needed stability. I will not do that but I | :28:48. | :28:53. | |
will repeal the health and social care act because last week we heard | :28:54. | :29:06. | |
that hospitals and health services cannot get on and make sensible | :29:07. | :29:09. | |
merger collaborations because of this nonsense now that the NHS is | :29:10. | :29:16. | |
bound by competition law. Let me get your views on a number of ideas that | :29:17. | :29:21. | |
have been floated either by the press or the Coalition. We haven't | :29:22. | :29:25. | |
got much time. Do you welcome the plan to bring back named GPs for | :29:26. | :29:37. | |
over 75s? Yes, but it has got harder to get the GP appointment under this | :29:38. | :29:42. | |
Government because David Cameron scrapped the 48-hour guarantee that | :29:43. | :29:46. | |
Tony Blair brought in. He was challenged in the 2005 election | :29:47. | :29:51. | |
about the difficulty of getting a GP appointment, and Tony Blair brought | :29:52. | :29:55. | |
in the commitment that people should be able to get that within 48 | :29:56. | :30:02. | |
hours. That has now been scrapped. Do you welcome the idea of allowing | :30:03. | :30:06. | |
everyone to choose their own GP surgery even if it is not in our | :30:07. | :30:14. | |
traditional catchment area? I proposed that just before the last | :30:15. | :30:19. | |
election, so yes. Do you welcome the idea of how a practice is being | :30:20. | :30:23. | |
rated being a matter of public record, and of us knowing how much, | :30:24. | :30:30. | |
at least from the NHS, our GP earns? Of course, every political party | :30:31. | :30:34. | |
supports transparency in the NHS. More information for the public of | :30:35. | :30:38. | |
that kind is a good thing. Do you welcome this plan to make it will | :30:39. | :30:44. | |
form the collect in an NHS hospital -- make wilful neglect a criminal | :30:45. | :30:51. | |
offence. It is important to say you can't pick and mix these | :30:52. | :30:54. | |
recommendations, you can't say we will have that one and not the | :30:55. | :30:58. | |
others. It was a balanced package that Sir Robert Francis put forward. | :30:59. | :31:03. | |
My message is that it must be permitted in full. If we are to | :31:04. | :31:06. | |
learn the lessons, the whole package must be addressed, and that includes | :31:07. | :31:12. | |
safe staffing levels across the NHS. Staff have a responsible to two | :31:13. | :31:17. | |
patients at the government also has responsible at T2 NHS staff and it | :31:18. | :31:20. | |
should not let them work in understaffed, unsafe conditions -- a | :31:21. | :31:33. | |
responsibility to NHS staff. Is there a part of the 2004 agreements | :31:34. | :31:43. | |
that you regret and should be undone? A lot of myths have been | :31:44. | :31:48. | |
built up about the contract. When it came in, there was a huge shortage | :31:49. | :31:53. | |
of GPs across the country. Some communities struggle to recruit. | :31:54. | :31:58. | |
This myth that the government have built, that the 2004 GP contract is | :31:59. | :32:04. | |
responsible for the AM decries is, it is spin of the worst possible | :32:05. | :32:12. | |
kind -- the A crisis. You would redo that contract? It was redone | :32:13. | :32:17. | |
under our time in government and change to make it better value for | :32:18. | :32:22. | |
money. GPs should be focused on improving the health of their | :32:23. | :32:25. | |
patients and that is a very good principle. Not so great if you can't | :32:26. | :32:32. | |
get 24-hour access. I agree with that. We brought in evening and | :32:33. | :32:37. | |
weekend opening for GPs. That is another thing that has gone in | :32:38. | :32:41. | |
reverse under Mr Cameron. It is much harder to get a GP appointment under | :32:42. | :32:44. | |
him and that is one of the reasons why A is an oppressor. -- under | :32:45. | :32:55. | |
pressure. What do you make of the review into intimidatory tactics by | :32:56. | :33:00. | |
unions? If there has been intimidation, it is unacceptable, | :33:01. | :33:04. | |
and that should apply to unions as well as employers. Was Unite wrong | :33:05. | :33:12. | |
to turn up and demonstrate? I don't know the details, this review will | :33:13. | :33:16. | |
look into that presumably. I need reassurance that this is not a | :33:17. | :33:20. | |
pretty cool call by Mr Cameron on the designed to appear near the | :33:21. | :33:23. | |
election -- that this is not a political call. Are you sponsored by | :33:24. | :33:35. | |
unite? No. Do you get any money from Unite? No. What have you done wrong? | :33:36. | :33:44. | |
It seems others are getting money from Unite. Can I tell you what I | :33:45. | :33:51. | |
think is the scandal of British party political funding, two health | :33:52. | :33:54. | |
care companies have given ?1.5 million in donations to the Tory | :33:55. | :34:02. | |
party, they have ?1.5 billion in NHS contracts. I wonder why you don't | :34:03. | :34:06. | |
spend much time talking about that and obsess over trade union funding. | :34:07. | :34:11. | |
We are happy to talk about that. We see from e-mails that Mr Miliband's | :34:12. | :34:18. | |
closest advisers regard Mr Ed Balls as a bit of a nightmare, do you see | :34:19. | :34:24. | |
a bit of a nightmare about him as well? I don't at all, he is a very | :34:25. | :34:29. | |
good friend. I can't believe that you are talking about those e-mails | :34:30. | :34:33. | |
on a national political programme. My goodness, you obviously scraping | :34:34. | :34:38. | |
the barrel today. I have been in front-line labour politics for 20 | :34:39. | :34:42. | |
years. I can't remember the front bench and the wider party being as | :34:43. | :34:46. | |
united as it is today and it is a great credit to Ed Miliband and Ed | :34:47. | :34:50. | |
Balls. We are going into a general election and we are going to get rid | :34:51. | :34:53. | |
of a pretty disastrous coalition government. It was worth spending a | :34:54. | :34:58. | |
few seconds to establish your not having nightmares. Thank you for | :34:59. | :35:02. | |
joining me. It's just gone 11:30am. You're | :35:03. | :35:04. | |
watching the Sunday Politics. Coming up in just over 20 minutes, I'll be | :35:05. | :35:06. | |
talking to the MP accused of Hello. It's a year since police | :35:07. | :35:23. | |
commissioners were elected for the first time. Have they had an | :35:24. | :35:29. | |
impact? And could a portrait of the First Minister Carwyn Jones be the | :35:30. | :35:31. | |
first steps to Wales doing more trade with Ukraine? Joining me the | :35:32. | :35:37. | |
Liberal Democrat MP Roger Williams and the Plaid Cymru Assembly Member | :35:38. | :35:42. | |
Dafydd Elis-Thomas. Good morning. Let's start with a view from you on | :35:43. | :35:48. | |
the typhoon in the Philippines. The DTC is saying that there needs to be | :35:49. | :35:53. | |
a real renewed focus on dealing with climate change as a result of this | :35:54. | :35:57. | |
but also there is a concern that more things like this will happen in | :35:58. | :36:04. | |
the future. I'm very lucky to have an adviser on these things and there | :36:05. | :36:09. | |
is a certainty that there is a pattern which has been emerging over | :36:10. | :36:12. | |
recent years and I think it's essential that we do take advantage | :36:13. | :36:16. | |
of every international opportunities such as the current discussions in | :36:17. | :36:21. | |
Warsaw to try to respond more positively. That does mean | :36:22. | :36:25. | |
decarbonising the energy generation and I'm very concerned about the | :36:26. | :36:34. | |
cost of energy because, obviously, if we are going to reduce the amount | :36:35. | :36:45. | |
of carbon that is generated, we need to invest in renewables and nuclear. | :36:46. | :36:49. | |
Ed Davey seems to have changed his view on nuclear. He is for it now, | :36:50. | :36:55. | |
where he was in before. That is something the Lib Dems have done in | :36:56. | :37:00. | |
government. That the change we made. Are you happy with that change? I've | :37:01. | :37:04. | |
always been on the pro-nuclear wing of the Lib Dems. It's essential if | :37:05. | :37:09. | |
we are going to decarbonise the energy supply system that that plays | :37:10. | :37:17. | |
a part. But in terms of the typhoon, it's difficult to attribute any | :37:18. | :37:20. | |
particular whether incident to I'm change but there's no doubt -- | :37:21. | :37:26. | |
climate change but there's no doubt this is having an impact. A year | :37:27. | :37:32. | |
ago, the first directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners came | :37:33. | :37:36. | |
to power across Wales and England. The aim was to give people some | :37:37. | :37:38. | |
control over their forces with invisible figure the public can | :37:39. | :37:43. | |
raise concerns with. In a moment we'll hear from the Dyfed Powys | :37:44. | :37:48. | |
Commissioner Christopher Salmon. But first a snapshot of the first 12 | :37:49. | :37:50. | |
months of Wales's newest elected representatives. Last November just | :37:51. | :37:56. | |
under 15% of the Welsh electorate voted for Police and Crime | :37:57. | :37:59. | |
Commissioners and they are elected the Conservative Christopher Salmon | :38:00. | :38:02. | |
into the towers, Labour's Alun Michael in South Wales, an | :38:03. | :38:07. | |
independent in North Wales and another in Gwent. A row followed and | :38:08. | :38:18. | |
Carmel maybe it left in June after he threatened to fire her if she | :38:19. | :38:27. | |
didn't retire. South Wales commissioner Alun Michael stresses | :38:28. | :38:29. | |
the close working relationship with his chief constable, Peter Vaughan, | :38:30. | :38:33. | |
and says the groundwork has been laid for reduced crime and better | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
policing for the next three years. Christopher Salmon has overseen the | :38:39. | :38:41. | |
creation of a new fund for Officers' projects to cut crime and | :38:42. | :38:45. | |
is planning a big increase in special constables. Also appointed a | :38:46. | :38:53. | |
new chief constable. Winston Roddick created a new rural crime force. He | :38:54. | :39:00. | |
says they are making the force use officers better. The Home Secretary | :39:01. | :39:05. | |
admits some Police and Crime Commissioners have made mistakes but | :39:06. | :39:08. | |
says overall they are driving major change and holding forces to | :39:09. | :39:12. | |
account. Let's speak to the Dyfed Powys police Commissioner | :39:13. | :39:18. | |
Christopher Salmon. Good morning. Let me hit you with some statistics. | :39:19. | :39:26. | |
Turnout was low - 15%. A BBC poll this week suggested that a third of | :39:27. | :39:30. | |
people didn't know who their Police and Crime Commissioner was, and half | :39:31. | :39:35. | |
of people asked said that they had had little or no effect. Is that | :39:36. | :39:43. | |
your experience? No, it isn't and to come back to your poll, if a third | :39:44. | :39:47. | |
don't know, the obvious answer is that two thirds do and that is some | :39:48. | :39:51. | |
achievement, given where we were a year ago. Your poll also suggested | :39:52. | :39:58. | |
that 40% of people believed that Police and Crime Commissioners had | :39:59. | :40:03. | |
had a positive effect on crime. There is more to do. A lot of what I | :40:04. | :40:07. | |
have to do is explain my role and make myself accessible to the | :40:08. | :40:10. | |
public. But we are much more accessible. I doubt very much you | :40:11. | :40:14. | |
would have been talking to a member of the police authority on this | :40:15. | :40:17. | |
programme, had the system not changed. Do you feel you're living | :40:18. | :40:22. | |
on borrowed time because when you are elected it was a four-year | :40:23. | :40:28. | |
term, and Labour are committed to abolishing the posts. Do you feel | :40:29. | :40:32. | |
you are on a hiding to nothing? I don't think Labour are committed. | :40:33. | :40:37. | |
They are conducting their review of policing at the moment and it's up | :40:38. | :40:41. | |
to them to say what they want to do. But if they're going to, they need | :40:42. | :40:44. | |
to find something else to replace it with. I don't think we're on | :40:45. | :40:48. | |
borrowed time at all. I'm very pleased with the progress we've | :40:49. | :40:52. | |
made. There is no question we all need to use - and I am certainly | :40:53. | :40:57. | |
going to use - this first term to persuade people of the benefits of | :40:58. | :41:01. | |
what I am doing, in particular. I want to face my electric inmate 2016 | :41:02. | :41:07. | |
to say how we have cut crime -- in May of 2016 to say how we have cut | :41:08. | :41:12. | |
crime and have a police force that is highly professional and that | :41:13. | :41:17. | |
people can trust. People will judge me on that then. There are wider | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
discussions on policing in Wales - whether it should be devolved, for | :41:23. | :41:26. | |
one. What is your view? It has been devolved. All the decisions relating | :41:27. | :41:32. | |
to policing are made by politicians elected by people in Wales for | :41:33. | :41:37. | |
people in Wales. In many ways, it is more devolved than if it were in | :41:38. | :41:41. | |
Cardiff. All you to do is add expense and complication and I don't | :41:42. | :41:45. | |
see any advantage in terms of crime-fighting, and that's what we | :41:46. | :41:48. | |
have to be about - making people safer. The other discussion that has | :41:49. | :42:01. | |
often been hard - should we have one force for Wales? My answer is that | :42:02. | :42:06. | |
we shouldn't but not particularly because of my job. The important | :42:07. | :42:11. | |
thing that the cc have allowed is allowing us to come up with a local | :42:12. | :42:26. | |
response to local issues. -- PCCs. We are an area the size of Lebanon | :42:27. | :42:33. | |
and we have to be answerable to our own residence. That is the value of | :42:34. | :42:38. | |
localism. That is the great power of this post and I wouldn't favour | :42:39. | :42:43. | |
centralising things in Wales at all. Winston Roddick in North Wales has | :42:44. | :42:47. | |
done some thing similar in attempting to address problems with | :42:48. | :42:51. | |
crime in rural areas. How much do you speak to each other as | :42:52. | :42:53. | |
commissioners across the country? A lot. As Welsh commissioners, we meet | :42:54. | :42:59. | |
quarterly. I talk to Winston regularly, whenever we have summoned | :43:00. | :43:04. | |
to discuss. I'm very keen to be the best possible magpie that I can and | :43:05. | :43:10. | |
steal ideas from him and elsewhere, wherever commissioners are pursuing | :43:11. | :43:19. | |
all sorts of initiatives. Northumbria are doing something on | :43:20. | :43:21. | |
women's issues and domestic violence. Morale of the police has | :43:22. | :43:28. | |
been in the news with the plebgate row and Andrew Mitchell. As far as | :43:29. | :43:33. | |
you're concerned, what do you think the situation with public trust is | :43:34. | :43:37. | |
at the moment? Do you think it has been affected by the plebgate row? I | :43:38. | :43:41. | |
think it has. I think, fundamentally, the public trust the | :43:42. | :43:47. | |
police, which is right and good. The problem with losing trust is that | :43:48. | :43:51. | |
it's very corrosive and I think the best way the police service, and we | :43:52. | :43:55. | |
as PCCs responsible for delivering policing, can tackle that is to be | :43:56. | :44:03. | |
honest and upfront about the challenges. We need more | :44:04. | :44:04. | |
independence and the police complaints system. It needs to be | :44:05. | :44:09. | |
much quicker, more bureaucratic and more focused on the needs of the | :44:10. | :44:13. | |
public than it currently is. A number of us are talking to the Home | :44:14. | :44:16. | |
Secretary about ideas to improve that and I think we'll see something | :44:17. | :44:20. | |
over the next few months and years. Thanks very much for joining us. | :44:21. | :44:28. | |
Gentlemen, both of your parties failed to put up candidates. A year | :44:29. | :44:33. | |
wrong, how do you feel about the situation? It was part of the | :44:34. | :44:38. | |
coalition agreement to have elections for police commissioners | :44:39. | :44:42. | |
and we went along with that. We've always wanted more democratic | :44:43. | :44:46. | |
accountability for the police but not necessarily to politicise it. | :44:47. | :44:51. | |
Therefore, we didn't put up candidates and I think it's very | :44:52. | :44:57. | |
telling that where credible, independent candidates were | :44:58. | :44:59. | |
standing, they got support from the electorate. They didn't get support | :45:00. | :45:04. | |
from you, did they? No, they didn't and they wouldn't. I envy what has | :45:05. | :45:10. | |
happened in Scotland with a unified police system. We now have a Lord | :45:11. | :45:17. | |
Chief Justice of Wales might just come into post, who has always been | :45:18. | :45:24. | |
a strong devolutionist. There is no question that the probation service, | :45:25. | :45:32. | |
a major issue at the moment, is a mistake. Running public services in | :45:33. | :45:37. | |
Wales on the same model across England is wrong on the board. You | :45:38. | :45:45. | |
don't accept Christopher Salmon to's point that policing is already | :45:46. | :45:50. | |
devolved? Look what has happened to the railway industry. Since Network | :45:51. | :45:55. | |
Rail is run from Cardiff, it's much more effective than it was before. | :45:56. | :46:03. | |
I'm sorry for these unionist people who are going on and on about | :46:04. | :46:07. | |
orders. I've got no patience with this. There will always be services | :46:08. | :46:13. | |
that will be shared across the marshes between England and Wales | :46:14. | :46:16. | |
and long may that be the case. But that doesn't prevent us in Wales | :46:17. | :46:20. | |
from having our own organised public services. It's obvious that once you | :46:21. | :46:24. | |
look at the Ministry of Justice and all related issues, especially the | :46:25. | :46:33. | |
prevention of crime, it is going to need a reorganisation. I would urge | :46:34. | :46:38. | |
people to start thinking about that echoes the administration of justice | :46:39. | :46:44. | |
will be devolved before 2020. Do you agree with Christopher Salmon or | :46:45. | :46:48. | |
Dafydd Elis-Thomas? I would rather agree with Dafydd. We will see | :46:49. | :46:54. | |
announcements fairly soon about how services are going to be delivered | :46:55. | :46:58. | |
in Wales and I agree that when they are centred locally, we get a more | :46:59. | :47:03. | |
responsive and more proactive type of service. That goes for the police | :47:04. | :47:13. | |
and criminal justice system. The other question was about the poll | :47:14. | :47:17. | |
results. The third of people didn't know the Commissioner. He made the | :47:18. | :47:21. | |
point that two thirds do. 15% people turned out. The first year has just | :47:22. | :47:28. | |
been about convincing people that they exist, I suppose. I think so. | :47:29. | :47:33. | |
We'll have to see when the next election for police commissioners | :47:34. | :47:36. | |
comes around, will there be greater engagement, a greater turnout at the | :47:37. | :47:41. | |
polling stations? I think perhaps we need to think again about how we | :47:42. | :47:49. | |
have free obligations sent to all the electors because at the last | :47:50. | :47:53. | |
election, people wear entirely unaware of the election and what the | :47:54. | :47:58. | |
consequences were. A year on, do you think people are any more informed | :47:59. | :48:05. | |
than they were? Ido think they are. I've been very concerned about the | :48:06. | :48:09. | |
intervention of the police commissioners in operational issues | :48:10. | :48:14. | |
involving policing. Do you mean in Gwent? I mean generally. These are | :48:15. | :48:18. | |
very sensitive areas and we are dealing with issues of security, of | :48:19. | :48:23. | |
law and order, of the rights of citizens. And I do think that when | :48:24. | :48:29. | |
you have a political campaign about the reorganisation of police | :48:30. | :48:32. | |
services, it doesn't really contribute to the debate about crime | :48:33. | :48:38. | |
prevention and security within our society. We'll leave it there for | :48:39. | :48:47. | |
now. Ukraine is to honour a leading Welsh industrialist who established | :48:48. | :48:51. | |
its second biggest city by opening a museum dedicated to him and | :48:52. | :48:53. | |
launching a commemorative postage stamp. It will mark the 200th | :48:54. | :48:56. | |
anniversary of the birth of John Hughes in Merthyr Tydfil, who | :48:57. | :48:59. | |
founded what's now called Donetsk. It's hoped reviving Wales's historic | :49:00. | :49:02. | |
ties with the East European nation will lead to trade opportunities, if | :49:03. | :49:05. | |
hopes Ukraine will become closer aligned to the EU are realised. | :49:06. | :49:14. | |
Vodka, nibbles and the work of a top Ukrainian artist in honour of John | :49:15. | :49:17. | |
Hughes, celebrating a connection between Wales and Don. In 1869, | :49:18. | :49:26. | |
Hughes was invited to Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire, to bring | :49:27. | :49:31. | |
the Industrial Revolution East. He developed an iron Works, coalmine | :49:32. | :49:37. | |
and railway, and he was honoured nearly a century and a half later in | :49:38. | :49:40. | |
Cardiff they are to Ukrainian Embassy event. He is probably the | :49:41. | :49:48. | |
biggest industrial -- it is probably the biggest industrial city, which | :49:49. | :49:53. | |
develops a lot of industries, including the iron making, which | :49:54. | :49:57. | |
John Hughes was very famous for. Coal mining, too, and many others. | :49:58. | :50:02. | |
He really was the father of the Ukrainian city which is now called | :50:03. | :50:14. | |
Don -esque. Mr Jones believes John Hughes's story is still relevant. | :50:15. | :50:19. | |
The message is that we've always been able to do things as a people. | :50:20. | :50:23. | |
We had people working in the minds and the steelworks in their hundreds | :50:24. | :50:28. | |
of thousands. We still have Cardiff docks, Barry docks, where coal is | :50:29. | :50:33. | |
exported around the world. What we have in John James Hughes is | :50:34. | :50:36. | |
somebody who took Welsh expertise, took it to the Ukraine and it | :50:37. | :50:45. | |
thrived. This Labour MP's father fled Ukraine for Britain after the | :50:46. | :50:52. | |
war. He believes there could be benefits from Ukraine moving closer | :50:53. | :50:58. | |
to the youth. The travel will be easier, trade will be a lot easier | :50:59. | :51:03. | |
and less restrictive and, of course, as well as being a producer | :51:04. | :51:09. | |
of many minerals and skills, it is also an agricultural producer and an | :51:10. | :51:15. | |
importer, as well. So their mutual benefits in terms of common | :51:16. | :51:18. | |
agriculture, common agricultural trade. We have similar objectives | :51:19. | :51:26. | |
and challenges, in terms of what we do as older industries start to | :51:27. | :51:31. | |
decline and we need to replace the jobs. I've met the ambassador before | :51:32. | :51:37. | |
and Mick is the Assembly Member for Pontypridd, and is of Ukrainian and | :51:38. | :51:43. | |
history, and is keen to develop those links. This band will tour the | :51:44. | :52:01. | |
Ukraine, including Don , next year. We hear about John Hughes going to | :52:02. | :52:05. | |
Ukraine in the mid to late 19th century, taking his expertise around | :52:06. | :52:10. | |
the world. Carwyn Jones suggests we should keep on trying to do that. Is | :52:11. | :52:17. | |
Wales in a position to do that? I hope we are. We have expertise in | :52:18. | :52:21. | |
engineering, renewable energy and decommissioning of nuclear. We have | :52:22. | :52:26. | |
lots of engineering experience which we can share and I'm very pleased | :52:27. | :52:30. | |
about this initiative with Ukraine because it's important that we think | :52:31. | :52:35. | |
of Europe as what it really is, and don't talk about Eastern Europe as | :52:36. | :52:38. | |
if we were still suffering from Cold War problems. Therefore, as much as | :52:39. | :52:44. | |
we can do in that direction, it is as well as it is obvious sleep | :52:45. | :52:54. | |
double -- obviously profitable. They're trying to get closer to the | :52:55. | :52:58. | |
EU, but Russia are trying to keep them away from doing that. Do you | :52:59. | :53:02. | |
welcome the idea that Wales should be trying to forge its own trade | :53:03. | :53:06. | |
links apart from the UK government's? Absolutely. There has | :53:07. | :53:12. | |
been an agreement between the EU and the nation states to form a deep and | :53:13. | :53:17. | |
compounds of free trade area with Ukraine and that's so important. It | :53:18. | :53:21. | |
will lead to the break down of tariffs between exports and imports. | :53:22. | :53:26. | |
Agriculture, as well as heavy industry, is a big part of the | :53:27. | :53:31. | |
Ukraine economy. It would seem to be the breadbasket of Russia before the | :53:32. | :53:37. | |
USSR was broken down and it is very productive in those terms. But Wales | :53:38. | :53:41. | |
has got so much to offer in terms of life sciences. The reputation of | :53:42. | :53:45. | |
Cardiff University and Swansea University, growing at the moment, | :53:46. | :53:49. | |
means our scientists are held in huge and high regard across the | :53:50. | :53:55. | |
world. We can be spreading that and gaining influence for Wales. Are we | :53:56. | :54:01. | |
making enough of it? If these things are happening, maybe we should | :54:02. | :54:06. | |
publicise it more. I think so. We need to blow our trumpets a bit and | :54:07. | :54:10. | |
make sure that when Welsh people and Welsh institutions are in the front | :54:11. | :54:14. | |
of these things, it's acknowledged and made aware to everybody. And | :54:15. | :54:20. | |
don't forget culture, especially for all. Now that we've got Gareth Bale | :54:21. | :54:27. | |
and Aaron Ramsey... They're both fit but this is so important, the | :54:28. | :54:34. | |
cultural connections, and it's an area where many institutions have | :54:35. | :54:43. | |
been working. The more we do there, the more that has a spin off for | :54:44. | :54:46. | |
other businesses, as well, and the important point is that these days | :54:47. | :54:48. | |
it is green investment and investment in rural technologies and | :54:49. | :54:51. | |
the kind of material we were talking about earlier - this is at the | :54:52. | :54:55. | |
forefront of what the world needs and we can certainly work with | :54:56. | :54:59. | |
Ukraine on those things. Time for a quick look that at some | :55:00. | :55:02. | |
of the political stories in the | :55:03. | :32:45. |