Browse content similar to 22/09/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics. Ed Miliband and the | :00:36. | :00:45. | |
rest of the Labour clan are in Brighton for their party conference | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
this weekend. He's promised policies galore. But as a Sunday Politics | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
poll finds a third of his own councillors don't think he's doing a | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
good job, will that be enough to steady the Labour ship? | :00:55. | :00:59. | |
Back in Westminster, they're partying like it's 2006, as Damian | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
McBride's memoirs re-ignite the Blair-Brown wars. Alastair Campbell | :01:02. | :01:08. | |
will tell us why he is sickened by the former Brown spin doctor. | :01:08. | :01:13. | |
And speaking of political infighting, Conservative Party | :01:13. | :01:15. | |
Chairman Grant Shapps will give his response to the rampant Tory-bashing | :01:15. | :01:16. | |
And a big question in the Midlands, at the Lib Dem Conference | :01:16. | :01:28. | |
And a big question in the Midlands, where is the beef? | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
business. In London, Labour commands over the two thirds of the ethnic | :01:31. | :01:36. | |
minority vote but now stands accused of institutional racism. Are they | :01:36. | :01:44. | |
right? With me, the best and the brightest political panel in the | :01:44. | :01:49. | |
business. Isabel Hardman, Janan be tweeting like demented Damians | :01:49. | :01:53. | |
throughout the programme. First today, scrapping the bedroom tax. | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
Universal childcare for primary school kids. More apprenticeships. | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
Labour Conference only begins in earnest today, but the policy and | :02:02. | :02:05. | |
spending commitments are coming according to the Labour leader's | :02:05. | :02:11. | |
critics. He's been out and about this morning and told Andrew Marr | :02:11. | :02:12. | |
that he knew it was going to be this morning and told Andrew Marr | :02:13. | :02:23. | |
It is about a party that lost office three years ago. We are trying to be | :02:23. | :02:29. | |
a one term opposition. That is tough. I believe it is a fight that | :02:29. | :02:34. | |
we can win and I am up for that fight. The stakes are so high for | :02:34. | :02:41. | |
young people who want a job, for people whose living standards are | :02:41. | :02:46. | |
being squeezed. For people who think that this is not good enough for | :02:46. | :02:53. | |
Britain. So what do key Labour Party activists - its councillors - think | :02:53. | :02:54. | |
about the direction Mr Miliband activists - its councillors - think | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
taking their party? Adam Fleming is in Brighton at the Party Conference | :02:59. | :03:02. | |
with all the details of our latest exclusive Sunday Politics survey. | :03:02. | :03:12. | |
conference set. Let us unwrap them. With the help of an opinion poll we | :03:13. | :03:20. | |
surveyed 1350 Labour councillors across England and Wales. We wanted | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
to find out what they think as Labour gathers for its conference. | :03:24. | :03:26. | |
The Labour leader warmed up for Labour gathers for its conference. | :03:26. | :03:32. | |
week by taking to his soap box in Brighton city centre. It is great | :03:32. | :03:40. | |
week by taking to his soap box in councillors said they did not think | :03:40. | :03:42. | |
Ed Miliband was doing a good job as leader. 30% said they thought the | :03:43. | :03:48. | |
party would have a better chance if someone else was in charge at the | :03:49. | :03:55. | |
next election. You will see more of Ed Miliband as we run-up to general | :03:55. | :04:02. | |
election. He has been in the job for three years! Now it is crunch time. | :04:02. | :04:11. | |
The other Ed, Ed Balls, was disliked by roughly one third of the party as | :04:11. | :04:16. | |
well. Ed Balls is not a pop your man. He says things and he speaks | :04:16. | :04:23. | |
his mind. -- not a popular man. diplomatic. Sadly Ed Balls did not | :04:23. | :04:32. | |
seem to be that bothered about our survey. Over at a conference centre | :04:32. | :04:40. | |
When it comes to relations with trade unions, the majority of Labour | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
councillors thought things were absolutely fine. Just 9% thought | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
things with the unions were a little bit too close. Tricky because Ed | :04:50. | :04:57. | |
Miliband want to loosen the link. The shadow environment secretary | :04:57. | :05:00. | |
arrived in Brighton ride bicycle from London to raise money for | :05:00. | :05:08. | |
councillors what they would do if the next election results in a hung | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
parliament, just over half said the next election results in a hung | :05:11. | :05:16. | |
would tell the lid Dems to get on their bikes. We would never say | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
would tell the lid Dems to get on to going into coalition. It gives us | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
the chance to be in government and prepare some of the damage of the | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
last three years. So are you going to start being nice about the Lib | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
Dems? I always treat them with courtesy. And the parties admitted | :05:32. | :05:38. | |
that perhaps they had opened the door to too many immigrants. It | :05:38. | :05:44. | |
that perhaps they had opened the our survey Labour councillors of | :05:44. | :05:46. | |
warming the felt that immigration We're now joined by the Shadow Chief | :05:46. | :05:53. | |
Secretary to the Treasury, Rachel Reeves. Good morning. Let us start | :05:53. | :06:03. | |
with Ed Miliband. Is it true that the team insisted that he be called | :06:03. | :06:11. | |
the leader? I just call him Ed and I think the rest of the Shadow Cabinet | :06:11. | :06:17. | |
do. Do you welcome working for a leader that says he is winning back | :06:17. | :06:26. | |
socialism? We are a democratic important thing is that we have | :06:26. | :06:34. | |
socialism? We are a democratic policies that will improve people 's | :06:34. | :06:37. | |
lives and tackle the cost of living crisis facing so many families. | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
Policies like expanding childcare, offering more apprenticeships, all | :06:42. | :06:49. | |
policies that I think the country are calling out for after three | :06:49. | :06:54. | |
years of a flat-lining economy and seeing prices rise faster than wages | :06:54. | :07:01. | |
for 38 out of the 39 months but Minister. I think that is the most | :07:01. | :07:08. | |
important thing. So it is OK now to risk their to the Labour Party again | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
as the Socialist party? The clue is in the name, we stand up for working | :07:13. | :07:19. | |
people. You are socialist party according to the leader. We have | :07:19. | :07:24. | |
always been the Labour Party, that is our name and we stand up for | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
working people, not the privileged few like this government with their | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
tax cuts for millionaires. Those are privileged few. The Labour Party is | :07:33. | :07:39. | |
about helping everyone in Britain, all families. Interesting that your | :07:39. | :07:49. | |
run don't use the word socialist. In our survey one third of Labour | :07:49. | :07:52. | |
councillors said Ed Miliband was not doing a good job as leader. If he | :07:52. | :08:01. | |
councillors, who can he convince? Well you could say that two thirds | :08:01. | :08:02. | |
of councillors think that he is Well you could say that two thirds | :08:02. | :08:08. | |
right leader. But these are Labour councillors. The overall majority of | :08:08. | :08:14. | |
Labour councillors think that he is doing a good job. What matters is | :08:14. | :08:22. | |
the results on election day. Two thirds of councillors think that he | :08:22. | :08:28. | |
is doing a good job. That us see what they say at the end of this | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
week. Because I think the policies he is announcing will go down well | :08:32. | :08:37. | |
week. Because I think the policies with Labour Party people and will | :08:37. | :08:38. | |
also resonate with the British public. Policies like expanding | :08:38. | :08:40. | |
apprenticeships, giving a break public. Policies like expanding | :08:40. | :08:47. | |
struggling. I think people will public. Policies like expanding | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
what kind of a leader that he is. Well he has a mountain to climb | :08:51. | :08:58. | |
among all voters. Let me ask the question. Just 12% see him as a | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
Prime Minister in waiting, just question. Just 12% see him as a | :09:02. | :09:07. | |
see him as a natural leader. Why? If question. Just 12% see him as a | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
you look at the overall opinion polls, we are consistently ahead in | :09:10. | :09:16. | |
those polls. It is hard being leader demonstrate how you would be Prime | :09:16. | :09:22. | |
Minister. By nature you are in opposition. But he has taken on | :09:22. | :09:29. | |
Rupert Murdoch and the press barons. That is strong leadership, standing | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
up to the vast majority. If you That is strong leadership, standing | :09:32. | :09:38. | |
at his reforms to our relationship with the trade unions, strengthening | :09:38. | :09:45. | |
ties with individual members. I think that he is a strong leader | :09:45. | :09:51. | |
making the right decisions. If that is the case, why has the Labour | :09:51. | :09:57. | |
making the right decisions. If that gone from 14 points one year ago to | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
at most four points now. What went wrong? Well we are six or eight | :10:00. | :10:09. | |
are six or eight points ahead in the consistently ahead. It looks as | :10:09. | :10:13. | |
are six or eight points ahead in the we would get an overall majority if | :10:13. | :10:14. | |
there was an election tomorrow. we would get an overall majority if | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
we have more work to do to convince more people to vote for Labour. | :10:18. | :10:24. | |
we have more work to do to convince this is a historic challenge, to be | :10:24. | :10:25. | |
a one term Labour opposition. I this is a historic challenge, to be | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
a one term Labour opposition. I believe that Ed Miliband will be the | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
next Labour Prime Minister and will be an excellent Prime Minister. The | :10:32. | :10:38. | |
big policy announcement today is the guaranteed childcare for all primary | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
school children. How much will that government, they ring fenced money | :10:41. | :10:52. | |
after-school and breakfast clubs. We think that money should be ring | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
fenced again. How much will it cost? We are saying that schools | :10:56. | :11:01. | |
within their budgets should be able to provide that. At the moment they | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
can charge for children to come to provide that. At the moment they | :11:05. | :11:12. | |
their first clubs. But this is a additional money. As it was under | :11:12. | :11:18. | |
the last Labour government it will be about ring fencing money because | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
we think that this is a priority. This is something that the schools | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
should do. You cannot ring fenced money you do not have. You saying | :11:28. | :11:37. | |
schoolchild from eight o'clock in the morning until six o'clock at | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
night and it will not cost any more money? Well we did ring fence that | :11:41. | :11:46. | |
money in the last Labour government. That money is gone! It has not gone. | :11:46. | :11:52. | |
It is about priorities and we are saying that it should be a priority | :11:52. | :12:02. | |
where is the money being spent now that you would take it from? If | :12:02. | :12:07. | |
where is the money being spent now look at some of the things that | :12:07. | :12:09. | |
where is the money being spent now government is doing, building free | :12:09. | :12:11. | |
schools in areas where there are already enough. That is capital | :12:11. | :12:19. | |
spending. We are ring fencing that priorities. We had the ring fence | :12:19. | :12:26. | |
when we were in government. It would be reintroduced so that schools | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
when we were in government. It would to offer that wraparound care. Of | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
course schools can charge a small to offer that wraparound care. Of | :12:32. | :12:36. | |
fee for their breakfast clubs and after-school DVDs. But the important | :12:36. | :12:41. | |
thing is that provision is there for parents going out to work. Ed Balls | :12:41. | :12:48. | |
and Ed Miliband are at the heart of the Brown project. Damien Wright was | :12:48. | :12:55. | |
the hit man. Is it not inconceivable that they did not know what he was | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
the hit man. Is it not inconceivable up to. It is inconceivable that | :12:59. | :13:09. | |
the hit man. Is it not inconceivable did not -- Damian McBride. I am | :13:09. | :13:09. | |
asking about Damian McBride. What did not -- Damian McBride. I am | :13:09. | :13:14. | |
asking about Damian McBride. What I'm saying is that I was not there. | :13:14. | :13:19. | |
I was not there under the last Labour government. But I do know | :13:19. | :13:25. | |
that these things are not happening under the leadership of Ed Miliband. | :13:25. | :13:37. | |
that backstabbing going on. There is no plotting against Ed Balls going | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
on? I do not see that. And anyone who briefed against colleagues | :13:42. | :13:51. | |
should be sacked, I agree with that. Nick Clegg's conference speech made | :13:51. | :13:55. | |
it clear he was repaired to work with Ed Miliband in the event of a | :13:55. | :14:01. | |
hung parliament. Are you excited by that prospect or is it just boring? | :14:01. | :14:10. | |
That is very generous of Nick Clegg to say that. With his poll ratings | :14:10. | :14:17. | |
of 9%. I think it is up to the general public to decide who they | :14:17. | :14:22. | |
want to form a government. We are campaigning for an overall Labour | :14:22. | :14:23. | |
that just boring boring? I want campaigning for an overall Labour | :14:23. | :14:38. | |
serve in a Labour government is campaigning for an overall Labour | :14:39. | :14:41. | |
a coalition government. That is campaigning for an overall Labour | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
we are campaigning for. Thank you for joining us. Steve Richards, | :14:44. | :14:49. | |
we are campaigning for. Thank you has Ed Miliband got to do this | :14:49. | :14:55. | |
week? He has got to start to win the argument about the economy. I think | :14:55. | :15:01. | |
they will be quite clever on that in terms of saying that the recovery | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
has begun but it is not going to benefit many of the voters. Unlike | :15:05. | :15:10. | |
previous economic recoveries. That is a strong line and they need to | :15:10. | :15:24. | |
make that again and again. The recovery has barely started. The | :15:24. | :15:26. | |
make that again and again. The interesting thing, Isabel, they | :15:26. | :15:28. | |
make that again and again. The to make a living standards the issue | :15:28. | :15:32. | |
let's return to living standards which have been squeezed. The polls | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
show that twice as many people blame Labour for the living standards | :15:36. | :15:43. | |
show that twice as many people blame the Conservatives. It is a great | :15:43. | :15:45. | |
scene for them to mine, and it is the only one before they announce | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
big policies, but they have not gained the trust of voters on the | :15:48. | :15:52. | |
economy, so the Conservatives can say they are finishing the job of | :15:52. | :15:56. | |
fixing the recovery now and then cannot quite trust us with the | :15:56. | :16:02. | |
economy but we will talk about living standards. Ed Miliband's | :16:02. | :16:09. | |
economy but we will talk about elucidating policies and not just | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
incredibly vulnerable. The only thing worse than not having a policy | :16:12. | :16:18. | |
for an opposition leader is to have a policy. It gives the opposition | :16:18. | :16:24. | |
something to attack, the media something to scrutinise and it makes | :16:24. | :16:26. | |
you bold rubble and you can see something to scrutinise and it makes | :16:26. | :16:31. | |
coming through already before the conference has started. You have | :16:31. | :16:42. | |
childcare. Spigot can he provide wraparound childcare for free? | :16:42. | :16:47. | |
childcare. Spigot can he provide can he provide wraparound childcare | :16:47. | :16:49. | |
for free? I don't even know what it is. Opposition is emphatically an | :16:49. | :16:56. | |
art form, and the art form, and artform for them at the moment is to | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
announce policies without spending any money and it is very difficult | :17:00. | :17:05. | |
to do. You gave an illustration any money and it is very difficult | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
how difficult it is. They are under huge pressure, for the last year, to | :17:09. | :17:14. | |
announce policies and they announce one on childcare and you immediately | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
say, how do you paper it? And she immediately says, we will not spend | :17:18. | :17:23. | |
a penny on it, because they are terrified of spending anything. | :17:23. | :17:28. | |
a penny on it, because they are is where it an artform. The tax | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
suspension before and election is crazy, because they will find money | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
one way or another, but in another way, they cannot say we will spend | :17:37. | :17:41. | |
money on this. It is a real problem. How do you measure the state of | :17:41. | :17:44. | |
money on this. It is a real problem. coalition after the Liberal Democrat | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
conference? The Liberal Democrats were in a very strong position after | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
their conference, Nick Clegg had faced and activists on some issues, | :17:51. | :17:55. | |
including fracking, which they supported, which seem to be the | :17:55. | :18:00. | |
including fracking, which they important part of the conference. In | :18:00. | :18:02. | |
terms of the coalition, the Tories have had to sit and watch as Vince | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
Cable, Nick Clegg and Coe have basically criticised them and said | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
they are evil and only the Lib Dems can make sure the Government is | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
they are evil and only the Lib Dems and works properly. So in terms | :18:13. | :18:15. | |
they are evil and only the Lib Dems how the coalition works, you can | :18:15. | :18:17. | |
expect to see some revenge at the Tory conference. The Lib Dems, Nick | :18:17. | :18:25. | |
Clegg's followers, they had their revenge. Mister Clegg may have | :18:25. | :18:32. | |
convinced his own activists to stay behind him, but he has a bigger | :18:33. | :18:38. | |
convincing the British people. There is some interesting polling they | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
have done privately that suggests there is a market of about 25% of | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
the electorate which is plausibly open to them, and all they have | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
the electorate which is plausibly do is target policies remorselessly | :18:50. | :18:51. | |
at that group, rather than the broader public, in order to do well | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
enough at the next election to hold the balance of power. That is why | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
policies that seem weird to us, the balance of power. That is why | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
free school meals regardless of income, may perversely make sense to | :19:01. | :19:15. | |
them. Because it appeals to their political world we are in, the | :19:15. | :19:17. | |
Labour strategists think they can political world we are in, the | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
Labour strategists think they can win with 35%, the Lib Dems are going | :19:20. | :19:20. | |
to concentrate on 25. The Tories win with 35%, the Lib Dems are going | :19:20. | :19:22. | |
to concentrate on 25. The Tories have seized to be a national party | :19:22. | :19:24. | |
any more. We haven't been used to it for a long time. In the 80s, one | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
party dominated, the Tories. In for a long time. In the 80s, one | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
90s into the 21st century, the policy matter delayed the Labour | :19:32. | :19:39. | |
Party dominated. -- the Labour party dominated. We are now here but we | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
have other parties hoping that dominated. We are now here but we | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
will give them a small overall majority and it is the best they can | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
get. It is a very odd situation where the main two parties feel | :19:49. | :19:55. | |
get. It is a very odd situation can lose and the Lib Dems are openly | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
targeting only 25%. They have gotten rid of 75% already and it is a long | :20:00. | :20:05. | |
way from the policies of last couple of decades Nick Clegg talked about | :20:05. | :20:12. | |
all of the policies he had locked. There is a real opportunity for | :20:13. | :20:15. | |
all of the policies he had locked. Conservatives to say that he is | :20:15. | :20:17. | |
blocking all of the things that voters outside of our bays are | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
interested in, top immigration policy, human rights reform, that | :20:21. | :20:26. | |
sort of thing. David Cameron can say that in Manchester next week. One | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
thing was quite clear, it came out of this awayday, and and this is | :20:30. | :20:46. | |
this, that when you look at Mister Miller band's polls, the Tories | :20:46. | :20:51. | |
this, that when you look at Mister going to make this a presidential | :20:51. | :20:57. | |
Which is why I am curious why they When the strength of your party | :20:57. | :21:04. | |
Which is why I am curious why they against his opponents, why not have | :21:04. | :21:07. | |
him or her juxtaposed against them in 90 minutes three times a week. | :21:07. | :21:09. | |
past week has given us inklings When the Lib Dems gathered for their | :21:09. | :21:17. | |
Government is planning on fighting When the Lib Dems gathered for their | :21:17. | :21:24. | |
annual shindig in Glasgow, some ministers were non-too complimentary | :21:24. | :21:25. | |
about their blue blood fellows. ministers were non-too complimentary | :21:25. | :21:31. | |
bedfellows. Vince Cable led the ministers were non-too complimentary | :21:31. | :21:36. | |
Tories had reverted to type as a nasty party and describe their | :21:36. | :21:40. | |
politics as ugly, cynical, callous and prejudice. Nick Clegg did not | :21:40. | :21:44. | |
restrict himself to policies that and prejudice. Nick Clegg did not | :21:44. | :21:47. | |
the Lib Dems had champion, such and prejudice. Nick Clegg did not | :21:47. | :21:49. | |
increasing the amount you can earn before paying tax. The Deputy Prime | :21:49. | :21:58. | |
Minister proudly listed all of the things he had stopped the Tories | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
from doing. Speak of scrapping housing benefit the young people, | :22:01. | :22:05. | |
no. No to ditching the human rights act. No to weakening the protections | :22:05. | :22:13. | |
in the equalities act. So how much of a break have the yellow brigade | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
being on Conservative ambitions question mark in the two leaders | :22:16. | :22:18. | |
shake hands again after the 20 question mark in the two leaders | :22:18. | :22:22. | |
election, what policies were David Cameron insist on. -- 2015? No | :22:22. | :22:29. | |
matter how many times Nick Clegg And Grant Shapps joins me the Sunday | :22:29. | :22:32. | |
Grant Shapps, good morning. Nick self-styled. He boasted to his | :22:32. | :22:48. | |
conference that he had stopped the Tories from going ahead with 16 | :22:48. | :22:53. | |
policies in government. Is this accurate? I don't know but what | :22:53. | :22:56. | |
policies in government. Is this can tell you, as your commentator | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
Isabel said, some of the policies that we wanted them if we were a | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
majority government sent out to that we wanted them if we were a | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
very popular things, like reforming the human rights act and some of the | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
problems that provides when it comes to sending people who have no right | :23:10. | :23:11. | |
to be in this country back. So there to be in this country back. So there | :23:11. | :23:15. | |
may be some things we could have inheritance tax cut? I don't know | :23:15. | :23:24. | |
the details, but I think it is negotiation and sometimes you can't | :23:25. | :23:30. | |
get everything you want, and we negotiation and sometimes you can't | :23:30. | :23:35. | |
done the best, given where the electoral maths left us. That is why | :23:35. | :23:37. | |
70 people in this country say they electoral maths left us. That is why | :23:37. | :23:39. | |
70 people in this country say they would rather see a single party | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
running the country -- why so many people. I have to say I agree. They | :23:42. | :23:49. | |
Give me a couple of major policies that you would introduce if you | :23:49. | :23:53. | |
Give me a couple of major policies had a majority in 2010 and were | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
Give me a couple of major policies held back by the Lib Dems. Speaking | :23:56. | :24:02. | |
the one I just mentioned would be Country, we have had 1,000 years of | :24:02. | :24:08. | |
than capable of putting in place developing the law and we are more | :24:08. | :24:11. | |
than capable of putting in place sensible laws. you would have left | :24:11. | :24:14. | |
the European Court of human rights. We have already started the process | :24:15. | :24:19. | |
of negotiation. There was some progress, but limited, and we would | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
like to move further. Let me give you one other. I think this country | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
has a great future but we can only ourselves the best place in the | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
world to come and set up a business. ourselves the best place in the | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
If we make ourselves the best place entrepreneurship and I think there | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
are a host of things we could do to go further on cutting back red tape. | :24:39. | :24:44. | |
And the Lib Dems have stopped you? I think that is the case. In what | :24:44. | :24:52. | |
ways, if any, have the Lib Dems improved the coalition process? It | :24:52. | :24:56. | |
has been a stable government. No one talks about when the next election | :24:57. | :24:58. | |
will come, we know it is in May talks about when the next election | :24:58. | :25:04. | |
but that is in part being in a coalition. The Tories wouldn't have | :25:04. | :25:10. | |
done that? It wasn't the plan of any party to go from... In the old days, | :25:10. | :25:16. | |
there would have been speculation. debate, you changed the British | :25:16. | :25:21. | |
constitution in a fundamental way and nobody got a say. It was debated | :25:21. | :25:27. | |
on the floor of the Has, as all constitutional changes are and there | :25:27. | :25:33. | |
was a lot of agreement -- of the House. Nobody has ever said to me | :25:33. | :25:36. | |
that it is a problem that we now have a fixed term parliament. Here | :25:36. | :25:44. | |
it is, every five years. This is what it has done, it has provided | :25:44. | :25:49. | |
stability in an incredibly uncertain economic time and that has been | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
stability in an incredibly uncertain for the economy. we will chalk that | :25:52. | :26:01. | |
up to delete -- Lib Dem. What about taking people out of tax, the Lib | :26:01. | :26:09. | |
Dems did that question mark it is a great policy. It is a conservative | :26:09. | :26:15. | |
led government, it is a Conservative This is a screen grab from your | :26:15. | :26:21. | |
party's website, income tax cut This is a screen grab from your | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
25 million people. You are taking the credit for it, it wouldn't have | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
happened without the Lib Dems. It certainly came about because of | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
happened without the Lib Dems. It coalition and we put it in the | :26:33. | :26:35. | |
coalition agreement. It could not have happened without a Conservative | :26:35. | :26:36. | |
Chancellor making it happen. It have happened without a Conservative | :26:36. | :26:41. | |
right, 25 million people taken out of tax. Another 17 by this April | :26:41. | :26:48. | |
will not be paying tax at all. you didn't want to do it. Look at what | :26:48. | :26:52. | |
David Cameron told Nick Clegg during What Nick Clegg is promising is | :26:52. | :27:06. | |
David Cameron told Nick Clegg during £17 billion tax cut. We are saying, | :27:06. | :27:10. | |
stop the waste of 6 billion to stop the national insurance rise. I would | :27:10. | :27:14. | |
love to take everyone out of their first £10,000 of income tax, it | :27:14. | :27:17. | |
love to take everyone out of their beautiful idea but we cannot afford | :27:17. | :27:24. | |
unaffordable and now you are taking the credit for it. I feel like it is | :27:24. | :27:30. | |
having a three year afterwards argument, and we got into coalition | :27:30. | :27:33. | |
because the British people put us there and we agreed to make the | :27:33. | :27:37. | |
because the British people put us of it. And as it happens, if you | :27:37. | :27:41. | |
absolutely think it is the right thing to take as many people out of | :27:41. | :27:46. | |
tax entirely as possible. Two points 7 million people pay no tax at all | :27:46. | :27:54. | |
threshold. -- 2.7 million. I'm pleased it worked out. What are | :27:54. | :27:59. | |
threshold. -- 2.7 million. I'm most important thing is a majority | :27:59. | :27:59. | |
Tory government would do after most important thing is a majority | :27:59. | :28:05. | |
unencumbered by the Lib Dems? I think produce even more jobs when | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
unemployment goes down, because think produce even more jobs when | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
are the most entrepreneurial place to set up a business. Are more | :28:11. | :28:16. | |
free-market economy? We make our money because we are out global | :28:16. | :28:20. | |
trading economy. That is why it money because we are out global | :28:20. | :28:26. | |
so important that we have to make sure it is easy to trade around | :28:26. | :28:30. | |
so important that we have to make world. One simple example, it is | :28:30. | :28:32. | |
crazy in my view that we have global tariffs that prevent some of the | :28:32. | :28:34. | |
hardest other countries in the tariffs that prevent some of the | :28:34. | :28:36. | |
hardest other countries in the world, in developing parts of the | :28:36. | :28:36. | |
world, from exporting to us and world, in developing parts of the | :28:36. | :28:43. | |
versa. I'm giving you a platform of things that I think we would be | :28:43. | :28:47. | |
versa. I'm giving you a platform of interested in progressing in. It | :28:48. | :28:51. | |
sounds like you are talking about even more Thatcherite, market led | :28:51. | :28:52. | |
agendas. I think that you did a even more Thatcherite, market led | :28:52. | :28:59. | |
amount to show this country that if you want to help the least well | :28:59. | :29:02. | |
amount to show this country that if people in society, and the least | :29:03. | :29:05. | |
well off people in the world, around the globe, the way to do it is to | :29:05. | :29:09. | |
trade, and I think we should have an economy which is much more open | :29:09. | :29:14. | |
trade, and I think we should have an free trade. If there is another | :29:14. | :29:15. | |
trade, and I think we should have an parliament, and the poll suggest | :29:15. | :29:19. | |
there might be, at the moment it is all to play for on both sides, what | :29:19. | :29:25. | |
would your non-negotiable Red Line speak? We are still two years away | :29:25. | :29:31. | |
from that, it is a long way away, but there is a lot we want to lay | :29:31. | :29:35. | |
out. What we are going to be saying to this country is most people want | :29:36. | :29:40. | |
a single party running the country, they think it is clean and clear and | :29:40. | :29:44. | |
you don't end up with negotiation setting out a very clear platform | :29:44. | :29:49. | |
which will be for hard-working people in this country who want | :29:49. | :29:52. | |
which will be for hard-working work hard and get on in life. We | :29:52. | :29:55. | |
would, I think, want to see the welfare state that we have got into, | :29:55. | :29:59. | |
where it is no longer about helping those most in need but became a | :29:59. | :30:02. | |
situation where you are better off not working than in worker, I think | :30:02. | :30:08. | |
we plan to ensure that this is an incredibly fair place to go out | :30:08. | :30:11. | |
we plan to ensure that this is an do a day's work and get the money at | :30:11. | :30:14. | |
the end of the day rather than thinking there is an alternative. | :30:14. | :30:18. | |
you have promised a referendum on UK membership of the EU in 2017, that | :30:18. | :30:20. | |
must be your first Red Line? We membership of the EU in 2017, that | :30:20. | :30:27. | |
clear, we want to see a referendum, a reform European Union. So no | :30:27. | :30:35. | |
poll... ? I should remind viewers that there is an act of Parliament, | :30:35. | :30:38. | |
a bill going through Parliament right now, for a referendum on the | :30:38. | :30:46. | |
EU, which comes back to the House. It is past the report stage and | :30:46. | :30:49. | |
comes back in November and we will be discussing it. The Lib Dems, | :30:49. | :30:55. | |
Labour, will have an opportunity to support what the British people | :30:55. | :31:01. | |
want. Lots may have changed. But it would be a Red Line for any future | :31:01. | :31:04. | |
coalition government question mark we are clear that it is time to | :31:04. | :31:14. | |
coalition government question mark manifesto. What is wrong with yes or | :31:14. | :31:16. | |
no? I cannot write the manifesto for 2015. You are asking me to project | :31:16. | :31:22. | |
beyond that and see in advance the election result and carry out the | :31:22. | :31:26. | |
negotiations that are yet to come. I'm just trying to work out how | :31:26. | :31:31. | |
much... I know you are committed but she won't tell me. Let's move on. | :31:31. | :31:41. | |
Your party has been described as nasty and blinkered. What do you | :31:41. | :31:48. | |
feel when he says that? We are interested in helping the most | :31:48. | :31:54. | |
vulnerable people in society. I think we're doing all that and more. | :31:54. | :32:01. | |
And it is a shame that that language was used because we have made so | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
much progress together. Are you getting to the end of your tether | :32:05. | :32:07. | |
with Mr King? I do not think it getting to the end of your tether | :32:07. | :32:22. | |
terribly helpful for any Cabinet minister to make comments like that. | :32:23. | :32:25. | |
What I would say is that Nick Clegg minister to make comments like that. | :32:25. | :32:35. | |
is the leader of the Lib Dems and entitled to have a view on it | :32:35. | :32:40. | |
himself. Look at these figures on party membership. Why has your party | :32:40. | :32:47. | |
lost half of its members since Mr Cameron became leader? I would like | :32:47. | :32:53. | |
it to be more. But I think the world has changed. People do not rush out | :32:54. | :32:58. | |
and join political parties as they used to. Instead they support you in | :32:58. | :33:08. | |
different ways. If I released the number of people who give to the | :33:08. | :33:12. | |
party in different ways, through donations for example, through | :33:12. | :33:18. | |
friend memberships. If you include that that figure goes back up. But | :33:18. | :33:26. | |
your membership has fallen by 50% at a time when UKIP has doubled. I do | :33:26. | :33:36. | |
not want to to misinterpret what I want to say. It is important to gain | :33:36. | :33:44. | |
members. I think we will have done that by the time of the next | :33:44. | :33:47. | |
election. But one statistic of interest, in the last election I had | :33:47. | :33:54. | |
a 17,000 majority in my own constituency. The difference was I | :33:54. | :34:00. | |
had 1000 people helping me to deliver leaflets and knock on the | :34:00. | :34:05. | |
doors. The Conservative party has changed. We now have an army of | :34:05. | :34:14. | |
people, volunteers who are not necessarily traditional members. The | :34:14. | :34:20. | |
days when you expect people to give you £25, before you accept their | :34:20. | :34:26. | |
support, those days have passed. You spoke about your most vulnerable | :34:26. | :34:33. | |
marginal seats. This is a poll from Michael Ashcroft. The 40 most | :34:33. | :34:40. | |
marginal seats that you will be defending. Labour is way up, you are | :34:40. | :34:48. | |
way down and UKIP is also up. What is happening, the Lib Dem Mo -- both | :34:48. | :34:58. | |
are moving to Labour. And disillusioned Conservatives are | :34:58. | :35:02. | |
moving to UKIP. If these figures came at an election he would lose 32 | :35:02. | :35:09. | |
of these 40 seats. The point about any opinion poll is that it is | :35:09. | :35:13. | |
perhaps accurate at the moment it is taken. We are now in a position | :35:13. | :35:18. | |
where the economy has turned the corner. The right thing to do was to | :35:19. | :35:30. | |
deal with the deficit. The people being asked about these things, they | :35:30. | :35:35. | |
will be interested in their own standard of living. Their mortgage | :35:35. | :35:41. | |
payments. Why are you doing worse in the marginal seats? National League | :35:41. | :35:49. | |
you are kind of nip and tuck with Labour. Well if that is the pick to | :35:49. | :35:56. | |
come 2015, people will see that this government has stuck to its guns. It | :35:56. | :36:00. | |
did not go for more borrowing and spending. And the record | :36:00. | :36:06. | |
demonstrates that the last thing you want to do is give the car keys back | :36:06. | :36:12. | |
to the people who crashed it in the first place. Lynton Crosby at this | :36:12. | :36:17. | |
away day of Conservative MPs, his one message was to go all out and | :36:17. | :36:24. | |
attack Ed Miliband. It is going to be a nasty election. That is | :36:24. | :36:31. | |
actually not true. We are going to focus on his policies, if he finally | :36:31. | :36:36. | |
announces some. Everything we have seen so far suggests it would mean | :36:36. | :36:42. | |
more borrowing and spending. The shadow chancellor said we would be | :36:42. | :36:53. | |
ruthless, just a few months later, 27.9 pounds of extra spending | :36:53. | :36:58. | |
committed by Labour. These are your figures. I will speak to you about | :36:58. | :37:08. | |
that during the Tory conference. It's just after 11:30. You're | :37:08. | :37:11. | |
watching the Sunday Politics. Coming up in just over 20 minutes. Alastair | :37:11. | :37:15. | |
Campbell gives us his not-too-positive review of Damian | :37:15. | :37:16. | |
Hello once again from the Midlands. McBride's memoirs. Until | :37:16. | :37:31. | |
Hello once again from the Midlands. I'm Patrick Burns. And we're joined | :37:31. | :37:35. | |
today by a Gloucestershire MP and an MEP representing everywhere in the | :37:35. | :37:37. | |
Midlands, except Gloucestershire, Michael Cashman is the West Midlands | :37:37. | :37:46. | |
Labour MEP. A former actor, the child star of the original West End | :37:46. | :37:54. | |
version of 'Oliver!'. And Martin Horwood, Liberal Democrat MP for | :37:54. | :37:56. | |
Cheltenham, had an interesting childhood, too. His parents worked | :37:56. | :38:00. | |
at GCHQ and at Bletchley Park before that. Martin spoke passionately in | :38:00. | :38:17. | |
the Commons against the badger cull, currently being piloted in | :38:18. | :38:22. | |
parts of his county. He will be interested to know that Owen | :38:22. | :38:28. | |
Patterson told me that he was the true best friend of the badger. Why? | :38:28. | :38:35. | |
Because average weight of badgers in the Irish Republic are up by £1 per | :38:35. | :38:41. | |
animal and that as a result of the cull that has taken secondly badgers | :38:41. | :38:50. | |
out of the ecosystem. —— badgers with TB. What would you say to Owen | :38:50. | :38:57. | |
Patterson? If the government wants to rely on evidence, they should | :38:57. | :39:01. | |
know that the badger cull does not make any difference to bovine TB. | :39:01. | :39:04. | |
The government commissioned an expert study at great length and | :39:05. | :39:08. | |
expense and has ignored the evidence and I am sorry about that and I | :39:08. | :39:13. | |
think the cull is a mistake. David Heath, my Liberal Democrat colleague | :39:13. | :39:17. | |
in the department, is doing some of the right things on cattle movement | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
and that is something positive. Where do you stand on this, | :39:21. | :39:28. | |
Michael? We have the cull and the vaccination, all sorts of different | :39:28. | :39:34. | |
ways and evidence? I do not agree with Owen Patterson on his views on | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
climate change and I do not agree with him on this. He refused to | :39:37. | :39:44. | |
answer a question in the House of Commons about the numbers that have | :39:44. | :39:49. | |
actually been culled. We are told it is fewer than 100 and a botched | :39:49. | :39:55. | |
cull, according to the scientists, will actually spread of bovine TB | :39:55. | :39:59. | |
rather than reduce it. I want them to go and talk to the scientist, | :39:59. | :40:05. | |
look at what is happening in the field and change their plans, | :40:05. | :40:07. | |
because it is important for the countryside is that everyone who | :40:07. | :40:13. | |
lives and works there is involved. And Owen Paterson has been a busy | :40:13. | :40:17. | |
man. He was in Moscow, as Russia finally agreed to lift its ban on | :40:17. | :40:20. | |
British beef. It was the last country to end its restrictions, 27 | :40:21. | :40:24. | |
years after the BSE epidemic. Now comes the farming export drive. Our | :40:24. | :40:26. | |
Rural Affairs Correspondent David Gregory—Kumar has been finding out | :40:27. | :40:29. | |
how the government can help our farmers compete with their European | :40:29. | :40:43. | |
counterparts, in world markets. Angus Beef in Shropshire. Turning a | :40:43. | :40:47. | |
necessary by product of our Midlands dairy industry into a valuable | :40:47. | :40:50. | |
product in it's own right. With the Russian Beef—ban lifted this is a | :40:50. | :40:53. | |
prime product for export. Beef farmer Dan Morris has been to Russia | :40:53. | :40:56. | |
and hosted a returning Russian delegation here on his farm. | :40:56. | :41:06. | |
Something like that could have a huge impact here in Shropshire in | :41:06. | :41:11. | |
terms of jobs and investment. Beef farmer Dan Morris has been to Russia | :41:11. | :41:15. | |
and hosted a returning Russian delegation here on his farm. It | :41:15. | :41:20. | |
would be disingenuous to say it was all down to me, but we certainly had | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
a role to play in building relationships. But Dan says the | :41:24. | :41:30. | |
government's work doesn't stop with the lifting of the ban. Now he has | :41:30. | :41:36. | |
identified this opportunity, he needs to get the department involved | :41:36. | :41:39. | |
in linking the people that will buy are meat in Russia to the people | :41:39. | :41:43. | |
that process are animals, link them together, and that is the way we | :41:43. | :41:50. | |
will generate extra demand. South to Herefordshire, where this glorious | :41:50. | :41:52. | |
people's potato harvest will mean production is higher than ever! No, | :41:52. | :42:02. | |
really! Once this potato has been turned into vulgar it is right for | :42:02. | :42:05. | |
exporting and the people who do that are so good at it, and even export | :42:05. | :42:11. | |
it to the Russians ——. Go. Yes, the man who brought us Tyrell's crisps | :42:11. | :42:15. | |
is now in the alcohol business. And he's learnt a LOT about export since | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
trying to get the french to buy Tyrell's vegetable crisps. We have | :42:19. | :42:29. | |
the French did not like parsnips. We need the knowledge to look for a | :42:29. | :42:32. | |
market and see what people are looking for. The government have not | :42:32. | :42:36. | |
started to touch it, when you look at other countries, like France, the | :42:36. | :42:43. | |
government will support you. It is amazing how much support they put | :42:43. | :42:50. | |
into their farmers. Everyone has worked hard to get the last British | :42:50. | :42:54. | |
beef ban lifted. But that's only the start. Shouldn't we learn from the | :42:54. | :43:05. | |
French, looking at the European perspective, because they will | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
support French exporting farmers with up to 50% of their promotional | :43:09. | :43:16. | |
costs. We do a fair level of expert support —— export support, but we | :43:16. | :43:20. | |
need to do more. What we are doing is looking at how our concept of | :43:20. | :43:25. | |
regional investment banks can help these farmers. They have done a | :43:25. | :43:28. | |
brilliant job selling their cattle and beef and at EU level, Labour | :43:28. | :43:36. | |
members are pursuing the free trade agreements with countries like the | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
US, India, China and Brazil and Russia, so that we have three axis | :43:40. | :43:45. | |
into their markets which creates jobs and growth. The bottom line is | :43:45. | :43:51. | |
that there is a big opportunity. It could be worth 100,000 extra | :43:51. | :43:56. | |
animals, beef cattle, it is big bucks for farmers. He is quite right | :43:56. | :44:01. | |
about pushing the free trade agreements. Should the government do | :44:01. | :44:10. | |
more in terms of educating and assisting farmers? Yes. The former | :44:10. | :44:18. | |
mentioned UK trade and investment. That gets rave reviews. We know that | :44:18. | :44:24. | |
they are weaker in other industries. Agriculture and trying to sell beef | :44:24. | :44:29. | |
and even vodka would be a good idea. We have to give due credit to the | :44:29. | :44:34. | |
farmers union, who threw out the BSE crisis and through these bands have | :44:34. | :44:40. | |
been unrelenting forbidding the case for British produce. We produce some | :44:40. | :44:44. | |
of the best in the world, let us get a hind it. It is a big challenge for | :44:44. | :44:51. | |
farmers to understand cultural and language issues, the Russians love | :44:51. | :44:57. | |
beef hearts, it is hard to understand what the market needs. | :44:57. | :45:05. | |
Education and training is provided, we need to learn the lessons from | :45:05. | :45:10. | |
other countries. Especially other European countries. The keyword is | :45:10. | :45:21. | |
research. Thank you. Here's a puzzle: what do these places have in | :45:21. | :45:24. | |
common? Cannock Chase, Wolverhampton South West, Dudley South, North | :45:24. | :45:26. | |
Warwickshire, Warwick and Leamington, Worcester, and | :45:26. | :45:28. | |
Gloucester? Answer: they all have Conservative MPs with majorities | :45:28. | :45:31. | |
under 5,000, so they should be prime Labour targets. But with no great | :45:31. | :45:34. | |
surge in popularity, the polls suggest Labour's best chance is for | :45:34. | :45:37. | |
UKIP to keep winning over disenchanted Tories. We'll hear from | :45:37. | :45:40. | |
Nigel Farage shortly. But I put it to Ed Miliband that this was a very | :45:41. | :45:44. | |
roundabout way of trying to wind seats. If we" looking at the | :45:44. | :46:03. | |
election scene, it comes to something when Labour's best chance | :46:03. | :46:08. | |
in those Tory marginals is strong support for the UKIP vote? I think | :46:08. | :46:15. | |
that we will fight very hard and very well at the General Election in | :46:15. | :46:18. | |
the West Midlands and we are going to be talking about the most | :46:18. | :46:22. | |
important issue facing families at our conference and the General | :46:22. | :46:26. | |
Election, which is the cost of living crisis. We have got a | :46:26. | :46:29. | |
government that is saying we have got a recovery, but most ordinary | :46:29. | :46:33. | |
families think life is getting harder. They do not have a | :46:33. | :46:38. | |
government on their side, we would be that government. I asked the | :46:38. | :46:43. | |
question, because that is exactly the point that that poll released a | :46:43. | :46:47. | |
few days ago makes, but it is precisely in places like | :46:47. | :46:52. | |
Gloucester, Tory marginal seats that UKIP pose the biggest threat to the | :46:53. | :46:59. | |
Tories. We will fight for every vote because we have an important message | :46:59. | :47:02. | |
for people considering voting for other parties. It is a message about | :47:02. | :47:09. | |
how we tackle the problems Britain is facing. You can take two views | :47:09. | :47:13. | |
about Britain, that the economy is fixed, which is what the government | :47:13. | :47:17. | |
says, or you can think of that Britain should be doing a lot better | :47:17. | :47:20. | |
and ordinary family should be doing better, and that is what we are | :47:20. | :47:25. | |
about and that is what we will be talking about. When we talk together | :47:25. | :47:30. | |
a year ago, you gave me an absolutely unequivocal undertaking | :47:30. | :47:34. | |
of your support for high—speed rail, is that still the case | :47:34. | :47:40. | |
eyes—macro yes. It is an important project for Britain, I am concerned | :47:40. | :47:45. | |
about the rising costs, , but we have said we will scrutinise it for | :47:45. | :47:49. | |
value for money. At a time like this, you cannot have blank chap —— | :47:49. | :47:54. | |
blank cheques, but I continue to support it. Last week, Ed Balls was | :47:54. | :48:00. | |
unenthusiastic about it, possibly the concern is about the money, but | :48:00. | :48:04. | |
his language was very reserved and cautious and does not seem to chime | :48:04. | :48:09. | |
with the optimism we have in this all—party consensus about it. It is | :48:09. | :48:15. | |
correct to have a Shadow Chancellor who wants to make sure that things | :48:15. | :48:19. | |
are value for money and what he said and what I have said is the same. We | :48:19. | :48:24. | |
need a better infrastructure, I think high—speed rail can play a | :48:24. | :48:27. | |
part and that is why I am a supporter, but I think the British | :48:27. | :48:31. | |
people would expect the Labour Party and any party to be concerned and | :48:31. | :48:36. | |
careful about making sure that every project is value for money and | :48:36. | :48:39. | |
high—speed rail is exactly part of that. I have to ask you about the | :48:39. | :48:54. | |
fallout from Falkirk, because that led to the departure of Tom Watson | :48:54. | :48:56. | |
who has since spoken about rash decisions by the leadership. He is a | :48:56. | :48:59. | |
dangerous man to be outside the camp. He is a good and decent person | :48:59. | :49:03. | |
who has distinguished himself in many ways, like the campaign around | :49:03. | :49:08. | |
phone hacking. He is somebody who is a friend of mine. The reason idea | :49:08. | :49:13. | |
what I did around Falkirk and the other issues is I am determined to | :49:13. | :49:17. | |
uphold the integrity of my party and I am determined to change my parties | :49:17. | :49:21. | |
so that it can hear the voices of individual working people, | :49:22. | :49:25. | |
individual members of trade Unions, we will get those changes through, | :49:25. | :49:29. | |
so we are are a proper party who can fight for working people on the | :49:29. | :49:37. | |
issues that matter. Ed Miliband there and it was also in that | :49:37. | :49:41. | |
interview that he committed a Labour government to scrapping what he | :49:41. | :49:45. | |
calls the bedroom tax, while David Cameron says it is the current spare | :49:45. | :49:49. | |
room subsidy which needs to be abolished. Labour would close a | :49:49. | :49:55. | |
boardroom tax loopholes and the shares for a right scheme to pay for | :49:55. | :50:00. | |
all this. Martin, he is targeting what he says is the cost of living | :50:01. | :50:05. | |
crisis, how do you oppose this announcement which is the keynote of | :50:05. | :50:09. | |
the Labour Party conference? The Labour language on this has | :50:09. | :50:11. | |
changed, quite apart from the fact that a couple of weeks ago, they | :50:11. | :50:15. | |
were slapping down their spokesperson for saying they would | :50:15. | :50:19. | |
reverse the bedroom tax. It is a hasty repositioning. It is about | :50:19. | :50:23. | |
Labour trying to move attention away from the fact that the and there are | :50:23. | :50:37. | |
clear signs of that recovery taking place. The language has changed from | :50:37. | :50:39. | |
Ed Balls save the economy is flat lining. The language has changed to | :50:39. | :50:42. | |
the cost of living. There are many answers that we have after we reduce | :50:42. | :50:44. | |
taxes, income tax for the lowest paid... We heard those messages last | :50:44. | :50:57. | |
week. They're giving 100,000 to millionaires. Labour are panicking | :50:57. | :51:04. | |
on the recovery of the economy. Is it not playing a dangerous game in a | :51:04. | :51:08. | |
sense that a lot of the polling organisations suggest that people | :51:09. | :51:12. | |
support what the government is doing on benefits and this reinforces | :51:13. | :51:13. | |
David Cameron's line, on benefits and this reinforces | :51:14. | :51:22. | |
accept this parallel universe that the Liberal Democrats living, that | :51:22. | :51:25. | |
the economy is off and running. The growth that we have is the slowest | :51:25. | :51:32. | |
in 100 years. Let me get to the bedroom tax. It affects over 400,000 | :51:32. | :51:40. | |
disabled people in this country who actually need another bedroom. We | :51:40. | :51:45. | |
see that there are currently 50,000 people facing evictions, what | :51:45. | :51:50. | |
happens to them? There are currently hundreds of thousands in arrears | :51:50. | :51:53. | |
because of the penalties that they face because they have an extra | :51:53. | :51:58. | |
room. It is just and right that Labour says it will get rid of it | :51:58. | :52:05. | |
and let me just say, the Liberal Democrats at the conference said | :52:05. | :52:08. | |
look at all the brilliant things we did, they are in a collective | :52:08. | :52:12. | |
government and have to accept responsibility for this policy and | :52:12. | :52:16. | |
all of the other vicious approaches. It was introduced by Labour in | :52:16. | :52:23. | |
respect to the private sector. If you want to hear what was said at | :52:23. | :52:26. | |
the Glasgow conference, people were very concerned about the impact of | :52:26. | :52:31. | |
the bedroom tax. I think we do need a review of the impact on the | :52:31. | :52:35. | |
poorest people and that was a clear message from our delegates and | :52:35. | :52:39. | |
members. I think the MPs need to start calling for that. Thank you. | :52:39. | :52:56. | |
Nigel Farage MEP. And so, as promised, to that interview with | :52:56. | :52:59. | |
Nigel Farage, the UKIP leader whose annual conference came just a week | :52:59. | :53:02. | |
after the West Midlands MEP Mike Nattrass angrily resigned from the | :53:02. | :53:05. | |
party. Having failed to get onto UKIP's list for next year's European | :53:05. | :53:08. | |
elections, Mr Nattrass dismissed their chosen candidates as 'cronies' | :53:08. | :53:11. | |
of Nigel Farage, of whom he had some pretty scathing things to say. How | :53:11. | :53:14. | |
do you view being described as a totalitarian leader like Robert | :53:14. | :53:18. | |
Mugabe? It is very complimentary to think that I have this brilliant | :53:18. | :53:23. | |
devious political brain and eye and masterminding everything. It is | :53:23. | :53:27. | |
balderdash. When I stood to become leader of the party, I said I was | :53:27. | :53:32. | |
not going to do what I had done before and I would run to lead the | :53:32. | :53:36. | |
party politically, and not to manage it or run it on a day to day basis, | :53:37. | :53:42. | |
and I have centred myself from the candidate procedure. I have had | :53:42. | :53:48. | |
nothing to do with it. Nevertheless, it you seem rather profligate with | :53:48. | :53:52. | |
your MEPs in the West Midlands. Both of them have resigned, you have none | :53:52. | :53:57. | |
in a region as important as the West Midlands. It is very important. | :53:57. | :54:01. | |
Despite the problems, I was in Telford ten days ago and we had a | :54:01. | :54:07. | |
massive public meeting. A political party, growing up from nothing, to | :54:07. | :54:12. | |
where we have got today, does necessarily go through some | :54:12. | :54:16. | |
teenagers. I think that in the West Midlands that is what we have been | :54:16. | :54:20. | |
through. Does it not look more like a one—man band. Is that not the | :54:20. | :54:24. | |
perception of the party? Perhaps it was. If you look at this particular | :54:24. | :54:31. | |
conference, you see the deputy leader of the party taking a more | :54:31. | :54:35. | |
prominent position. There are other people who will, like the man | :54:35. | :54:42. | |
unveiling the energy policy, and we also have some female candidates in | :54:42. | :54:45. | |
what will be very winnable position for the European elections. There is | :54:45. | :54:50. | |
a fresh blood of talent. Mike Nattrass has been with us for years, | :54:50. | :54:54. | |
I am sorry he has been deselected and I am surprised he did not get | :54:55. | :54:59. | |
through the selection panel and I am sorry he is upset. It is not what I | :54:59. | :55:04. | |
would have chosen. Nigel Farage MEP. And next week, in the last of my | :55:04. | :55:07. | |
party leader interviews, I'll be talking to the Prime Minister David | :55:07. | :55:10. | |
Cameron as he prepares for the Conservative Party Conference in | :55:10. | :55:16. | |
Manchester. Are you and UKIP in an unholy alliance in marginal regions? | :55:16. | :55:23. | |
Not at all. I honestly believe that we have problems with some of our | :55:23. | :55:27. | |
own voters on the issue of immigration, which UKIP play up very | :55:27. | :55:31. | |
strongly. I think they are a threat to the major parties. What I find | :55:31. | :55:36. | |
interesting about that piece is that you have a member who left the | :55:36. | :55:41. | |
Conservatives to go to UKIP and he is a climate change denier and he is | :55:41. | :55:45. | |
their spokesperson. You have another member who left UKIP to go to the | :55:45. | :55:49. | |
Conservatives. That tells you a lot about those parties and the conflict | :55:49. | :55:54. | |
that they have for what they think are their hard—core voters. The | :55:54. | :55:58. | |
problem for the Liberal Democrats is that UKIP are picking up the protest | :55:58. | :56:05. | |
voters. Now you are one of the above. I have not met very many | :56:05. | :56:08. | |
people who have gone from the Liberal Democrats to UKIP. I am | :56:08. | :56:13. | |
talking about the general well of protest. I guess if there were | :56:13. | :56:18. | |
people who were voting purely to protest, I am not sure they always | :56:18. | :56:23. | |
voted Liberal Democrat, I can see that an angry party might be the | :56:23. | :56:30. | |
place they would go. That's can be a very superficial kind of support and | :56:30. | :56:34. | |
we have seen it with UKIP, they did very well in the last European | :56:34. | :56:39. | |
elections and then they disappeared without trace. I think the real | :56:39. | :56:44. | |
problem with UKIP, with their MEPs, they have the worst record of | :56:44. | :56:48. | |
productivity in the Parliament. As someone said at our conference, | :56:48. | :56:53. | |
U—boat, you claim your expenses, it UKIP. They are taken us towards exit | :56:53. | :57:00. | |
from the European Union which could threaten jobs. That is the serious | :57:00. | :57:06. | |
problem. Now, for our round—up of the political week in the Midlands | :57:06. | :57:09. | |
in 60 seconds, brought to us today by BBC West Midlands Political | :57:09. | :57:32. | |
Reporter Susana Mendonca. New Environment Agency rules got a | :57:32. | :57:34. | |
frosty reception in Walsall. Hundreds of fridges have been dumped | :57:34. | :57:37. | |
illegally because scrap yards can't take them. Hall Green MP Roger | :57:37. | :57:40. | |
Godsiff wants the Attorney—General to review a six month sentence given | :57:40. | :57:43. | |
to lorry driver Darren Foster. He hit and killed 13—year—old cyclist | :57:43. | :57:46. | |
Hope Fennell. He'd been texting at the wheel. Solihull's MP will be | :57:46. | :57:49. | |
popular with her better off constituents. She spoke against a | :57:49. | :57:52. | |
conference motion to raise the top tax rate to 50p. It was defeated by | :57:52. | :57:56. | |
four votes. We can raise far more through Mansion tax, closing tax | :57:56. | :57:58. | |
loopholes and making dodging tax much harder to avoid. A year on and | :57:58. | :58:02. | |
there's still no end in sight to the plebgate affair for Sutton Coldfield | :58:02. | :58:05. | |
MP Andrew Mitchell. The cost so far, £150,000. And a serious case review | :58:05. | :58:09. | |
into the death of Coventry schoolboy Daniel Pelka found his murder | :58:09. | :58:12. | |
followed a series of missed opportunities to save him by the | :58:12. | :58:26. | |
authorities. Never again, we say after these cases, we keep seeing | :58:26. | :58:31. | |
dysfunctional safeguarding policies and people unable to act despite the | :58:31. | :58:36. | |
evidence, how do we stop all this? It is a very difficult and | :58:36. | :58:41. | |
depressing situation. We had the case of Peter Connelly and yet we | :58:41. | :58:49. | |
keep on seeming to be here again. We need some kind of review of how we | :58:49. | :58:54. | |
treat the profession of social work, because you have some sympathy for | :58:54. | :58:57. | |
the social workers, they are desperately criticised but in other | :58:57. | :59:02. | |
places they are criticised for being too heavy—handed. The evidence | :59:02. | :59:07. | |
seemed to be there to be seen, he was malnourished, there were the | :59:07. | :59:11. | |
injuries and time and again nothing happened. We have got to look at | :59:11. | :59:15. | |
where we are getting it right. We have to learn from that. Issues such | :59:15. | :59:20. | |
as this mean we can never be complacent when we are dealing with | :59:20. | :59:23. | |
young lives and young children and we have to find a mechanism by which | :59:23. | :59:28. | |
we can support our social workers and teachers when they decide to | :59:28. | :59:32. | |
intervene. Currently, I believe people are terrified to intervene | :59:32. | :59:37. | |
and we have got to remedy that. Do you think there is a cultural issue, | :59:37. | :59:41. | |
a line which question, in an increasingly diverse society, we | :59:41. | :59:46. | |
have to face this? It has been highlighted in previous reports, but | :59:46. | :59:51. | |
if there is a cultural issue, we need to overcome that. If there is a | :59:51. | :59:55. | |
cultural issue, we need to deal with our culture and respect and protect | :59:55. | :00:02. | |
children. Next week, we will examine the case for and against the living | :00:02. | :00:10. | |
wage as opposed to the minimum wage and Inside Out will be meeting Tina | :00:10. | :00:14. | |
from Telford, she is a mother of six and she will be showing us how she | :00:14. | :00:16. | |
can feed her family for £60 a week. and she will be showing us how she | :00:16. | :00:20. | |
Blackman and Sadiq Khan, thanks very much. Leafing through the papers the | :00:20. | :00:33. | |
Blackman and Sadiq Khan, thanks very last few days has taken me back | :00:33. | :00:38. | |
Blackman and Sadiq Khan, thanks very my youth. The halcyon days of the | :00:38. | :00:40. | |
2000s, when the warring Blairite and Brownite tribes fought over who | :00:40. | :00:44. | |
Brown's chief spin doctor Damian should run the Labour Party. Gordon | :00:44. | :00:46. | |
Brown's chief spin doctor Damian McBride - McPoison, or worse, to his | :00:46. | :00:48. | |
enemies - has published his memoirs, timed for maximum impact in the | :00:48. | :00:57. | |
enemies - has published his memoirs, of Labour's Conference. They detail | :00:57. | :00:59. | |
how Mr McBride briefed against colleagues, brought down Cabinet | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
Ministers, that is - and fought tooth and nail to promote the man he | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
called "the greatest man he ever met" - Gordon Brown. Joining us | :01:07. | :01:13. | |
called "the greatest man he ever is Tony Blair's former Director | :01:13. | :01:14. | |
called "the greatest man he ever Communications, Alastair Campbell. | :01:14. | :01:20. | |
You are angry about what he has Communications, Alastair Campbell. | :01:20. | :01:28. | |
in this book. Why is that. It is partly the fact that he has done it | :01:28. | :01:35. | |
in a way that will be -- will be damaging to the Labour Party at | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
in a way that will be -- will be time. But also because of the lies | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
that he told at the time that he now communications and trying to hold | :01:41. | :01:51. | |
the thing together, build the team. There was also Charlie Whelan and | :01:51. | :01:58. | |
others. And that job was made more difficult than it should have been. | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
I used to challenge Gordon Brown about it. And there came a stage | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
where I said if Whelan does not about it. And there came a stage | :02:07. | :02:15. | |
I will go. And when Damian McBride was on the scene I was clear that I | :02:15. | :02:20. | |
was not going to have anything to do with him. Because of what he is | :02:20. | :02:26. | |
was not going to have anything to do admitting to, I think they played | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
quite a significant part in pushing Labour out of power. Because the | :02:29. | :02:35. | |
public were being fed by them, this public were being fed by them, this | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
narrative, the whole time. That Blair was useless, Charles Clarke | :02:40. | :02:48. | |
was useless. And I think that we where the government and had very | :02:48. | :02:51. | |
good ministers trying to do big things for the country. I said this | :02:51. | :02:58. | |
morning it was like being a foot tall team were on the pitch you | :02:58. | :03:04. | |
morning it was like being a foot your own players kicking the star | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
players. That is why I am angry about it because I think they helped | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
usher in a conservative government. If we had all stuck together I think | :03:10. | :03:17. | |
did not win the last election, that is a reasonable point. But surely | :03:17. | :03:25. | |
undermine Tony Blair and to promote their man, Gordon Brown. It is | :03:25. | :03:30. | |
inconceivable then that Gordon Brown did not know about it. Well in spite | :03:30. | :03:39. | |
reasonably good relationship with Gordon Brown. I used to challenge | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
him a lot about what Whelan was doing. He would always say, I will | :03:43. | :03:51. | |
sort it out. Another thing that annoys me is this sense put forward | :03:51. | :03:57. | |
by the right wing media that there was this sense of equivalence. | :03:57. | :04:03. | |
People like Steve who I have known for years, there is not a single | :04:03. | :04:10. | |
journalist with the very occasional exception where I lost my temper, | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
who would honestly be able to tell you that I ever breathed against | :04:14. | :04:20. | |
ministers. That was my golden rule. People say you were the forerunner. | :04:20. | :04:28. | |
I know it was not the case. One People say you were the forerunner. | :04:28. | :04:41. | |
the reasons why I do despise what they did, the whole spin thing which | :04:41. | :04:53. | |
associated with, once I wrote a actually within the government, | :04:53. | :05:03. | |
associated with, once I wrote a had a principle of maximum openness | :05:03. | :05:03. | |
and trust. Anyone could come to had a principle of maximum openness | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
morning meetings on condition that what was discussed their state as | :05:08. | :05:14. | |
part of the team. I had to say to Gordon Brown, your people are not | :05:14. | :05:16. | |
coming. Because I knew where it Gordon Brown, your people are not | :05:16. | :05:22. | |
coming from. Did you know that the time but Charles Clarke and others | :05:22. | :05:27. | |
were effectively being destroyed from within the Labour government? I | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
certainly knew that they thought that. I did know journalists telling | :05:31. | :05:39. | |
me that that was what was happening. Ultimately, this is why I never | :05:39. | :05:51. | |
me that that was what was happening. leaders, it is ultimately up to | :05:51. | :05:57. | |
me that that was what was happening. litre. Possibly in a different age | :05:57. | :06:01. | |
Gordon Brown would have been an amazing Prime Minister. He was a | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
great chancellor. But he had a flaw, this need for truly horrible | :06:04. | :06:11. | |
people to be around him doing truly horrible things in politics and | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
giving him and the Labour Party horrible things in politics and | :06:14. | :06:18. | |
politics a bad name. That is why I'm still angry about Damian McBride. | :06:18. | :06:29. | |
What do you make of it? The current administration is a contrast. We | :06:29. | :06:32. | |
have rival factions occupying the same offices but they still get | :06:32. | :06:39. | |
have rival factions occupying the The only time they have a row is | :06:39. | :06:41. | |
when something really big happens. But with that one party in Downing | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
Street there was fighting the whole time. Did Ed Balls know about this. | :06:45. | :06:51. | |
I would assume so. I spoke with time. Did Ed Balls know about this. | :06:51. | :07:03. | |
about it at the time. He told me at the time that he had spoken about it | :07:03. | :07:13. | |
with Gordon Brown. So I think there was a concern from within that camp | :07:13. | :07:18. | |
about some of these activities at equivalence, in life you expect | :07:18. | :07:28. | |
about some of these activities at see that there is full on both | :07:28. | :07:28. | |
sides. But I do not buy it in this see that there is full on both | :07:28. | :07:34. | |
case. If you look at the testimonies see that there is full on both | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
over the years, what you can surmise about the character of Gordon Brown | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
and of Tony Blair, it was ultimately driven by Gordon Brown and the | :07:42. | :07:48. | |
people around him. The Blairites did things but they did then by way | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
people around him. The Blairites did retaliation rather than initiation. | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
The one-time when I did lose it retaliation rather than initiation. | :07:56. | :08:01. | |
the whole psychological force thing. That came at the end of a period | :08:01. | :08:03. | |
when we were relentlessly being That came at the end of a period | :08:03. | :08:09. | |
in by Charlie Whelan and his gang of journalists. I would go along to | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
colleagues would be there and I journalists. I would go along to | :08:13. | :08:20. | |
had to sit there and not hit back. Saying I cannot believe Gordon Brown | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
would have anything to do with this. You get to the stage where your | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
would have anything to do with this. credibility is on the line. Coming | :08:29. | :08:29. | |
promotion of alcohol awareness. credibility is on the line. Coming | :08:29. | :08:40. | |
before that the Labour Party, you never had to deal with this in | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
opposition because you were pretty far ahead in the polls by midterm. | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
This time that is not the case. far ahead in the polls by midterm. | :08:48. | :08:57. | |
is surprisingly narrow. What advice would you give to Ed Miliband? To | :08:57. | :09:04. | |
keep his head out side of this bubble but it's all about him. And | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
to use this week to really speak to the British people about himself, | :09:09. | :09:16. | |
particularly the kind of policy agenda he is shaping for the future. | :09:16. | :09:23. | |
And start to heart -- start to hit the Tories hard. They're not pop, | :09:23. | :09:28. | |
they're not competent. They're screwing up the health service. | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
they're not competent. They're yet they are neck and neck. I would | :09:34. | :09:36. | |
say that the whole Shadow Cabinet understand that you win elections by | :09:36. | :09:43. | |
wanting to win elections every minute of every day. There is too | :09:43. | :09:50. | |
much complacency. A small lead now you have to grow that. You do that | :09:50. | :09:55. | |
with energy and conviction and policy. Tony Blair had a huge pole | :09:55. | :10:04. | |
bead in the run-up to 1997. We were winning seat where we had not even | :10:04. | :10:11. | |
campaigned and he was saying, why celebrate because we have not won | :10:11. | :10:13. | |
yet. You are promoting your alcohol celebrate because we have not won | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
yet. You are promoting your alcohol awareness campaign. Perhaps the | :10:17. | :10:19. | |
party conference is not the best place to do that! That is one reason | :10:19. | :10:28. | |
why I am doing that. I'm hosting probably the only alcohol free | :10:28. | :10:34. | |
reception of the week! There is nothing worse than a convert, I | :10:34. | :10:42. | |
reception of the week! There is that. But I travel a lot. I travel | :10:42. | :10:47. | |
around the world and Britain has a something we should be ashamed of. | :10:47. | :10:57. | |
Why is that, is it cultural? I think it is historical. But I dig David | :10:57. | :11:04. | |
Cameron was right to go for minimum unit pricing and wrong to do a | :11:04. | :11:17. | |
reversal. 6% of alcoholics get treatment. I expect that drugs are a | :11:17. | :11:19. | |
problem but we spent £2 billion treatment. I expect that drugs are a | :11:19. | :11:26. | |
100,000 problem drug takers and treatment. I expect that drugs are a | :11:26. | :11:28. | |
million on 1.6 million problem have written this book about a young | :11:28. | :11:41. | |
million on 1.6 million problem alcoholic, a teenager. And it is in | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
the first person. People could think you are writing about yourself. | :11:45. | :11:49. | |
did you choose a teenage girl? Well did you choose a teenage girl? Well | :11:49. | :11:56. | |
partly, I dedicated this to the Southampton. He told me when he | :11:56. | :12:06. | |
started his career that his patience was split nine to one, men to women | :12:06. | :12:13. | |
and it is now 50 - 50. They're getting younger and younger. One | :12:13. | :12:21. | |
doctor looking after me said I will take you around this hospital and | :12:21. | :12:27. | |
the problems of alcohol are in every single ward. Not just accident and | :12:27. | :12:34. | |
emergency. I watched the foot all, advertisements for gambling and | :12:34. | :12:42. | |
advertising. How have we allowed this to happen, ? We are just awash | :12:42. | :12:52. | |
with it. What we did I think on Availability and price either too | :12:52. | :12:59. | |
means by which you can bring this down. And the country that has had | :12:59. | :13:05. | |
the biggest success on this is Russia, bizarrely. Thank you very | :13:05. | :13:17. | |
much for that. That's all for today. Thanks to all our guests. I'll be | :13:17. | :13:23. | |
with live coverage of Labour Party Conference, including the speech | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
from the man who wants to be the next Chancellor, Ed Balls. Remember | :13:26. | :13:27. |