Browse content similar to 04/05/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics. Walls are being | :00:35. | :00:40. | |
re-painted in Belfast as Gerry Adams begins his fourth day in police | :00:41. | :00:43. | |
custody in connection with one of the most brutal and shocking murders | :00:44. | :00:47. | |
of the Troubles. That's our top story. | :00:48. | :00:59. | |
He may have got egg on his face this week but Nigel Farage is a serious | :01:00. | :01:02. | |
electoral threat in this month's elections. I'll ask the Conservative | :01:03. | :01:04. | |
Party Chairman Grant Shapps how worried he is. | :01:05. | :01:07. | |
And we're on the trail of Nick Clegg. You were voted the best | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
And in the Midlands, we're talking likely to be a good | :01:12. | :01:17. | |
And in the Midlands, we're talking elections, too: European, local and | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
a general election just a year away. Bubbling up nicely. The 30 Midlands | :01:22. | :01:24. | |
marginals where elections are won and lost. | :01:25. | :01:25. | |
questions of identity, immigration and independence. We have a table | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
full of Euro candidates here to debate what it means for London. | :01:31. | :01:37. | |
And with me, as always, the best and the brightest political panel in the | :01:38. | :01:40. | |
business - Nick Watt, Helen Lewis and Janan Ganesh. They'll be | :01:41. | :01:42. | |
throwing metaphorical rotten eggs into the twittersphere. | :01:43. | :01:48. | |
First this morning - Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein, has spent a | :01:49. | :01:51. | |
fourth night in police custody after he was arrested in connection with | :01:52. | :01:54. | |
the killing of Jean McConville more than 40 years ago. Sinn Fein has | :01:55. | :02:07. | |
claimed that the arrest is politically motivated coming, as it | :02:08. | :02:10. | |
does, during local and European election campaigns. Northern | :02:11. | :02:13. | |
Ireland's deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, has indicated he | :02:14. | :02:16. | |
might review the party's support for policing in the province if Gerry | :02:17. | :02:19. | |
Adams is charged. The Jean McConville murder was one of the | :02:20. | :02:21. | |
most notorious cases of the Troubles. | :02:22. | :02:24. | |
The widowed mother of ten was kidnapped from her home in December | :02:25. | :02:31. | |
1972, never to be seen alive again. The IRA denied involvement but in | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
1999 admitted it had murdered her and several others, known as the | :02:37. | :02:43. | |
Disappeared. Before his death, the former IRA commander Brendan Hughes | :02:44. | :02:46. | |
pointed the finger at Gerry Adams, claiming: | :02:47. | :02:54. | |
In April this year, either Bell was charged with aiding and abetting the | :02:55. | :03:08. | |
murder. -- Ivor Bell. Gerry Adams has always insisted he is innocent | :03:09. | :03:13. | |
of any part in the abduction and killing all burial of Mrs | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
McConville. We were hoping to speak to the | :03:18. | :03:20. | |
Northern Ireland Secretary, Theresa Villiers, but having agreed to do an | :03:21. | :03:23. | |
interview with us this morning, she pulled out. But we are joined from | :03:24. | :03:30. | |
Belfast by Sinn Fein's Alex Maskey. Welcome to the Sunday Politics. And | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
the police just doing their job by questioning Gerry Adams? Gerry Adams | :03:36. | :03:47. | |
said publicly some time ago that he was available to speak to the | :03:48. | :03:51. | |
police, but that is not what this is about at the moment, because what we | :03:52. | :03:57. | |
have here is clearly evidence in our mind of political interference in | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
what should be due process. Gerry Adams made it clear some time ago he | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
wanted to speak to the police, it was available at any time, and yet | :04:06. | :04:11. | |
that request was not taken up until three weeks into an election and we | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
believe that was deliberately orchestrated by a small number of | :04:16. | :04:21. | |
people. What evidence can you present this morning that proves | :04:22. | :04:28. | |
that claim? The direct circumstances Gerry Adams finds himself in at the | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
moment, take that in stark contrast when they have dealt with members of | :04:35. | :04:45. | |
the British Army for instance... That is just circumstantial. The | :04:46. | :04:53. | |
PSNI know that the soldiers involved in that and a number of other | :04:54. | :04:58. | |
high-profile killings of citizens here, and not one of those people | :04:59. | :05:04. | |
has been arrested. In fact any of the people who were interviewed were | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
interviewed by request. There was a stark contrast, in terms of how they | :05:10. | :05:19. | |
have dealt with the British military involving state killings. We haven't | :05:20. | :05:24. | |
got too much time. Sinn Fein said it would review its support for the | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
PSNI if Gerry Adams is charged. That sounds like political interference | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
in the police process. It's not because we have a clear mandate from | :05:35. | :05:40. | |
the people who elect us. Policing has been an important part of the | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
peace process here for many years, Sinn Fein plays an important role in | :05:46. | :05:52. | |
local policing partnerships. We negotiate to make sure we have | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
powers transferred here to elected representatives in the north. It is | :05:58. | :06:03. | |
a long way to go before we have policing highly accountable, and | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
making sure they deliver a very impartial service. How will he react | :06:09. | :06:25. | |
if Gerry Adams is charged? I am still trying to get a clear answer. | :06:26. | :06:31. | |
If Gerry Adams is charged, will you withdraw support for the Northern | :06:32. | :06:37. | |
Ireland police service? We view this as a serious situation and a serious | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
ongoing situation and we will monitor how this pans out. We have a | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
very important role to play to support the police service here. We | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
have done consistently, worked with them on a daily basis, but we will | :06:53. | :06:58. | |
not accept political interference by a small number of people in the | :06:59. | :07:02. | |
police who are undermining the police. We will not accept political | :07:03. | :07:11. | |
policing. If there was evidence, and I emphasise the word if, because we | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
have seen none, but if there were evidence to justify Gerry Adams | :07:17. | :07:20. | |
being charged, why should he not be charged? It is my understanding from | :07:21. | :07:25. | |
the family of Gerry Adams that there has not been a single shred of | :07:26. | :07:31. | |
evidence put forward. I understand that, but if there was evidence, why | :07:32. | :07:40. | |
should he not be charged? You put that caveat yourself and then you | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
expect me to speculate, there is no way I will do that. The fact of the | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
matter is there hasn't been one single shred of evidence put to | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
Gerry Adams in the last few days, in fact what has been put to him is a | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
range of issues of newspaper cuttings, books, statements made | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
from people, including from people who didn't want their statements | :08:04. | :08:05. | |
released until they have died. who didn't want their statements | :08:06. | :08:16. | |
was charged, again I emphasise the word if, does the police process | :08:17. | :08:24. | |
fall apart? The police process is a fragile entity, it requires work and | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
we have been saying this publicly and privately with the Irish and | :08:29. | :08:30. | |
British and privately with the Irish and | :08:31. | :08:44. | |
process has to be nurtured and developed. We are not out of the | :08:45. | :08:46. | |
woods yet. From a Republican point of view we have been working flat | :08:47. | :08:52. | |
out. I just wanted a quick answer to my question, is a yes or no? What | :08:53. | :09:01. | |
question I asking me? Is the peace process in jeopardy? It is fragile | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
and I am not going to have words put into my mouth but I don't want to | :09:06. | :09:12. | |
use. It has to be worked out and nurtured. Thank you for joining us. | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
Nick Watt, you were a Northern Ireland correspondent like myself in | :09:19. | :09:23. | |
days gone by. Where is this going to go? It shows how challenging the | :09:24. | :09:28. | |
peace process is because on the one hand you have the unspeakable pain | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
of the McConville family, but you also have the danger of not having | :09:33. | :09:37. | |
mechanisms to deal with the past. South Africa is a good example, you | :09:38. | :09:42. | |
have to have some mechanism to deal with the past because if you don't, | :09:43. | :09:45. | |
you are going to have, as Sinn Fein have now, someone in a police cell | :09:46. | :09:56. | |
but you don't have the arrests of the Bloody Sunday soldiers. | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
Paramilitary prisoners were released after two years... We have seen no | :10:01. | :10:08. | |
action against somebody accused of the Hyde Park bombings, it is not a | :10:09. | :10:14. | |
one-way street. We have the decommissioning of IRA weapons by | :10:15. | :10:22. | |
the IRA, therefore destroying crucial evidence. You have these | :10:23. | :10:25. | |
inconsistencies because you don't have an mechanism for dealing with | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
the past, but doing that is really difficult because of the pain of | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
real people. Don't you get a feeling that here in London they are hoping | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
he will not be charged? Definitely because it would be nice if | :10:41. | :10:44. | |
everything went away, but the civil case of the family is taken out of | :10:45. | :10:52. | |
the hands of the police. You can see here a real failure in Westminster | :10:53. | :10:55. | |
to see this as anything other than settled. David Cameron we know sees | :10:56. | :11:04. | |
himself as a chairman. I was speaking to a friend in Northern | :11:05. | :11:08. | |
Ireland who said he has never met Gerry Adams and I think this is very | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
revealing. They consider this as a settled issue that will not trouble | :11:13. | :11:18. | |
Westminster again. It would be, but the relatives of the disappeared | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
don't want it to be settled. This points to the reality that the | :11:24. | :11:26. | |
Belfast agreement probably had to be done, but the moral price at which | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
it was purchased was far greater than we were willing to admit during | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
the euphoria. For a country that prides itself by the rule of law to | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
tolerate the early release of prisoners and former pal and | :11:43. | :11:50. | |
military -- paramilitaries, I think was a very serious matter. As for | :11:51. | :11:57. | |
the PSNI, it only exists because its predecessor failed to command the | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
confidence of the nationalist community. It is a very big deal if | :12:02. | :12:08. | |
even the PSNI ends up falling into the same trap. We have to is leave | :12:09. | :12:20. | |
it there I'm afraid. It was the Conservative's local election | :12:21. | :12:22. | |
campaign launch on Friday, and what did David Cameron focus on? Burning | :12:23. | :12:25. | |
local issues like the state of our roads, rubbish collection or care of | :12:26. | :12:28. | |
the elderly? No. It was Europe. The Prime Minister re-iterated again his | :12:29. | :12:31. | |
promise of an in-out referendum on our membership of the EU in 2017. | :12:32. | :12:34. | |
And it's being reported this morning that he will share a platform with | :12:35. | :12:37. | |
Nigel Farage in a pre-general election debate. Here's what the | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
UKIP leader had to say about the issue when he was on the Marr Show | :12:43. | :12:50. | |
this morning with Ed Miliband. David Cameron very often makes these vague | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
promises, then doesn't deliver afterwards. I don't think he has any | :12:55. | :13:00. | |
intention of allowing me into any of these debates. Perhaps Ed Miliband | :13:01. | :13:07. | |
wants to debate? We have got to have the TV debates as we did join the | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
last general election. I think David Cameron is doing everything he can | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
to wriggle out of them. It is up to the broadcasters but whether they | :13:18. | :13:22. | |
invite Nigel. My main desire is that the debates go ahead. We are joined | :13:23. | :13:33. | |
now by Grant Shapps. Will he be included? The debates were not | :13:34. | :13:40. | |
without problems, they took place during the campaign period and | :13:41. | :13:42. | |
disrupted the flow of the campaign, taking it out of the regions, people | :13:43. | :13:49. | |
getting to speak to the leaders so a longer period for that would be | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
helpful. I think they are good idea and they should go ahead, but all of | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
the negotiation about who is involved is yet to happen. So it is | :13:59. | :14:04. | |
not a done deal that Nigel Farage will be included? That needs to be | :14:05. | :14:09. | |
negotiated with the TV companies. The Conservatives believe we should | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
have debates, but exactly the format and the timing, all of the -- that | :14:15. | :14:22. | |
will be debated in the autumn, but first we have European elections, | :14:23. | :14:28. | |
the Queen 's speech and a Scottish referendum. The local election | :14:29. | :14:35. | |
campaign was launched on Friday. Why did you talk more about Europe than | :14:36. | :14:45. | |
local councils? Both are important. The local elections are critically | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
important for people, their local services. It is easy to forget, for | :14:50. | :14:55. | |
example, that the council tax has been largely frozen since this | :14:56. | :14:59. | |
Government came to power, a big contrast to Dublin under the | :15:00. | :15:03. | |
previous Labour government. So why did you go on and on about Europe? | :15:04. | :15:10. | |
Let me show you the poster used to launch your local election campaign. | :15:11. | :15:19. | |
There it is, and in-out referendum on Europe, the day of the local | :15:20. | :15:23. | |
elections, where is the word local? Is it in small print? I hear what | :15:24. | :15:29. | |
you're saying, I am happy to be here to talk about the local elections. | :15:30. | :15:33. | |
But you are right, they are on the same day, and not many people know | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
that only by voting conservative can you get an in-out referendum. -- | :15:38. | :15:42. | |
Conservative. UKIP cannot deliver, we can, it is the same date, so | :15:43. | :15:50. | |
people... This was the launch of the local election campaign. Why does | :15:51. | :15:53. | |
the Prime Minister have to keep on promising something he has already | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
promised? The actual referendum would be in 2017. He promised it | :15:58. | :16:04. | |
before, he keeps repeating it because he knows people don't really | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
trust him. I think it is a question of the fact that, actually, unless | :16:10. | :16:13. | |
you remind people that the pledges there, that the only way to get an | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
in-out referendum is to vote for it, this is a critical moment at | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
which we need people to vote for that referendum if they want it. It | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
is not the case, as I saw this morning, being said by Nigel Farage, | :16:29. | :16:31. | |
that a referendum was promised before and not delivered. There was | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
no referendum in the last manifesto. There will be in the next one. There | :16:37. | :16:44. | |
was a cast-iron guarantee, in the Sun in 2006. Let's just clear that | :16:45. | :16:52. | |
up... Once the Lisbon Treaty... In the Sun article, he said, we will | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Clearly, because that treaty | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
had been passed before the general election, it is difficult to have a | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
referendum on something in the past. We joined Europe in the 1970s, | :17:07. | :17:12. | |
having a referendum on that! Look, that is about the future. Our | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
relationship with Europe is absolutely critical. Most people in | :17:17. | :17:22. | |
this country feel, I was not old enough to vote in that referendum, | :17:23. | :17:27. | |
most of those who voted, they voted for a Common Market, that is not | :17:28. | :17:30. | |
what we have got. We want to continue the work we have been doing | :17:31. | :17:38. | |
in the EU Budget, what did UKIP do? They voted against it. We want more | :17:39. | :17:42. | |
of those powers brought home, and we will put it to a referendum, and | :17:43. | :17:45. | |
people will have to vote Conservative to get it. We have been | :17:46. | :17:51. | |
looking at new research, almost two thirds of Conservative members are | :17:52. | :17:55. | |
considering voting for UKIP, almost two thirds. I have a simple message | :17:56. | :18:02. | |
here, which is this. If you vote for UKIP... Can we have it up? 30% are | :18:03. | :18:12. | |
likely, 30% are possible. That is why it is important we are making | :18:13. | :18:16. | |
these arguments. If you vote for UKIP, you are voting to take us | :18:17. | :18:20. | |
further away from returning powers to this country, further from a | :18:21. | :18:26. | |
referendum. It is support for Ed Miliband becoming Prime Minister, | :18:27. | :18:29. | |
and he will do exactly what Labour have always done - hand away powers, | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
and away the rebate for nothing in return, giving Europe even more so | :18:35. | :18:38. | |
over the day-to-day affairs in Britain. Why are so many people | :18:39. | :18:42. | |
considering voting UKIP? It is to hold your feet to the fire, they do | :18:43. | :18:47. | |
not trust you on a referendum, so they will vote UKIP to force you to | :18:48. | :18:51. | |
tap in your line. We have a very tough line. If I had said four years | :18:52. | :18:56. | |
ago that this government would manage to cut the overall EU | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
budget, would take us out of the bailout fund that Labour got us | :19:02. | :19:05. | |
into, passing a law that no more powers can go to Europe without a | :19:06. | :19:09. | |
referendum, if I had said that, people would say, I do not believe | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
it will happen. Not only have we done these things, we are promising | :19:15. | :19:17. | |
and in-out referendum, and the only way to get it is to vote | :19:18. | :19:20. | |
Conservative. Nigel Farage has said, we can't change anything in | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
Europe, and it is no wonder that the president of the European Commission | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
has said, we love having these UKIP MEPs, because they don't turn up and | :19:31. | :19:35. | |
vote, apart from when they vote against the cut in the budget. It | :19:36. | :19:41. | |
goes beyond UKIP in your party, because this research also showed | :19:42. | :19:45. | |
that those Conservative members most likely to vote for UKIP, they said | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
they do not feel valued or respected by their own leadership, and they | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
regard David Cameron as ideological eat more remote from them than UKIP. | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
What I would say is look at that list... Let me take that step | :20:01. | :20:09. | |
further. What people need our series solutions to serious problems. When | :20:10. | :20:17. | |
people vote for a UKIP MEP, I will say, which one of the 40% of the | :20:18. | :20:23. | |
MEPs who got in for UKIP last time are you voting for, the ones above | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
left or defected, the ones have gone to jail? 40% have ended up not | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
delivering. People have a right to know what to expect when they vote | :20:33. | :20:36. | |
in these elections. They can look at our record at home, and this goes to | :20:37. | :20:40. | |
the point you have raised about what we have done in Britain to get this | :20:41. | :20:46. | |
economy back on track, recover from Labour's recession. We are prepared | :20:47. | :20:49. | |
to take those decisions in Europe as well. Presumably, active | :20:50. | :20:57. | |
Conservative members, they know that, so why do they not feel valued | :20:58. | :21:02. | |
by the leadership? I spend time going up and down the country | :21:03. | :21:05. | |
meeting Conservative members, and they are on the doorstep, last | :21:06. | :21:13. | |
weekend 150 out in Enfield campaigning for the European and | :21:14. | :21:18. | |
local elections... Why are they keen on UKIP? When I meet somebody who | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
says that, not necessarily a member... Have you met members of | :21:24. | :21:30. | |
say they will vote UKIP? No, but a vote for UKIP is... Do not do it, | :21:31. | :21:39. | |
you will end up with Labour having more control, handing away powers to | :21:40. | :21:45. | |
Europe. 51-year-old meeting members who say they will vote UKIP, you | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
must be out of touch. -- if you are not meeting members. Some of your | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
members are thinking of voting UKIP. I spend huge amount of time | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
travelling around, I just told you about this action day in Enfield, | :22:01. | :22:05. | |
where we had an enormous turnout. Those members were on the doorsteps | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
pointing out that you can only get reform in Europe by voting | :22:11. | :22:15. | |
Conservative. Labour and the Lib Dems will not deliver, UKIP can't, | :22:16. | :22:21. | |
Conservatives will. You have not got that message across, because a | :22:22. | :22:24. | |
YouGov poll shows, on Europe, who has the best policies? Tories 18%, | :22:25. | :22:33. | |
Labour 19%, UKIP 27%. On the economy, Tories 27%, Labour 23, UKIP | :22:34. | :22:39. | |
4. Why don't you shut up about Europe and talk about the economy? | :22:40. | :22:46. | |
Look, on the 27th of May, we have European elections, as well as local | :22:47. | :22:50. | |
elections. If I don't talk about the European elections, you would say | :22:51. | :22:53. | |
what you said at the beginning about not talking about the local | :22:54. | :22:57. | |
elections! These are serious elections, and the point I am tried | :22:58. | :23:01. | |
to make is that the issues at stake are not peripheral, they are not | :23:02. | :23:05. | |
unimportant. Our MEPs have been battling to cut red tape from a | :23:06. | :23:09. | |
European level on small businesses, the same thing this government has | :23:10. | :23:12. | |
been doing for small businesses domestic league, where for example | :23:13. | :23:15. | |
every small business owner watching this show knows they have got ?2000 | :23:16. | :23:21. | |
back in employment announced on national insurance contributions. We | :23:22. | :23:24. | |
are doing it at home, we are doing it in Europe, and it is important to | :23:25. | :23:30. | |
tie that together. Ireland that Mr Cameron saying, you should stop | :23:31. | :23:43. | |
banging on about Europe... -- I remember. This is before the last | :23:44. | :23:53. | |
general election, as in days for the Lib Dems, 18%. Even then, you didn't | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
win the election, and now you are only three or four points ahead, it | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
doesn't look good for you, does it? Even then, the poll did not turn out | :24:04. | :24:09. | |
to be what it was on the day. No, that is what happens, that is the | :24:10. | :24:14. | |
voting intentions now! You are in a worse position than a year before | :24:15. | :24:16. | |
the last election, which you didn't win. We are almost proving the point | :24:17. | :24:24. | |
that you can take a clip at any moment in time, not sounding like a | :24:25. | :24:28. | |
politician, but the only poll that matters is on the day. In just over | :24:29. | :24:33. | |
a year's time, people will have a completely different picture to look | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
at than these opinion polls. We have an economy from being a basket | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
case, the great Labour recession knocking 7% of this economy, hurting | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
every family, to a point where we the fastest-growing economy in the | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
developed world. In a year's time, I hope people will see that we are the | :24:54. | :24:56. | |
people who've taken the difficult decisions, got the economy to the | :24:57. | :25:01. | |
right place, more security for you and your family. Do not give the car | :25:02. | :25:04. | |
keys back to the people who crashed it in the first place. If I had a | :25:05. | :25:09. | |
pound for every time I have heard that! It is clearly not getting | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
through. On the Pfizer attempted of AstraZeneca, Mr Miliband called this | :25:15. | :25:21. | |
morning for a tougher public interest test such big takeovers. Do | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
you agree with that or not? Let me be absolutely clear, if there is any | :25:27. | :25:32. | |
kind of joining, we are in favour of British jobs, British aren't deep, | :25:33. | :25:40. | |
expanding our pharmaceutical sector. -- R But what Mr Mallon and wants | :25:41. | :25:53. | |
to do with rent caps, he is anti-business. -- Mr Miliband. He | :25:54. | :25:57. | |
wants to take us back to the bad old those. -- bad old days. Should there | :25:58. | :26:10. | |
be a bigger public interest test? We have seen some takeovers that people | :26:11. | :26:13. | |
have criticised, but others, like Bentley, Land Rover, which have been | :26:14. | :26:19. | |
very successful. Should there be a tougher test?! We will have tests | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
that ensured this get-together becomes a great Anglo-American | :26:25. | :26:28. | |
project, or it doesn't happen, but the Miliband approach is simply to | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
be anti-business, anti-jobs and anti-job security. Grant Shapps, | :26:34. | :26:37. | |
thank you. A challenging week for the Liberal | :26:38. | :26:40. | |
Democrats with a local election campaign overshadowed by another row | :26:41. | :26:44. | |
with the Conservatives about knife crime. Adam has spent the day with | :26:45. | :26:50. | |
Nick Clegg on the campaign trail. How nice! Nick Clegg is taking me on | :26:51. | :26:54. | |
a political mini break to the Cotswolds. Yes, we are getting the | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
train. He wants to highlight what his party is doing in local | :26:59. | :27:02. | |
government, and a personal passion of his in Europe. Graham Watson, the | :27:03. | :27:08. | |
Lib Dem MEP for the south-west, has been running a campaign to have | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
prunes recognised as a laxative. Is that Lib Dems battling for Britain | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
in Europe? It is not our front page manifesto commitment! It is one of | :27:19. | :27:22. | |
many things that Graham does, he does many other things. In fact, he | :27:23. | :27:30. | |
is a good example of an MEP who took a pioneering role, for instance, in | :27:31. | :27:35. | |
making sure... There is the proven world, but also the crime-fighting | :27:36. | :27:41. | |
role. -- prune. He has done work to make sure that when British | :27:42. | :27:44. | |
criminals flee justice, we can bring them back. And he has promoted | :27:45. | :27:51. | |
prunes! First stop, a gorgeous country pub, but it turns out | :27:52. | :27:54. | |
everyone is a journalist or a very on message activist. Dark days, | :27:55. | :28:01. | |
being a Lib Dem in the last few years? Strangely not. If you find | :28:02. | :28:06. | |
you are a Lib Dem deep down, you do not get that disheartened, because | :28:07. | :28:09. | |
you know that, locally, you are doing so well for the people that | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
you live next door to that, actually, I find I am almost | :28:14. | :28:18. | |
impervious to what happens on a national level. I am mayor of | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
Cirencester. Have you taken any leadership lessons from Nick Clegg, | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
inspiring new in your leadership of Cirencester? I think what he has | :28:28. | :28:32. | |
demonstrated his patience. It has been a tough time, he has taken a | :28:33. | :28:36. | |
lot of flak, and as the mayor of a town, lots of people agree with you | :28:37. | :28:42. | |
and a fair few don't. You are a full on mayor, he is just a Deputy Prime | :28:43. | :28:46. | |
Minister, do you outrank him? I don't think so, he is in government, | :28:47. | :28:52. | |
I am not. So our there any normal people in here? We are from | :28:53. | :28:58. | |
Swindon, you cannot get more abnormal. Are you a big fan of his? | :28:59. | :29:05. | |
No! What has he done wrong? I don't believe in his views at all. Where | :29:06. | :29:10. | |
has he got to? Nigel Farage would have had a pint! At this time in the | :29:11. | :29:19. | |
morning a copy was more appropriate. I have no time for a drink of any | :29:20. | :29:23. | |
kind, because now we are off to look at a local traffic blackspot. This | :29:24. | :29:27. | |
is amazing, like a Lib Dem election leaflet brought to life, Lib Dems | :29:28. | :29:34. | |
pointing at a road. High-vis jackets! Next we had to giggle full | :29:35. | :29:38. | |
bath, but there will be no Regency sightseeing for us, oh no, Nick is | :29:39. | :29:43. | |
taking us to an abandoned wilderness. We have just had a | :29:44. | :29:53. | |
health and safety briefing, we have been told to look out for | :29:54. | :29:57. | |
dive-bombing seagulls and an angry fox. That is the sort of thing Nick | :29:58. | :30:01. | |
Clegg has to put up with. He wants to talk about the economy but he has | :30:02. | :30:06. | |
to dodge the day's beat new story, letters leaked by a Tory suggesting | :30:07. | :30:12. | |
that Lib Dems are soft on knife crime. Isn't that a new kind of | :30:13. | :30:22. | |
warfare? I just think it is silly. They may think they are clever by | :30:23. | :30:26. | |
catching some headlines but they are not helping people who worry about | :30:27. | :30:36. | |
knife crime, like I do. We work together... Just like the | :30:37. | :30:42. | |
Coalition! This is a co-working space where different businesses | :30:43. | :30:46. | |
share the same office. My time with the Deputy Prime Minister is drawing | :30:47. | :30:52. | |
to a close. We haven't talked about the most important story of the | :30:53. | :30:55. | |
week, that you were voted the best looking party leader and the most | :30:56. | :31:04. | |
likely to be a good cook. Right, this is news to me and I can | :31:05. | :31:08. | |
guarantee you that my scepticism of opinion polls has just been | :31:09. | :31:13. | |
confirmed. Just as well because the more serious polls don't look great | :31:14. | :31:19. | |
for him or his party. Goodbye, and thanks for the offer of a ride | :31:20. | :31:25. | |
home! He is still walking. Malcolm Bruce | :31:26. | :31:31. | |
joins us now. According to Lib Dem briefing documents, you are likely | :31:32. | :31:37. | |
to choose -- lose a big chunk of your MEPs. If you lose a lot, what | :31:38. | :31:42. | |
would that say about a party that boasts of its pro-Europe | :31:43. | :31:46. | |
credentials? It would be disappointing because we have the | :31:47. | :31:52. | |
most hard-working MEPs. The worry that we have is that people think | :31:53. | :31:58. | |
the European Parliament is not important but it takes decisions | :31:59. | :32:06. | |
that affect us. They would be disappointing for Britain as well as | :32:07. | :32:10. | |
the Liberal Democrats. Isn't the problem that the more you bang on | :32:11. | :32:14. | |
about your pro-European credentials, the more you slip in the polls? I do | :32:15. | :32:21. | |
think so, we have two weeks to go and we are campaigning extremely | :32:22. | :32:32. | |
hard. You are forced in the polls. I can tell you there are people out | :32:33. | :32:36. | |
there who do believe Britain should stay in the EU and they are worried | :32:37. | :32:42. | |
that other parties will take us out. The Liberal Democrats are clear, we | :32:43. | :32:47. | |
want to stay in, we will work for reform and do it effectively. If you | :32:48. | :32:51. | |
lose the Liberal Democrats, Britain's influence in Europe will | :32:52. | :32:58. | |
be weakened. Your track record in Europe shows you have been | :32:59. | :33:01. | |
spectacularly wrong again and again. In your 2009 manifesto you said the | :33:02. | :33:09. | |
European Central Bank and the euro have been tried and tested over ten | :33:10. | :33:14. | |
years providing a clear picture of the benefits of Eurozone membership | :33:15. | :33:20. | |
and that proved to be nonsense. It was nonsense everywhere. Every | :33:21. | :33:24. | |
developed bank in the world was tried and tested and failed. Europe | :33:25. | :33:29. | |
may not be perfect, but the question people have to decide is if we are | :33:30. | :33:34. | |
going to leave Europe and be isolated on RM, or use our influence | :33:35. | :33:41. | |
to reform it from inside. We have allies, you work with them, that is | :33:42. | :33:46. | |
something the Lib Dems do better than any other parties. Your 2004 | :33:47. | :33:52. | |
manifesto, you claim that being outside the euro would lead to job | :33:53. | :33:57. | |
losses and reduced prosperity. You were just plain wrong, weren't you? | :33:58. | :34:05. | |
Yes, but the reason is that to some extent the euro did not observe any | :34:06. | :34:12. | |
rules and regulations when it was set up. That is why we never | :34:13. | :34:16. | |
recommended Britain should join at the outset because the criteria had | :34:17. | :34:23. | |
not been met. In 2001 Nick Clegg was writing to the Financial Times... | :34:24. | :34:28. | |
Your track record is important. He wrote that the Tisch monetary policy | :34:29. | :34:34. | |
is not all it is cracked up to be. Britain would gain greater control | :34:35. | :34:39. | |
over its affairs by joining the euro. How wrong can he be? We have | :34:40. | :34:49. | |
always argued that the currency had to abide by strict criteria. It | :34:50. | :34:53. | |
hasn't done so and that is one of the reasons it has failed. We | :34:54. | :35:00. | |
recognise there is no future for Britain joining the euro and we are | :35:01. | :35:05. | |
not advocating it. Lets put your 2010 manifesto on the screen. I | :35:06. | :35:13. | |
didn't say it was not our long-term interest. If Europe succeeds as an | :35:14. | :35:19. | |
entity, if the euro becomes one of the world leading currencies, there | :35:20. | :35:27. | |
will come a point when it may be justified. In the circumstances we | :35:28. | :35:32. | |
are in the moment, there is no recommended timescale. Let's get | :35:33. | :35:36. | |
this right. Despite the Eurozone crisis which has cost millions of | :35:37. | :35:42. | |
jobs, countries that were teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, the | :35:43. | :35:46. | |
Eurozone now facing stagnation and some countries on the brink of | :35:47. | :35:52. | |
deflation, you still won't rule out Britain joining? We are ruling it | :35:53. | :35:57. | |
out in the foreseeable future. You can miss the point that we are | :35:58. | :36:01. | |
working as a coalition partner in government that has secured recovery | :36:02. | :36:06. | |
for the UK, and working as Liberal Democrats in the parliament that | :36:07. | :36:11. | |
have cut back the European budget in cooperation with others. What would | :36:12. | :36:16. | |
the world look like if it were right for Britain to join the euro? You | :36:17. | :36:24. | |
have 27 states at the moment, with too many countries still struggling | :36:25. | :36:28. | |
to meet the criteria so until you have a strong and cohesive enough | :36:29. | :36:32. | |
single Eurozone in which all the countries can meet that criteria, | :36:33. | :36:38. | |
Britain is better off out. So a more centralised Eurozone, that is what | :36:39. | :36:43. | |
you would like Britain to join? No, because it can only happen by | :36:44. | :36:48. | |
consent. Any circumstances in which any further powers would be | :36:49. | :36:55. | |
transferred from the UK to the EU, we would support a referendum. You | :36:56. | :37:00. | |
have just said that for the Eurozone to work, it has to be more | :37:01. | :37:03. | |
centralised and you said if that happens, that is what Britain would | :37:04. | :37:10. | |
join. I didn't say that, I said it would require the consent of all | :37:11. | :37:14. | |
member states to agree to the criteria. We certainly do not | :37:15. | :37:21. | |
envisage joining in the foreseeable future. Since you are the proud | :37:22. | :37:27. | |
party of in, why weren't you just give us a referendum on in or out? | :37:28. | :37:34. | |
Because it has to have a context. What David Cameron is doing is | :37:35. | :37:38. | |
dangerous because I think the major players like Britain and France are | :37:39. | :37:43. | |
not keen on the idea of being bullied into reforms on the | :37:44. | :37:47. | |
instigation of just one member state which is threatening possibility to | :37:48. | :37:50. | |
withdraw. They will have to agree to rules... Just have it now. Do you | :37:51. | :38:00. | |
want in or out? To have a referendum against no background is to put it | :38:01. | :38:04. | |
out of context. We are in the middle of a crisis, a year away from the | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
general election. We have made it clear... You said we are in the | :38:10. | :38:17. | |
middle of the Eurozone crisis? So we are not in the middle of it? What's | :38:18. | :38:24. | |
the middle? The reality is that the Western world has gone through a | :38:25. | :38:28. | |
deep crisis. The UK is coming out of it, the Eurozone is coming out of | :38:29. | :38:33. | |
it. Greece have been able to borrow on the markets in recent weeks which | :38:34. | :38:39. | |
is a sign of success. It is in our interest is the Eurozone succeeds | :38:40. | :38:42. | |
and recovers and we should be part of it but not necessarily on the | :38:43. | :38:46. | |
same conditions as everyone else. The Liberal Democrats work with | :38:47. | :38:50. | |
others to deliver Britain's interests and if they are not there, | :38:51. | :38:58. | |
their interests will be undermined. You are watching Sunday Politics. We | :38:59. | :39:01. | |
Hello once again from the Midlands. now. | :39:02. | :39:16. | |
Hello once again from the Midlands. I'm Patrick Burns. And with almost | :39:17. | :39:20. | |
exactly a year to go to the general election, we're joined today by | :39:21. | :39:23. | |
three new candidates hoping to enter Parliament. Lucy Allan, | :39:24. | :39:26. | |
Conservative, will be aiming to overturn a Labour majority of under | :39:27. | :39:33. | |
1,000 at Telford in Shropshire. For Labour, Lynnette Kelly hopes to | :39:34. | :39:36. | |
deprive the Conservatives of their 3,500 majority in Warwick and | :39:37. | :39:38. | |
Leamington, while the Liberal Democrat Elizabeth Adams has to | :39:39. | :39:41. | |
contend with an 11,000 Conservative majority in Stratford`on`Avon. | :39:42. | :39:56. | |
No wonder this year's party conference season is billed as the | :39:57. | :39:59. | |
big opportunity for the parties to tune up their messages for next May! | :40:00. | :40:03. | |
But could the Conservatives' main event in Birmingham be the last big | :40:04. | :40:07. | |
party conference in the city for the foreseeable future?Marketing | :40:08. | :40:13. | |
Birmingham tell me it could well be. All but 5% of its ?1.5 million | :40:14. | :40:17. | |
events budget is being spent on hosting the Conservatives in | :40:18. | :40:21. | |
September. The deal was signed off three years ago by the then | :40:22. | :40:24. | |
Conservative council leader Mike, now Lord Whitby. He says each | :40:25. | :40:31. | |
conference earns ?20 million for the local economy and warns the field | :40:32. | :40:34. | |
will now be wide open for rival cities, like Manchester and | :40:35. | :40:43. | |
Liverpool. It does seem like a sort of false | :40:44. | :40:49. | |
economy, given the kudos it brings into the region and the investment | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
in the local economy. You have to look at it from Birmingham | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
council's point of view. 95% of their budget going on one conference | :41:00. | :41:07. | |
seems disproportionate. If the return is ?20 million, there needs | :41:08. | :41:15. | |
to be a balancing act. But local businesses that benefit should also | :41:16. | :41:19. | |
be putting money in to attracting these ventures. What do you say to a | :41:20. | :41:26. | |
Labour Birmingham MP who says it adds insult to injury that a | :41:27. | :41:33. | |
government is in effect getting a subsidy to holds its conference | :41:34. | :41:41. | |
here? You have to ask what an international conference centre is | :41:42. | :41:45. | |
for? There will be cities queueing up to have that boost in business, | :41:46. | :41:52. | |
tourism and the economy. In Telford, we have the international centre | :41:53. | :41:58. | |
that hosts cheerleaders, Nigel Farage. I am sure we would like to | :41:59. | :42:05. | |
pose the Tory party as well. The Liberal Democrats were in coalition | :42:06. | :42:09. | |
in Birmingham three years ago. Does this matter? It definitely does. All | :42:10. | :42:20. | |
of the parties have experienced a decline in people being able to | :42:21. | :42:26. | |
participate. Birmingham is so centralised. When I went to a party | :42:27. | :42:33. | |
conference in Birmingham, it was fantastic. I just think there has | :42:34. | :42:44. | |
got to be management also between investing and bringing investment | :42:45. | :42:46. | |
into the area. Still to come: At least there's one | :42:47. | :42:49. | |
other party conference that'll be coming to Birmingham this autumn. | :42:50. | :42:53. | |
The Greens currently have more seats on more Midlands councils than ever | :42:54. | :42:56. | |
before. Now they're carrying the fight against HS2 out on the local | :42:57. | :42:59. | |
and European election campaign trail. We'll have more on this a | :43:00. | :43:08. | |
little later in the programme. It's one of the curiosities of this | :43:09. | :43:12. | |
era of coalition politics: Two entirely separate sets of target | :43:13. | :43:17. | |
seats on the go at the same time. With Labour and the Conservatives | :43:18. | :43:19. | |
both short of a Commons majority, each requires seats from the other. | :43:20. | :43:23. | |
Altogether, nearly 30 local marginals could change hands one way | :43:24. | :43:28. | |
or another. Redditch is one place which swings more than most and | :43:29. | :43:31. | |
there's one place in Redditch which swings more than most... In | :43:32. | :43:36. | |
Redditch! Here's our BBC Hereford and Worcester political reporter, | :43:37. | :43:41. | |
Matthew Bone. Across the West Midlands, the | :43:42. | :43:44. | |
election campaign is coming to the boil, nowhere more so than here in | :43:45. | :43:48. | |
the Winyates area of Redditch. When it comes to swing voters, this place | :43:49. | :43:52. | |
has pretty much got the market wrapped up. There has been Liberal, | :43:53. | :43:59. | |
Labour, Conservative, BNP. It's very diverse. We've got people from | :44:00. | :44:03. | |
everywhere, where everybody's... You know, they contribute to the local | :44:04. | :44:07. | |
community in a positive way, really. And, you know, business is... Touch | :44:08. | :44:11. | |
wood, it's good. So, yeah. You know, you've just got to look forward and | :44:12. | :44:19. | |
look ahead. Labour's MP was Jacqui Smith until 2010 but, with the | :44:20. | :44:22. | |
expenses scandal at its height, she lost her seat to the Conservatives' | :44:23. | :44:26. | |
Karen Lumley, who took it with a larger than average swing of over | :44:27. | :44:29. | |
9%. But Labour re`took the council a couple of years ago here, and this | :44:30. | :44:33. | |
time around, they've wheeled out the Shadow Cabinet big guns as they try | :44:34. | :44:36. | |
to take more seats off the Conservatives and build some | :44:37. | :44:39. | |
momentum ahead of next year's general election. But there are | :44:40. | :44:42. | |
plenty of other candidates in the field, including UKIP, who had their | :44:43. | :44:45. | |
own county councillor here until recently. Could they have an impact | :44:46. | :44:49. | |
this time around? This idea that Mr Cameron can renegotiate the European | :44:50. | :44:53. | |
Union to mould it to its own liking... Economically, Redditch has | :44:54. | :44:56. | |
struggled in recent times but unemployment is falling. Inspire | :44:57. | :44:58. | |
Community Training helps the long`time unemployed back into work. | :44:59. | :45:04. | |
Irene used the company to help her get a job. It is hard to get work | :45:05. | :45:11. | |
round here. If they go on courses, like they do here at Inspire, then | :45:12. | :45:14. | |
that'll bring them more work, I suppose, if it helps them carry on. | :45:15. | :45:18. | |
Just round the corner, Mad Malc has been sitting down with customers for | :45:19. | :45:21. | |
the last seven years. He's not surprised that people here are so | :45:22. | :45:25. | |
quick to change their vote. I think a lot of people have come to the | :45:26. | :45:29. | |
conclusion that they voted for this person, this person's got in, they | :45:30. | :45:32. | |
didn't do what they said they were going to do, it didn't work out. | :45:33. | :45:39. | |
They'll try the next person. That doesn't work out. They'll try the | :45:40. | :45:43. | |
next person. It's the old adage if it doesn't work, try something new. | :45:44. | :45:50. | |
I've had a look on the boards and it looks like there's a couple of roses | :45:51. | :45:53. | |
that could be used for Labour or a bird that you could have for the | :45:54. | :45:57. | |
Liberal Democrats! Have you ever had anybody come in and ask ,"Can I have | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
a political tattoo?" Er... No. I think a lot of them will probably | :46:02. | :46:05. | |
find out they'll be regretting it at a later stage in their life. | :46:06. | :46:08. | |
Redditch is one of around 30 key marginal seats here in the West | :46:09. | :46:11. | |
Midlands, and whoever makes their mark this time round stands a good | :46:12. | :46:15. | |
chance of doing well in the next general election. And that's the | :46:16. | :46:22. | |
real needle contest. He chickened out! But while we're in | :46:23. | :46:28. | |
election mode, my latest blog post about this month's European polls | :46:29. | :46:31. | |
reveals the key contest in the West Midlands constituency will be the | :46:32. | :46:37. | |
race for seventh place! That's with apologies to those of you in | :46:38. | :46:40. | |
Gloucestershire who have your own election for South West England. The | :46:41. | :46:52. | |
experience in Redditch and across these Midlands marginals is that you | :46:53. | :46:56. | |
say the plan is working but that is not coming through in terms of | :46:57. | :47:00. | |
people feeling better off or their voting intentions. People I speak to | :47:01. | :47:06. | |
do tell me their budgets are stretched and they are still | :47:07. | :47:11. | |
struggling and what we have to look at is the evidence. The evidence I | :47:12. | :47:17. | |
would point to is the Asda income Tracker, the Bank of England monthly | :47:18. | :47:25. | |
business reports, the ONS... It is how it feels on the ground but that | :47:26. | :47:30. | |
translates into how people are actually acting, and if you look at | :47:31. | :47:35. | |
how people are behaving, retail sales are up, they are out | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
shopping, retail parks in Telford are so busy. You will go into battle | :47:41. | :47:47. | |
in Warwick and Lymington on the basis that people are worse off than | :47:48. | :47:53. | |
they were in the general election. Momentum is heading towards Lucy, | :47:54. | :47:56. | |
economic league. People are saying to me they are not feeling better. | :47:57. | :48:04. | |
Prices of housing is going up, rents are going up, housing in Warwick is | :48:05. | :48:10. | |
getting unaffordable for the vast majority of people. If you don't | :48:11. | :48:13. | |
earn an awful lot of money, you don't have a hope of buying a | :48:14. | :48:17. | |
property there. The jobs market has picked up and not enough. Young | :48:18. | :48:21. | |
people are still struggling to find work and people have to move out of | :48:22. | :48:26. | |
the area for employment. This is the conversation that is defining the | :48:27. | :48:30. | |
approach to the general election. If you look at the numbers, with only | :48:31. | :48:34. | |
three MPs in the whole of the region, it is a 2`party fight in a | :48:35. | :48:41. | |
region that has been stony ground for you for many years. Those | :48:42. | :48:48. | |
regions where we do have Liberal Democrat MPs certainly feel the | :48:49. | :48:53. | |
difference. They work extremely hard. What people are starting to | :48:54. | :48:57. | |
realise is that Labour can go on and on about how people are stretched, | :48:58. | :49:03. | |
but actually, if they really cared about hard`working people, we | :49:04. | :49:07. | |
wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. You don't care about | :49:08. | :49:12. | |
hard`working people by driving us into debt. The Liberal Democrats are | :49:13. | :49:17. | |
taking difficult decisions into government, GDP has risen for the | :49:18. | :49:24. | |
fifth consecutive quarter. But the Tories get the credit. We get the | :49:25. | :49:30. | |
credit for the ?800 backing the pockets of of working people. If you | :49:31. | :49:37. | |
look at what local authorities are doing, it is the Labour council is | :49:38. | :49:42. | |
working hard to make sure local funds benefit from council contracts | :49:43. | :49:48. | |
and apprenticeship guarantees are written into contracts. That is what | :49:49. | :49:55. | |
Labour councils deliver. Lynette mentions Labour councils. There are | :49:56. | :49:59. | |
lots of Labour cities. Margaret Thatcher said your party needed to | :50:00. | :50:06. | |
get back into it. I can think back to Edgbaston, Selly Oak, North | :50:07. | :50:12. | |
fields. It's a no go area for you now. It's a serious problem. The | :50:13. | :50:21. | |
cities will beware this election is won or lost. Getting back the vote | :50:22. | :50:30. | |
there will be critical to success. The economy will be the battle | :50:31. | :50:37. | |
ground issue. We have seen jobseeker's allowance claimants are | :50:38. | :50:40. | |
down. We have seen the lowest unemployment in Telford for five | :50:41. | :50:48. | |
years. The facts and evidence show that people will feel better off by | :50:49. | :50:54. | |
2015. Sheik of the head by Lynette, I saw. Everything George Osborne | :50:55. | :51:02. | |
promised us in 2010 hasn't happened. The recovery of the economy has been | :51:03. | :51:09. | |
far slower than he said. It is clear that Labour still can't be trusted | :51:10. | :51:15. | |
on the economy and the Conservatives can't be, either. We are setting the | :51:16. | :51:24. | |
scene for the campaign. On the local campaign trail, the | :51:25. | :51:28. | |
Greens are on a roll, with more councillors in more authorities than | :51:29. | :51:33. | |
ever before: 20 in ten different authorities, including Will | :51:34. | :51:35. | |
Duckworth of Dudley, who is also their national Deputy Leader, their | :51:36. | :51:38. | |
opposition to high`speed rail played strongly in last year's county | :51:39. | :51:41. | |
elections. Our BBC Coventry and Warwickshire political reporter, | :51:42. | :51:44. | |
Sian Grzsezczyk, asks if it'll do so again this time. | :51:45. | :51:52. | |
Heath Park in Chelmsley Wood, just one of the many battle grounds along | :51:53. | :51:56. | |
the proposed HS2 line from London to Birmingham. The Greens say their | :51:57. | :51:59. | |
opposition to it is winning them votes. We could become even the | :52:00. | :52:13. | |
official opposition. We could do so much more. We could be picking up | :52:14. | :52:25. | |
more seats. At the moment, the Greens have 20 councillors across | :52:26. | :52:29. | |
ten West Midlands council `` councils. Last week, MPs voted | :52:30. | :52:41. | |
overwhelmingly in favour of the scheme, which is now one step | :52:42. | :52:43. | |
closer, but if our highly unscientific straw poll is anything | :52:44. | :52:47. | |
to go by, support in Chelmsley Wood is thin on the ground. I don't think | :52:48. | :52:59. | |
we need it. It is destroying people's lives. It's a total waste | :53:00. | :53:03. | |
of money. The Greens are hoping the issue will also play well in the | :53:04. | :53:06. | |
European elections. Last time out, they came sixth in the West | :53:07. | :53:10. | |
Midlands, behind the BNP, a long way off securing an MEP. The party's | :53:11. | :53:13. | |
Deputy Leader is hoping for better this time around. It all cut swathes | :53:14. | :53:23. | |
through the landscape of this country and there is no way we could | :53:24. | :53:26. | |
mitigate against the environmental damage, not to mention the cost of | :53:27. | :53:33. | |
?3000 or more for each family in the country just so if you businessmen | :53:34. | :53:39. | |
can get to London a few minutes quicker. The Green Party holds its | :53:40. | :53:42. | |
conference in Birmingham this September. The question is, will the | :53:43. | :53:45. | |
annual get`together see them welcoming a clutch of new | :53:46. | :53:48. | |
councillors and maybe an MEP from the West Midlands? | :53:49. | :53:50. | |
And next week, we'll examine the BNP's prospects here in this month's | :53:51. | :54:00. | |
elections. It strikes me that HS2 is one of those areas where the Green | :54:01. | :54:05. | |
Party is making great strides in cornering your traditional share of | :54:06. | :54:09. | |
the market, bearing in mind that we saw a poll that places the Liberal | :54:10. | :54:17. | |
Democrats behind the Greens. They are doing what they have done in | :54:18. | :54:22. | |
other areas and making political capital. I did think it has been | :54:23. | :54:28. | |
thought through. But you are against Aegis to yourself. `` HS2. We think | :54:29. | :54:41. | |
it is necessary, not just for speed but capacity. I am interested in | :54:42. | :54:46. | |
local infrastructure for trains. It is ridiculous you can't get directly | :54:47. | :54:50. | |
from Stratford to Birmingham International. I will put the | :54:51. | :55:00. | |
residence of the area I am representing first and foremost. | :55:01. | :55:07. | |
Sounds like a definite maybe! What about you? You are against HS2. Like | :55:08. | :55:18. | |
Liz, we have got to say, we need rail infrastructure in the | :55:19. | :55:23. | |
Midlands. It is ridiculous that you can't get the train from Stratford | :55:24. | :55:29. | |
to Birmingham. It will depend what is in the bill. It's not a mystery! | :55:30. | :55:38. | |
There are many petitions coming in, to trying get changes in that bill. | :55:39. | :55:47. | |
All the parties are supposedly for HS2. Is this a complete room for | :55:48. | :55:52. | |
rebels here? A decision has been made. Let's get on with the job. I | :55:53. | :56:00. | |
don't want to wait until 2026 to see improvements in rail | :56:01. | :56:02. | |
infrastructure. Capacity has always been an issue for us here. It's not | :56:03. | :56:09. | |
about speed. I want to see increased capacity so that we can have our | :56:10. | :56:14. | |
direct links to Telford. At the moment, we cannot get to London | :56:15. | :56:19. | |
without stopping at Wolverhampton, sometimes for half an hour. That is | :56:20. | :56:23. | |
a major barrier for business, jobs and growth. Shropshire business | :56:24. | :56:29. | |
people have put their weight behind increased infrastructure. We have | :56:30. | :56:33. | |
heard what Ed Balls has had to say about HS2. He revealed himself not | :56:34. | :56:41. | |
to be a particular fan. Would`be first act of his role as Chancellor | :56:42. | :56:45. | |
be to strike his pen through the whole thing? I don't think you will | :56:46. | :56:51. | |
cancel the project. He has said there cannot be a blank check for | :56:52. | :56:58. | |
HS2. We have got to make sure it is delivering the economic benefits | :56:59. | :57:01. | |
promised and the case has not proved that the economic benefits will be | :57:02. | :57:06. | |
delivered because logically, you will not go from Warwick and Leeming | :57:07. | :57:11. | |
ten North for half an hour to a railway station to get on a train to | :57:12. | :57:16. | |
go to London. At the moment, you can get to London faster if you go to a | :57:17. | :57:22. | |
local railway station. These trains would presumably be more | :57:23. | :57:25. | |
environmentally friendly than older trains. Liberal Democrats have been | :57:26. | :57:34. | |
100% in favour of the new HS2, but what we have also done is put ?16 | :57:35. | :57:41. | |
billion in two improved rail infrastructure. | :57:42. | :57:45. | |
Now our regular round`up of the political week in the Midlands in 60 | :57:46. | :57:49. | |
seconds. It's a campaign special today, brought to us by our BBC | :57:50. | :57:51. | |
Shropshire political reporter, Joanne Gallacher. | :57:52. | :58:00. | |
Lin Golding is plotting a comeback as a district councillor in | :58:01. | :58:03. | |
Newcastle`under`Lyme at the age of 81. She was Labour MP for the town | :58:04. | :58:08. | |
for 15 years before entering the Lords. | :58:09. | :58:12. | |
The We Demand a Referendum Now Party launched its European election | :58:13. | :58:15. | |
manifesto. Their lead candidate is sitting West Midlands MEP Nikki | :58:16. | :58:23. | |
Sinclaire, formerly of UKIP. By re`electing me, people know they | :58:24. | :58:26. | |
will get someone that represents them. | :58:27. | :58:28. | |
Another former UKIP MEP, Mike Nattrass, is seeking re`election. | :58:29. | :58:32. | |
His An Independence from Europe Party is fielding candidates in all | :58:33. | :58:42. | |
of England's Euro constituencies. We should leave because domination from | :58:43. | :58:45. | |
Europe isn't what we need at all. As well as visiting Redditch, Shadow | :58:46. | :58:48. | |
Health Secretary Andy Burnham dropped in to Walsall to launch | :58:49. | :58:50. | |
Labour's local election campaign. And we end where we started, in | :58:51. | :58:53. | |
Newcastle`under`Lyme, where none other than the Prime Minister | :58:54. | :58:56. | |
himself was on hand to get the Conservative campaign underway. | :58:57. | :59:05. | |
And we'll be hearing from some of the other parties who are running in | :59:06. | :59:08. | |
the European and local election campaign trails over the next two | :59:09. | :59:19. | |
weeks. David Cameron there in Newcastle. We heard Andrew Neil | :59:20. | :59:24. | |
saying he managed to talk a great deal about Europe. He has got a | :59:25. | :59:29. | |
point, hasn't he? He said your party won't have a referendum. What we are | :59:30. | :59:36. | |
saying is we need to make sure the EU has reforms and we want to work | :59:37. | :59:45. | |
with the EU... There needs to be a referendum if there are significant | :59:46. | :59:48. | |
changes to the powers of the European Union. But if nothing is | :59:49. | :59:57. | |
changing, there is no need to have a referendum. We need reform of the | :59:58. | :00:03. | |
EU. In east to stop focusing so much on agricultural subsidies and look | :00:04. | :00:06. | |
instead at job creation and protection. David Cameron shows | :00:07. | :00:21. | |
signs of taking on UK I'd `` UKIP. That's right. If we look at the | :00:22. | :00:28. | |
polls. `` polls, UKIP is surging ahead. The question that will be | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
asked on the 22nd is very different to that which will be asked in 2015. | :00:34. | :00:48. | |
If you put your take in the box, it is because you are making a | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
statement that you are sending to the political classes that you want | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
to be heard. We heard at the top of this programme the threat to your | :00:58. | :01:02. | |
party of oblivion in these elections. It's a tough fight for | :01:03. | :01:17. | |
you to avoid a whitewash. No other party has... The politics UKIP is | :01:18. | :01:29. | |
pedalling around is very dangerous. We have had no silencing throughout | :01:30. | :01:33. | |
this programme today! My thanks to Lucy, Lynnette and | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
Elizabeth. Next Sunday, we'll have the first of our special programmes | :01:38. | :01:39. | |
concentrating on the European elections. For the next two weeks, | :01:40. | :01:45. | |
I'll be joined live in the studio by candidates from each of the four | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
main parties here. And, of course, we'll also be hearing from the six | :01:51. | :01:53. | |
other parties fielding full slates of seven candidates each. You can | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
see them all for yourself on the BBC News Politics website. | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
on our website. That is all we have got time for this week. Next week, | :02:03. | :02:08. | |
London's local elections. Welcome back. Now, the Government is | :02:09. | :02:15. | |
not very good at predicting the future. That's according to a report | :02:16. | :02:19. | |
from a committee of MPs this morning who say that its Horizon Scanning | :02:20. | :02:22. | |
programme that's supposed to identify potential threats, risks, | :02:23. | :02:24. | |
emerging issues and opportunities isn't much good at reading the tea | :02:25. | :02:30. | |
leaves. But can it really be any worse than our panel? Here they are | :02:31. | :02:34. | |
predicting the future of then culture secretary Maria Miller | :02:35. | :02:44. | |
before Easter. Can she survive? I'm getting out of | :02:45. | :02:47. | |
the prediction game after I said Nick Clegg would win the debates. | :02:48. | :02:54. | |
But I almost think she might. If there is a big event that moves this | :02:55. | :02:59. | |
off the front pages. David Cameron will want to keep Maria Miller until | :03:00. | :03:06. | |
at least his summary shuffle. I think they will get rid of her. I | :03:07. | :03:12. | |
think they will do the decent thing after exhausting all other options. | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
Maria Miller resigned a few days later of course! The best and the | :03:18. | :03:26. | |
brightest, when did that slip in? This week it will be exactly a year | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
until the General Election, so what better time to get our panel to gaze | :03:31. | :03:37. | |
into their crystal balls again. What's the outcome of the election | :03:38. | :03:43. | |
in 2015? I'm going to go with the polls and say Ed Miliband as the | :03:44. | :03:51. | |
Prime Minister. But the polls are only a snapshot of opinion now, you | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
think they will be the same in a year? No, I think they will narrow. | :03:57. | :04:03. | |
I think UKIP's vote share will fall. I think they are currently coasting | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
on a high and that will tailor way so they won't take as many votes off | :04:09. | :04:16. | |
the Tories. Labour with a majority or is the largest party. Another | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
liberal Conservative coalition, and I say that because he is already in | :04:23. | :04:29. | |
touching distance of Labour. I don't think UKIP will get 15, maybe half | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
of that, and most of the votes they lose will either not vote at all go | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
to the Tories and that should be enough to be the biggest party in a | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
hung parliament I don't envisage a Tory majority. I am also going to go | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
with the polls. For Ed Miliband to be hoping to win at this stage, he | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
has got to be way ahead in the polls. Labour needs to be much | :04:55. | :05:02. | |
further ahead if he is going to win so David Cameron, probably the | :05:03. | :05:06. | |
leader of the largest party. Last time after the election David | :05:07. | :05:10. | |
Cameron went to the 1922 committee and announced he was Prime Minister | :05:11. | :05:14. | |
as head of the Coalition. He has agreed this time he will consult | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
them and it will be much more difficult for him to get a | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
coalition. People at home have now concluded there will be a Liberal | :05:24. | :05:29. | |
Democrat landslide! Are we going to have debates? Yes, probably further | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
away from polling day then last time. That is the Liberal Democrat | :05:35. | :05:41. | |
point, isn't it? Yes, it sucks all the life out of the campaign, so the | :05:42. | :05:47. | |
last six weeks will be left to traditional campaigning. What did | :05:48. | :05:50. | |
you make of this in the Sunday Times this morning, this two, three, five | :05:51. | :06:00. | |
formula. There should be a Cameron, Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg debate, then | :06:01. | :06:07. | |
there should be another one with them and UKIP and the Greens. It | :06:08. | :06:18. | |
might be testing the patience of the nation to tune into all of those. If | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
you're going to say Nigel Farage should be there, the Green party | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
should be too. They know that as soon as you put them on a podium | :06:28. | :06:33. | |
next to them, he looks like he has equal stature and that is a problem. | :06:34. | :06:39. | |
David Cameron does not want the debates to happen on the way they | :06:40. | :06:44. | |
happened last time. It is generally regarded, Lynton Crosby believes | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
they were a disaster for David Cameron because they allowed Nick | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
Clegg to be the fresh person. He knows he cannot say no to them so | :06:55. | :06:59. | |
the moment you see David Cameron suggesting that Caroline Lucas | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
should be in the debate, you know he is not serious. What he will try to | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
do is have more debates, have them outside the main part of the general | :07:09. | :07:12. | |
election so that it doesn't dominate. The problem the David | :07:13. | :07:15. | |
Cameron is that the campaign will be much longer. It is a five-week | :07:16. | :07:22. | |
campaign so it is quite difficult for him to say we will only have one | :07:23. | :07:27. | |
debate in that campaign. I think smother it with love, hopefully it | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
will go to the courts for him and hopefully they will never happen and | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
he will be delighted. The European election and the local elections are | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
coming up. The three mainstream parties are saying it is a flash in | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
the pan, they don't really matter and so on, but if UKIP comes a | :07:46. | :07:52. | |
strong first, if Labour comes a poor second and the Tories come a poor | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
third, it will have consequences for all three, and the Lib Dems come | :07:58. | :08:03. | |
forth or even fish. It will have consequences and not just in the | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
media but on the ground. One of the big stories is what will happen to | :08:08. | :08:10. | |
the Lib Dems, they face losing all of their MEPs. A good result for | :08:11. | :08:19. | |
them is lit -- in the local elections is losing 250 councillors. | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
These are the most interesting elections we have had for some | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
time. Are we heading for a Nick Clegg summer leadership crisis? I | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
think we are heading towards reversing the clock back to where we | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
were before the Eastleigh by-election. That quiet and things | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
down for Nick Clegg. If they lose all their MEPs, and there is a real | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
chance they will, Vince Cable will be out on manoeuvres because age is | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
not on his side. If he can say Nick Clegg is a loser and a failure, he | :08:54. | :09:00. | |
will be back. Will the Tories go into headless chicken mode if they | :09:01. | :09:15. | |
come third? Yes, if UKIP come first there will not be as much panic as | :09:16. | :09:22. | |
if Labour come first. Is Labour comes a poor second, will there be | :09:23. | :09:26. | |
some pressure on Ed Miliband to reopen his attitude to the | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
referendum? I don't think so and my colleague was talking to Labour | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
sources who said he is absolutely not going to. That is something you | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
can say definitely about him, he decides on a course and he sticks to | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
it. There is one potential upside for David Cameron in a really bad | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
Conservative results, it could strengthen his hand in the | :09:51. | :09:53. | |
renegotiations of Britain's EU membership because he doesn't even | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
need to say to Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande it is there. David | :09:59. | :10:06. | |
Cameron hasn't just been fighting for his party into the local | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
elections. He also got his knuckles wrapped by the Speaker, John Bercow, | :10:12. | :10:13. | |
at Prime Minister's Question Time, for talking for too long. Take a | :10:14. | :10:20. | |
look at this. There is a better future ahead of us but we must not | :10:21. | :10:26. | |
go backward to the policies that put us in this mess in the first place. | :10:27. | :10:31. | |
I don't know what they are paying him, Mr Speaker. Order, order. I | :10:32. | :10:49. | |
haven't finished! In response to that question, the Prime Minister | :10:50. | :10:52. | |
has finished and he can take it from me that he has finished. I can't | :10:53. | :11:00. | |
remember a speaker ever speaking to a Prime Minister like that. Clearly | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
in that case, John Bercow crossed a line. It is Prime Minister 's | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
questions, he is entitled to answer the questions. There is really bad | :11:12. | :11:16. | |
blood between those two, going back a long way. They hate each other and | :11:17. | :11:22. | |
the worrying thing about that was the look of triumphalism on the | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
speaker's face afterwards. He is a remarkable, revolutionary speaker | :11:29. | :11:31. | |
who has made the House of Commons more relevant, he is holding the | :11:32. | :11:36. | |
executive to account, but that look on his face showed he had crossed | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
the line. Does he survive after the next election? He has improved the | :11:42. | :11:45. | |
importance of the Commons, is that enough to keep him in the Speaker 's | :11:46. | :11:52. | |
chair? The most public bit of the Commons is still the Prime Minister | :11:53. | :11:58. | |
's questions, and we can conclude that John Bercow's interventions | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
take more time than any delays he complains about so I wouldn't be | :12:03. | :12:09. | |
surprised if, in a few years' time, someone else replaces him. He is | :12:10. | :12:16. | |
quite popular with Labour, is he not? Yes, he is married to a Labour | :12:17. | :12:23. | |
activist and is notably sympathetic to Labour but I think this is a | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
difficult situation. David Cameron also overstepped the line. As soon | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
as the speaker says order, the idea is that the House was to order and | :12:34. | :12:39. | |
David Cameron pushed him. They are both trying to score points off each | :12:40. | :12:45. | |
other. We cover Prime Minister 's questions every week on the daily | :12:46. | :12:52. | |
politics, and there is a danger that he sees it as an opportunity to do | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
some grandstanding. You slightly sends his vanity gets the better of | :12:57. | :13:01. | |
him. It is supposed to be Prime Minister 's questions. At the end of | :13:02. | :13:05. | |
that session, the Speaker read out a statement from the Chief clerk, and | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
immensely respected figure, saying he is taking early retirement. It is | :13:11. | :13:15. | |
pretty clear that the reason he has decided to go early is because he is | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
finding it tricky to maintain a cordial relationship with the | :13:21. | :13:23. | |
speaker, and the speaker might want to think about his man management | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
skills. That's all for today. The Daily Politics will be back on BBC | :13:29. | :13:31. | |
Two at lunchtime from Tuesday onwards. Remember, it is a bank | :13:32. | :13:35. | |
holiday tomorrow. I'll be back here at 11am next week. Remember - if | :13:36. | :13:38. | |
it's Sunday, it's the Sunday Politics. | :13:39. | :13:43. |