:00:36. > :00:39.Morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics.
:00:40. > :00:42.Downing Street announces an inquiry into allegations of hardball tactics
:00:43. > :00:47.and intimidation by unions in industrial disputes. That's our top
:00:48. > :00:51.story. Thousands dead. Hundreds of
:00:52. > :00:55.thousands without homes. Millions affected. What is Britain doing to
:00:56. > :00:58.help the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan? We'll ask
:00:59. > :01:03.International Development Secretary Justine Greening.
:01:04. > :01:06.Winter is coming and so, it seems, is another crisis in England's
:01:07. > :01:07.hospitals. I'll be asking the Shadow Health Secretary how he'd put a stop
:01:08. > :01:16.to In the West: It's a year since he
:01:17. > :01:17.was elected as Mayor but is George Ferguson spending too much time
:01:18. > :01:20.doing it his way? He's live with us doing it his way? He's live with us
:01:21. > :01:23.fatalities on the capital's streets, and renewed calls to get lorries off
:01:24. > :01:37.the roads in peak hours. With me, the best and brightest
:01:38. > :01:39.political panel that money can buy. Janan Ganesh, Nick Watt and this
:01:40. > :01:44.week, Zoe Williams, who'll be tweeting their thoughts throughout
:01:45. > :01:47.the programme. The Government has announced a
:01:48. > :01:49.review to investigate what the Prime Minister has called "industrial
:01:50. > :02:02.intimidation" by trade union activists. Bruce Carr QC will chair
:02:03. > :02:05.a panel to examine allegations of the kind of tactics that came to
:02:06. > :02:07.light during the Grangemouth dispute, when the Unite union took
:02:08. > :02:14.their protests - replete with a giant rat - outside the family homes
:02:15. > :02:19.of the firms' bosses. Earlier this morning the Cabinet office minister,
:02:20. > :02:23.Francis Maude spoke to the BBC and this is what he had to say. To look
:02:24. > :02:27.at whether the law currently works and see if it is ineffective in
:02:28. > :02:32.preventing the kind of intimidatory activity that was alleged to have
:02:33. > :02:41.taken place around range mouth during the previous disputes --
:02:42. > :02:47.Grangemouth. We make no presumptions at the beginning of this. I do think
:02:48. > :02:51.it is a responsible thing for the government to establish what
:02:52. > :02:55.happened and really do a proper review into whether the law is
:02:56. > :03:02.adequate to meet the needs. That was Francis Maude. This is a purely
:03:03. > :03:06.political move, isn't it? Unite did this a couple of times, it is hardly
:03:07. > :03:09.happening all over the country but the government want to say, we are
:03:10. > :03:17.prepared to investigate Unite properly, Labour isn't. This seemed
:03:18. > :03:23.a lot worse when I thought it was a real rat. I thought it was a giant
:03:24. > :03:26.dead rat. I am not sure if you know much about rats but real rats are
:03:27. > :03:33.not this big, even the ones in London. The thing is, obviously it
:03:34. > :03:38.is naked politics but I think it is more intelligent than it looks. They
:03:39. > :03:44.are trying to taint Miliband as a week union puppet and that doesn't
:03:45. > :03:49.really wash. They hammer away with it and it might wash for some
:03:50. > :03:53.people. But it really castrates Miliband in the important issues he
:03:54. > :03:57.has to tackle. Zero hours, living wage, all of those things in which
:03:58. > :04:03.he needs to be in concert with the unions, and to use their expertise.
:04:04. > :04:16.He is making them absolutely toxic to go anywhere near. It keeps the
:04:17. > :04:19.Unite story alive, have to kill -- particularly since Mr Miller band is
:04:20. > :04:33.under pressure to reopen the investigation into what Unite are up
:04:34. > :04:37.to -- Mr Miliband. They are frustrated, not only at the BBC but
:04:38. > :04:40.the media generally at what they think is a lack of coverage. I see
:04:41. > :04:46.the political rationale from that respect. There is a risk. There are
:04:47. > :04:51.union members who either vote Tory or are open to the idea of voting
:04:52. > :05:04.Tory. All Lib Dem. If the party comes across as too zealous in as --
:05:05. > :05:11.its antipathy, there is an electoral consequence. Ed Miliband has been
:05:12. > :05:16.careful to keep a distance. Yes they depend on vast amounts of
:05:17. > :05:19.money. When Len McCluskey had a real go at the Blairites, Ed Miliband was
:05:20. > :05:23.straight out there with a very strong statement. Essentially Len
:05:24. > :05:28.McCluskey wanted Blairites in the shadow cabinet sacked and Ed
:05:29. > :05:33.Miliband was keen to distance himself or for that is why it is not
:05:34. > :05:38.quite sticking. Another story in the Sunday papers this morning, the Mail
:05:39. > :05:43.on Sunday got hold of some e-mails. When I saw the headline I thought it
:05:44. > :05:49.was a huge cache of e-mails, it turns out to be a couple. They peel
:05:50. > :05:56.away the cover on the relationship between Ed Miliband and Ed Balls,
:05:57. > :06:03.with some of Ed Miliband's cohorts describing what Mr balls is trying
:06:04. > :06:07.to do as a nightmare. How bad are the relations? They are pretty bad
:06:08. > :06:10.and these e-mails confirm the biggest open signal in Westminster,
:06:11. > :06:16.which is that relations are pretty tense, -- open secret. That Ed
:06:17. > :06:21.Miliband doesn't feel that Ed Balls is acknowledging the economy has
:06:22. > :06:29.grown that Labour needs to admit to past mistakes. The sort of great
:06:30. > :06:36.open signal is confirmed. On a scale of 1-10, assuming that Blair-Brown
:06:37. > :06:40.was ten. I think it is between six and seven. They occupy this joint
:06:41. > :06:46.suite of offices that George Cameron and -- David Cameron and George
:06:47. > :06:51.Osborne had. It is not just on the economy that there were tensions,
:06:52. > :06:57.there were clearly tensions over HS2, Ed Balls put a huge question
:06:58. > :07:00.over it at his conference. There will be more tensions when it comes
:07:01. > :07:05.to the third runway because my information is that Mr balls wants
:07:06. > :07:11.to do it and Ed Miliband almost resigned over it when he was in
:07:12. > :07:13.government. I don't think Ed Miliband is thinking very
:07:14. > :07:19.politically because he has tried live without Ed Balls and that is
:07:20. > :07:23.not tenable either. -- life without. He has defined a way of making it
:07:24. > :07:28.work. That is where Tony Blair had the edge on any modern politician.
:07:29. > :07:32.He didn't want to make Ed Balls his Shadow Chancellor, he had to.
:07:33. > :07:36.Somebody said to him, if you make Ed Balls Shadow Chancellor, that will
:07:37. > :07:45.be the last decision you take as leader of the Labour Party. Is it as
:07:46. > :07:57.bad? I was surprised at how tame the e-mails were. At the FT it is
:07:58. > :08:01.compulsory, one French word per sentence! To call him a nightmare,
:08:02. > :08:06.compared to what they are willing to say in briefings, conversations
:08:07. > :08:09.bits of frustrations they express verbally come what is documented in
:08:10. > :08:15.the e-mails is actually pretty light. It has been a grim week for
:08:16. > :08:18.the people of the Philippines as they count the cost of the
:08:19. > :08:24.devastation wrought by Typhoon Haiyan. HMS Daring has just arrived
:08:25. > :08:28.near the worst hit areas - part of Britain's contribution to bring aid
:08:29. > :08:32.to the country. It has been one of the worst natural
:08:33. > :08:35.disasters in the history of the Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan hit the
:08:36. > :08:40.country nine days ago, leaving devastation in its wake. The numbers
:08:41. > :08:45.involved are shocking. The official death toll is over 3600 people, with
:08:46. > :08:50.many thousands more unaccounted for. More than half a million people have
:08:51. > :08:54.lost their homes and the UN estimates 11 million have been
:08:55. > :08:58.affected. David Cameron announced on Friday that the UK government is to
:08:59. > :09:05.give an extra ?30 million in aid, taking the total British figure ?250
:09:06. > :09:07.million. An RAF Sea 17 aircraft landed yesterday with equipment to
:09:08. > :09:13.help aid workers get too hard to reach areas. HMS Illustrious is on
:09:14. > :09:21.its way and due to arrive next weekend. The British public have
:09:22. > :09:25.once again dipped into their pockets and given generously. They have
:09:26. > :09:28.given more than ?30 million to the Disasters Emergency Committee.
:09:29. > :09:31.The International Development Secretary, Justine Greening, joins
:09:32. > :09:35.me now for the Sunday Interview Good morning, Secretary of State.
:09:36. > :09:40.How much of the ?50 million that the government has allocated has got
:09:41. > :09:45.through so far? All of it has landed on the ground now. HMS Daring has
:09:46. > :09:48.turned up, that will be able to start getting help out to some of
:09:49. > :09:54.those more outlying islands that have been hard to reach. We have
:09:55. > :09:57.seen Save the Children and Oxfam really being able to get aid out on
:09:58. > :10:02.the ground. We have a plane taking off today that will not read just
:10:03. > :10:10.carrying out more equipment to help clear the roads but will also have
:10:11. > :10:16.their staff on board, too. We have ?50 million of aid actually on the
:10:17. > :10:20.ground? We instantly chartered flights directly from Dubai where we
:10:21. > :10:24.have preprepared human Terry and supplies, and started humanity work
:10:25. > :10:36.-- humanitarian supplies. A lot of it has now arrived. I think
:10:37. > :10:41.we have done a huge amount so far. We have gone beyond just providing
:10:42. > :10:44.humanitarian supplies, to getting the Royal Air Force involved. They
:10:45. > :10:50.have helped us to get equipment out there quickly. We have HMS
:10:51. > :10:54.Illustrious sailing over there now. Why has that taken so long? It was
:10:55. > :10:57.based in the Gulf and is not going to get there until two weeks after
:10:58. > :11:01.the storm first hit and that is the one ship we have with lots of
:11:02. > :11:05.helicopters. The first decision we took was to make sure we could get
:11:06. > :11:10.the fastest vessel out there that was able to help HMS Daring. HMS
:11:11. > :11:14.Illustrious was just finishing an exercise and planning to start to
:11:15. > :11:19.head back towards the UK. We have said to not do that, and diverted
:11:20. > :11:24.it. Shouldn't it have happened more quickly? We took the decisions as
:11:25. > :11:29.fast as we were able to, you can't just turn a big warship around like
:11:30. > :11:32.the HMS Illustrious. We made sure we took those decisions and that is
:11:33. > :11:38.while it will be taking over from HMS Daring come and that is why HMS
:11:39. > :11:42.Daring is ready there. It will be able to provide key support and
:11:43. > :11:48.expertise that has not been there so far. The US Navy is doing the heavy
:11:49. > :11:52.lifting here. The US Navy had the USS Washington, there is an aircraft
:11:53. > :11:57.carrier, 80 planes, 5000 personnel and they have the fleet, they are
:11:58. > :12:02.doing the real work. We obviously helping but the Americans are taking
:12:03. > :12:06.the lead. It is a big international effort. Countries like the US and
:12:07. > :12:14.the UK, that have a broader ability to support that goes beyond simply
:12:15. > :12:19.call humanitarian supplies -- have made sure we have brought our
:12:20. > :12:23.logistics knowledge, we have sent out our naval vessels. It shows we
:12:24. > :12:32.are working across government to respond to this crisis. Why does
:12:33. > :12:36.only just over 4% of your aid budget go on emergency disaster and
:12:37. > :12:39.response? A lot depends on what crises hit in any given year. We
:12:40. > :12:44.have done a huge amount, responding to the crisis in Syria, the conflict
:12:45. > :12:48.there and the fact we have 2 million refugees who have fled the country.
:12:49. > :12:54.We are part of an international effort in supporting them. Shouldn't
:12:55. > :12:57.we beginning more money to that rather than some of the other
:12:58. > :13:04.programmes where it is harder to see the results question of if we were
:13:05. > :13:07.to give more money to the refugees, it would be a visible result. We
:13:08. > :13:14.could see an improvement in the lives of children, men and women.
:13:15. > :13:17.What we need to do is alongside that is stop those situations from
:13:18. > :13:21.happening in the first place. A lot of our development spend is helping
:13:22. > :13:26.countries to stay stable. Look at some of the work we are doing in
:13:27. > :13:32.Somalia, much more sensible. Not just from an immigration but there
:13:33. > :13:36.is a threat perspective. There is a lot of terrorism coming from
:13:37. > :13:42.Somalia. You only have to look at Kenya recently to see that. Which is
:13:43. > :13:46.why you talk about what we do with the rest of the spend. It is why it
:13:47. > :13:52.is responsible to work with the government of Somalia. Should we
:13:53. > :13:57.give more, bigger part of the budget to disaster relief or not? I think
:13:58. > :14:01.we get it about right, we have to be flexible and we are. This Philippine
:14:02. > :14:08.relief is on top of the work in Syria. Where can you show me a
:14:09. > :14:12.correlation between us giving aid to some failed nation, or nearly failed
:14:13. > :14:17.nation, and that cutting down on terrorism? If you look at the work
:14:18. > :14:21.we have done in Pakistan, a huge amount of work. Some of it
:14:22. > :14:29.short-term. It is written by terrorism. That is -- ridden by
:14:30. > :14:36.terrorism. That is not going to fix it self in a sense. Look at the work
:14:37. > :14:45.that we do in investing in education. The things that little
:14:46. > :14:52.girls like Malala talk about as being absolutely key. We are ramping
:14:53. > :14:58.up our aid to Pakistan, it will be close to half ?1 billion by the time
:14:59. > :15:05.of the election. Why should British taxpayers be giving half ?1 billion
:15:06. > :15:09.to a country where only 0.5% of people in Pakistan pay income tax,
:15:10. > :15:19.and 70% of their own MPs don't pay income tax. It is a good point and
:15:20. > :15:23.that is why we have been working with their tax revenue authority to
:15:24. > :15:34.help them increase that and push forward the tax reform. You are
:15:35. > :15:40.right, and I have setup a team that will go out and work with many of
:15:41. > :15:44.these countries so they can raise their own revenues. You really think
:15:45. > :15:57.you will raise the amount of tax by sending out the British HRM see How
:15:58. > :16:02.many troops I we sending out to protect them? They don't need
:16:03. > :16:16.troops. We make sure that we have a duty of care alongside our staff,
:16:17. > :16:20.but we have to respond to any crisis like the Philippines, and alongside
:16:21. > :16:25.other countries we have two work alongside them so that they can
:16:26. > :16:31.reinvest in their own public services. If they can create their
:16:32. > :16:36.own taxes, will we stop paying aid? We need to look at that but the new
:16:37. > :16:43.Pakistan Government has been very clear it is a priority and we will
:16:44. > :16:50.be helping them in pursuing that. Let me show you a picture. Who are
:16:51. > :16:57.these young women? I don't know I'm sure you are about to tell me. They
:16:58. > :17:01.are the Ethiopian Spice Girls and I'm surprised you don't know because
:17:02. > :17:09.they have only managed to become so famous because your department has
:17:10. > :17:13.financed them to the tune of ?4 million. All of the work we do with
:17:14. > :17:20.women on the ground, making sure they have a voice in their local
:17:21. > :17:24.communities, making sure they have some control over what happens to
:17:25. > :17:33.their own bodies in terms of tackling FGM, female genital
:17:34. > :17:38.mutilation... Did you know your department has spent ?4 million on
:17:39. > :17:46.the Ethiopian Spice Girls? Yes, I do, and we have to work with girls
:17:47. > :17:50.and show them there is a life ahead of them with opportunity and
:17:51. > :17:55.potential that goes beyond what many of them will experience, which
:17:56. > :18:07.includes early and forced marriage. It is part of the work we do with
:18:08. > :18:11.local communities to change attitudes everything you have just
:18:12. > :18:14.said is immeasurable, and they broadcast on a radio station that
:18:15. > :18:26.doesn't reach most of the country so it cannot have the impact. It only
:18:27. > :18:26.reaches 20 million people and the project has been condemned saying
:18:27. > :18:35.there were serious inefficiencies. That aid report was done a while ago
:18:36. > :18:39.now, and it was talking about the project when it first got going and
:18:40. > :18:45.a lot of improvements have happened since. I would go back to the point
:18:46. > :18:47.that we are working in very difficult environments where we are
:18:48. > :18:53.trying to get longer term change on the ground and that means working
:18:54. > :18:57.directly with communities but also investing for the long-term,
:18:58. > :19:04.investing in some of these girls start changing attitudes in them and
:19:05. > :19:14.their communities. Why does the British taxpayers spend ?5 million
:19:15. > :19:20.on a Bangladesh version of Question Time? We work with the BBC to make
:19:21. > :19:40.sure we can get accountabilities... That is bigger then the BBC Question
:19:41. > :19:48.Time Normal -- budget. That includes the cost of David Dimbleby's
:19:49. > :19:52.tattoo! We are working to improve people's prospects but also we are
:19:53. > :19:56.working to improve their ability to hold their governments to account so
:19:57. > :20:00.that when they are not getting services on the ground, they have
:20:01. > :20:08.ways they can raise those concerns with the people who are there to
:20:09. > :20:12.deliver services for them. In your own personal view, should the next
:20:13. > :20:18.Conservative Government, if there is one, should you continue to ring
:20:19. > :20:23.fence spending on foreign aid? But it is critical that if we are going
:20:24. > :20:28.to spend 7.7% of our national income, we should make sure it is in
:20:29. > :20:32.our national interest and that means having a clear approach to
:20:33. > :20:37.humanitarian responses, in keeping the country safe, and a clearer
:20:38. > :20:43.approach on helping drive economic development and jobs so there is a
:20:44. > :20:49.long-term end of the dependency Do you believe in an shrine in the
:20:50. > :20:55.percentage of our GDP that goes on foreign aid in law? Yes, and that is
:20:56. > :21:05.a coalition agreement. There have been a lot of agreements that you
:21:06. > :21:10.are sceptical about ring fencing. We are focused on shaking up the
:21:11. > :21:23.economy and improving our public finances. Why haven't you done that?
:21:24. > :21:28.At the end of the day we will be accountable but we are committed to
:21:29. > :21:34.doing that. You are running out of time, will you do it? I hope we can
:21:35. > :21:40.find the Parliamentary time, but even if we don't, we have acted as
:21:41. > :21:46.if that law is in place and we have already met 0.7% commitment. If you
:21:47. > :21:53.are British voter that doesn't believe that we should enshrine that
:21:54. > :21:57.in by law, which means that with a growing economy foreign aid will
:21:58. > :22:01.rise by definition, and if you think we should be spending less money on
:22:02. > :22:09.the Ethiopian Spice Girls, for whom should you wrote in the next
:22:10. > :22:15.election? I think we have a very sensible approach. I don't know what
:22:16. > :22:21.the various party manifestoes.. The only party who thinks we shouldn't
:22:22. > :22:31.be doing this is UKIP. I think you have to look at the response to both
:22:32. > :22:38.the Philippines crisis and Children In Need. Of all the steps we are
:22:39. > :22:44.taking to get the country back on track, it shows the British people
:22:45. > :22:52.will respond to need when they need it and it is one of the things that
:22:53. > :22:55.makes Britain's special. Thank you. "It's always winter but
:22:56. > :22:57.never Christmas" - that's how doctors describe life inside
:22:58. > :23:00.accident and emergency. The College of Emergency Medicine have warned
:23:01. > :23:04.that this year could bring the "worst crisis on record". If that
:23:05. > :23:06.dire prediction comes, expect a spring of political recriminations,
:23:07. > :23:10.but how prepared are the NHS in England? And what do they make of
:23:11. > :23:19.this autumnal speculation? Giles has been to Leeds to find out.
:23:20. > :23:25.This winter has already come to our hospitals. It had an official start
:23:26. > :23:33.date, November the 3rd. That is when weekly updates are delivered to the
:23:34. > :23:38.NHS's most senior planners, alerting them to any sudden changes in
:23:39. > :23:46.patient numbers coming in. Where do they numbers register most then
:23:47. > :23:51.A They are the barometer for what is going on everywhere else, and
:23:52. > :23:55.they are the pressure point, so if the system is beginning to struggle
:23:56. > :24:03.then it is in the A department that we see the problems. It is not
:24:04. > :24:09.that the problems are the A departments, but they are the place
:24:10. > :24:14.where it all comes together. Plans to tackle those problems start being
:24:15. > :24:23.drawn up in May and they look at trends, even taking notice of any
:24:24. > :24:33.flu epidemics in New Zealand. They also look at the amount of bets But
:24:34. > :24:37.the weather, economic realities structural reforms, and changes to
:24:38. > :24:42.the general health of the population, are all factors they
:24:43. > :24:46.have to consider. We get huge amounts of information through the
:24:47. > :24:51.winter in order to help the NHS be the best it can be, but we had to
:24:52. > :24:56.redouble our efforts this year because we expected to be a
:24:57. > :25:03.difficult winter. We know the NHS is stretched so we are working hard to
:25:04. > :25:10.be as good as we can be. That means they are looking at winter staffing
:25:11. > :25:14.levels, plans to ask for help from neighbouring hospitals, and
:25:15. > :25:20.dovetailing help with GP surgeries, and still having the ability to move
:25:21. > :25:26.up an extra gear, a rehearsed emergency plan if the NHS had to
:25:27. > :25:30.face a major disease pandemic. You spend any time in any of our
:25:31. > :25:35.hospitals and you realise the NHS knows that winter is coming and they
:25:36. > :25:38.are making plans, but you also get a palpable feeling amongst health
:25:39. > :25:46.workers across the entire system that they do get fed up of being
:25:47. > :25:49.used as a political football. Doctors and all health care
:25:50. > :25:55.professionals are frustrated about the politics that surrounds the NHS
:25:56. > :25:58.in health care. They go to work to treat patients as best as they can,
:25:59. > :26:05.and the political knock-about does not help anyone. I find it
:26:06. > :26:09.frustrating when there is a commentary that suggests the NHS
:26:10. > :26:15.does not planned, when it is surprised by winter, and wherever
:26:16. > :26:22.that comes from it is hard to take, knowing how much we do nationally
:26:23. > :26:31.and how much our hard working front line staff are doing. When the
:26:32. > :26:36.Coalition have recently tried to open up the NHS to be a more
:26:37. > :26:43.independent body, it is clear the NHS feel they have had an unhealthy
:26:44. > :26:47.dose of political wrangling between parties on policy. The NHS is not
:26:48. > :26:53.infallible or making any guarantees, but they seem confident that they
:26:54. > :26:56.and their patients can survive the winter.
:26:57. > :27:04.Joining me now from Salford in the Shadow Health Secretary, Andy
:27:05. > :27:09.Burnham. Tell me this, if you were health secretary now, you just took
:27:10. > :27:19.over in an emergency election, what would you do to avoid another winter
:27:20. > :27:25.crisis? I would immediately halt the closure of NHS walk-in centres. We
:27:26. > :27:30.heard this week that around one in four walk-in centres are closed so
:27:31. > :27:34.it makes no sense whatsoever for the Government to allow the continued
:27:35. > :27:40.closure of them. I would put nurses back on the end of phones and
:27:41. > :27:47.restore an NHS direct style service. The new 111 service is not in a
:27:48. > :27:54.position to provide help to people this winter. I think the time has
:27:55. > :27:58.come to rethink how the NHS care is particularly for older people so I
:27:59. > :28:03.propose the full integration of health and social care. It cannot
:28:04. > :28:09.make any sense any more to have this approach where we cut social care
:28:10. > :28:13.and let elderly people drift to hospitals in greater numbers. We
:28:14. > :28:21.have two rethink it as a whole service. So you would repeal some of
:28:22. > :28:26.the Tory reforms and move commissioning to local authorities
:28:27. > :28:32.so the NHS should brace itself for another major top-down health
:28:33. > :28:36.reorganisation? No, unlike Andrew Lansley I will work with the
:28:37. > :28:47.organisations ie inherit. He could work with primary care trusts but he
:28:48. > :28:54.turned it upside down when it needed stability. I will not do that but I
:28:55. > :29:06.will repeal the health and social care act because last week we heard
:29:07. > :29:10.that hospitals and health services cannot get on and make sensible
:29:11. > :29:16.merger collaborations because of this nonsense now that the NHS is
:29:17. > :29:21.bound by competition law. Let me get your views on a number of ideas that
:29:22. > :29:26.have been floated either by the press or the Coalition. We haven't
:29:27. > :29:37.got much time. Do you welcome the plan to bring back named GPs for
:29:38. > :29:42.over 75s? Yes, but it has got harder to get the GP appointment under this
:29:43. > :29:46.Government because David Cameron scrapped the 48-hour guarantee that
:29:47. > :29:51.Tony Blair brought in. He was challenged in the 2005 election
:29:52. > :29:55.about the difficulty of getting a GP appointment, and Tony Blair brought
:29:56. > :30:02.in the commitment that people should be able to get that within 48
:30:03. > :30:06.hours. That has now been scrapped. Do you welcome the idea of allowing
:30:07. > :30:14.everyone to choose their own GP surgery even if it is not in our
:30:15. > :30:19.traditional catchment area? I proposed that just before the last
:30:20. > :30:22.election, so yes. Do you welcome the idea of how a practice is being
:30:23. > :30:30.rated being a matter of public record, and of us knowing how much,
:30:31. > :30:34.at least from the NHS, our GP earns? Of course, every political party
:30:35. > :30:38.supports transparency in the NHS. More information for the public of
:30:39. > :30:44.that kind is a good thing. Do you welcome this plan to make it will
:30:45. > :30:52.form the collect in an NHS hospital -- make wilful neglect a criminal
:30:53. > :30:54.offence. It is important to say you can't pick and mix these
:30:55. > :30:59.recommendations, you can't say we will have that one and not the
:31:00. > :31:03.others. It was a balanced package that Sir Robert Francis put forward.
:31:04. > :31:06.My message is that it must be permitted in full. If we are to
:31:07. > :31:12.learn the lessons, the whole package must be addressed, and that includes
:31:13. > :31:17.safe staffing levels across the NHS. Staff have a responsible to two
:31:18. > :31:20.patients at the government also has responsible at T2 NHS staff and it
:31:21. > :31:33.should not let them work in understaffed, unsafe conditions -- a
:31:34. > :31:43.responsibility to NHS staff. Is there a part of the 2004 agreements
:31:44. > :31:48.that you regret and should be undone? A lot of myths have been
:31:49. > :31:53.built up about the contract. When it came in, there was a huge shortage
:31:54. > :31:58.of GPs across the country. Some communities struggle to recruit
:31:59. > :32:04.This myth that the government have built, that the 2004 GP contract is
:32:05. > :32:12.responsible for the AM decries is, it is spin of the worst possible
:32:13. > :32:17.kind -- the A crisis. You would redo that contract? It was redone
:32:18. > :32:22.under our time in government and change to make it better value for
:32:23. > :32:24.money. GPs should be focused on improving the health of their
:32:25. > :32:32.patients and that is a very good principle. Not so great if you can't
:32:33. > :32:37.get 24-hour access. I agree with that. We brought in evening and
:32:38. > :32:41.weekend opening for GPs. That is another thing that has gone in
:32:42. > :32:44.reverse under Mr Cameron. It is much harder to get a GP appointment under
:32:45. > :32:55.him and that is one of the reasons why A is an oppressor. -- under
:32:56. > :33:00.pressure. What do you make of the review into intimidatory tactics by
:33:01. > :33:04.unions? If there has been intimidation, it is unacceptable,
:33:05. > :33:12.and that should apply to unions as well as employers. Was Unite wrong
:33:13. > :33:16.to turn up and demonstrate? I don't know the details, this review will
:33:17. > :33:20.look into that presumably. I need reassurance that this is not a
:33:21. > :33:24.pretty cool call by Mr Cameron on the designed to appear near the
:33:25. > :33:35.election -- that this is not a political call. Are you sponsored by
:33:36. > :33:44.unite? No. Do you get any money from Unite? No. What have you done wrong?
:33:45. > :33:51.It seems others are getting money from Unite. Can I tell you what I
:33:52. > :33:54.think is the scandal of British party political funding, two health
:33:55. > :34:02.care companies have given ?1.5 million in donations to the Tory
:34:03. > :34:06.party, they have ?1.5 billion in NHS contracts. I wonder why you don t
:34:07. > :34:11.spend much time talking about that and obsess over trade union funding.
:34:12. > :34:18.We are happy to talk about that We see from e-mails that Mr Miliband's
:34:19. > :34:24.closest advisers regard Mr Ed Balls as a bit of a nightmare, do you see
:34:25. > :34:29.a bit of a nightmare about him as well? I don't at all, he is a very
:34:30. > :34:33.good friend. I can't believe that you are talking about those e-mails
:34:34. > :34:38.on a national political programme. My goodness, you obviously scraping
:34:39. > :34:42.the barrel today. I have been in front-line labour politics for 0
:34:43. > :34:46.years. I can't remember the front bench and the wider party being as
:34:47. > :34:50.united as it is today and it is a great credit to Ed Miliband and Ed
:34:51. > :34:53.Balls. We are going into a general election and we are going to get rid
:34:54. > :34:58.of a pretty disastrous coalition government. It was worth spending a
:34:59. > :35:02.few seconds to establish your not having nightmares. Thank you for
:35:03. > :35:04.joining me. It's just gone 11:30am. You're
:35:05. > :35:06.watching the Sunday Politics. Coming up in just over 20 minutes, I'll be
:35:07. > :35:23.talking to the MP accused of Thank you, Andrew, and welcome to
:35:24. > :35:27.the part of the programme that's just for us here in the West. We are
:35:28. > :35:31.live here on BBC One with a classy line up of guests. Coming up today:
:35:32. > :35:34.It's a year since he was elected, so has the red trouser`wearing Mayor,
:35:35. > :35:38.George Ferguson, been a good thing for Bristol? We hear from his
:35:39. > :35:43.colleagues who say it's either his way or the highway.
:35:44. > :35:46.And George Ferguson is with us this morning, along with Jacob Rees Mogg,
:35:47. > :35:52.the Conservative MP from Somerset, and Darren Jones, who is a Labour
:35:53. > :35:56.candidate in Bristol. Welcome. John Major said this week that it was
:35:57. > :36:09."truly shocking" that the private school`educated and affluent middle
:36:10. > :36:14.class still run Britain. There is a concern that some state
:36:15. > :36:19.education has failed people and that there has not been a high enough
:36:20. > :36:29.level of education to provide a greater degree of competition you
:36:30. > :36:35.would want. It's the quality of the education, not the quality of the
:36:36. > :36:42.people. I'm not sure the old boy network exists that effectively To
:36:43. > :36:46.some extent, the old boys in the Conservative party don't want more
:36:47. > :36:55.old boys. And that's part of the reason Michael Gove is doing such
:36:56. > :37:06.good work. Has eaten held you back? No. Networks are really important,
:37:07. > :37:19.though. I have encountered the glass ceiling, time and time again. How
:37:20. > :37:22.old are you? 27. Isn't that just a statement to how well the
:37:23. > :37:41.comprehensive school system works, then? I am an exception to the rule.
:37:42. > :37:46.What about you, George? I have a privileged education but I think
:37:47. > :37:51.there is a huge job to be done. I think John Major is absolutely
:37:52. > :37:54.right. We have got to give opportunities to people. I am
:37:55. > :38:01.setting at the Venice commission that is looking at just that, how we
:38:02. > :38:05.give greater access to people who do feel excluded. I think Darren is a
:38:06. > :38:09.great example because he's got the determination, but we've also got to
:38:10. > :38:14.recognise that we shouldn't exclude anybody because of their background.
:38:15. > :38:23.Do you find yourself apologising for your background sometimes? No, I
:38:24. > :38:26.don't. What I've done, I've done for myself, but I've also done
:38:27. > :38:29.everything I can to give people a leg up.
:38:30. > :38:33.It's a year since George Ferguson was elected Mayor of Bristol. Since
:38:34. > :38:36.then, we have grown accustomed to the man with the red trousers, and
:38:37. > :38:40.tomorrow, he makes an important speech on the future of the city of
:38:41. > :38:51.Bristol. Paul Barltrop reports on his first year in office.
:38:52. > :38:56.Bristol broke the mould, first by opting for a mayor when other cities
:38:57. > :39:00.said no, then by snubbing the parties who'd long dominated its
:39:01. > :39:04.politics. There've been other celebrations. He was in France to
:39:05. > :39:11.hear Bristol had, at the third attempt, been chosen as a European
:39:12. > :39:15.Green Capital. We had tried three times, so third time lucky. He likes
:39:16. > :39:17.to be decisive. Within hours, he'd renamed the council house and
:39:18. > :39:20.abolished on`street Sunday parking charges, but any idea of being the
:39:21. > :39:27.motorist's friend soon vanished His biggest controversy: Proposing
:39:28. > :39:32.residents' parking for 18 zones Seems to me, George, this is about
:39:33. > :39:37.what you want. He had to compromise, and he'll face more flak as the
:39:38. > :39:41.scheme is rolled out. He made a bad mistake with residents' parking The
:39:42. > :39:48.way it was done not good and not in anyone's manifesto. People were
:39:49. > :39:52.saying, "Can he do that?!" And I was saying, "Yes, did you not realise
:39:53. > :39:55.that's what it's all about?!" It's one of many issues which has brought
:39:56. > :40:00.him into conflict with councillors. He's shown frustration with what
:40:01. > :40:05.goes on in the Chamber. He's had a negative effect. Some decisions have
:40:06. > :40:08.been delayed. There have been rows and a breakdown in working
:40:09. > :40:11.relationships in the council between the mayor and councillors, the mayor
:40:12. > :40:21.and officers, and officers and councillors. Some say his fondness
:40:22. > :40:27.for the media, especially the new media, sidelines democratic
:40:28. > :40:31.processes. Very critical decision`making by Twitter. It's
:40:32. > :40:37.become issue. I've talked to senior officers who've joined Twitter so
:40:38. > :40:41.they know what the mayor's doing. The truth is a year isn't really
:40:42. > :40:44.long enough to judge the leader s achievements. Some successes like
:40:45. > :40:47.the Green Capital were started by others, some of the rows like
:40:48. > :40:51.residents' parking have yet to be resolved, but one thing's for sure:
:40:52. > :40:54.The mayor, with his colourful character and trademark red
:40:55. > :40:58.trousers, has certainly made an impact. He's posed for innumerable
:40:59. > :41:05.pictures, taken part in stunts, gone to hundreds of openings and events.
:41:06. > :41:17.His long hours have sometimes left him rather frayed, such as when he
:41:18. > :41:24.swore at a heckler. You don't apologise for using those words ! I
:41:25. > :41:29.don't. I probably will do something of the sort again! And he has been
:41:30. > :41:34.blunt, off camera this time, with councillors. When you're in a
:41:35. > :41:38.position of power, you can't continue to be everything to all
:41:39. > :41:42.people. You're going to have to offend people, and perhaps by
:41:43. > :41:49.offending them by swearing at them, especially on camera, was a mistake.
:41:50. > :41:52.But he kept his language clean for a visit to Downing Street, the Prime
:41:53. > :41:58.Minister joining a lengthening list of major figures aware of those red
:41:59. > :42:04.trousers and where they come from. George, let's talk about your style
:42:05. > :42:13.as leader. Do you accept you've governed via Twitter? I have a very
:42:14. > :42:20.direct relationship with the people of Bristol. They elected me, not the
:42:21. > :42:27.council, and I try make that clear and that direct relationship is
:42:28. > :42:34.really important. On some issues, I do, but I value the huge help I get
:42:35. > :42:38.by the six members of my cabinet from four different parties. They
:42:39. > :42:42.work really cohesively and brilliantly. There are some
:42:43. > :42:50.councillors who see it as their job just to shoot me down. What's all
:42:51. > :42:52.this with Twitter? I made one decision on Twitter, because I want
:42:53. > :43:05.to make it really clear I meant what I said about changes to what was the
:43:06. > :43:09.bus transport. I said I am doing it. It took about 11 months for the
:43:10. > :43:15.Department of Transport to approve the change, but we got there. You
:43:16. > :43:25.are going with all sorts of people on Twitter. Is that a wise use of
:43:26. > :43:31.your time? I do these things. I sit through ridiculously long council
:43:32. > :43:35.meetings. We really should sharpen up our act and get shorter and more
:43:36. > :43:40.efficient about it. I communicate with people buy every single means.
:43:41. > :43:52.Social media just happens to be one of them. I do both formally and
:43:53. > :44:00.personally. You got elected in a very sketchy manifesto. Therefore,
:44:01. > :44:07.no one really knew where you came from what you wanted do. You have to
:44:08. > :44:13.listen, don't you? People didn't know what you planned. I am more
:44:14. > :44:19.visible and more accessible than any leader Bristol has ever had, and the
:44:20. > :44:23.level of attention I get, the lecture I am giving tomorrow night
:44:24. > :44:33.at the University has sold out. Trying come! There is a huge level
:44:34. > :44:37.of connectivity between the citizens of Bristol and their leadership that
:44:38. > :44:46.has not been there before, and I do listen, and I had 35 clear points in
:44:47. > :44:53.my non`manifesto. Was there a single specific point? There were many
:44:54. > :45:00.such as tackling transport, but also cover delivery of the arena. If you
:45:01. > :45:07.have a look through it, there are five or six specific points, but
:45:08. > :45:13.mainly, about a more liveable city. It's about leadership, isn't it
:45:14. > :45:22.What is it take to be a good leader? I would have hoped Bristol would
:45:23. > :45:28.have elected a conservative may in the future. Leadership is crucially
:45:29. > :45:33.important. Having an individual who is accountable can work extremely
:45:34. > :45:38.well. If you look at Boris Johnson in London, the police and crime
:45:39. > :45:46.commissioners, they are a focus for people's attention. Under Labour,
:45:47. > :45:50.Bristol languished for years and didn't really meet its potential. Do
:45:51. > :45:56.you give your wholehearted support to what the Maia is doing? Just
:45:57. > :46:02.because you say you listen doesn't mean you do. The majority of Bristol
:46:03. > :46:08.didn't elect you because turnout was so embarrassingly low. Every
:46:09. > :46:11.community has councillors to represent them. That's why you got
:46:12. > :46:18.to listen to those councillors, George. In the communities I work
:46:19. > :46:27.with, a lot of the things you're doing mean to them. The transport
:46:28. > :46:35.issues are still ongoing. These things affect people's lives. I
:46:36. > :46:39.think Darren is completely wrong! I am tackling many issues and well
:46:40. > :46:45.advanced with every single issue here is mentioning. There are seven
:46:46. > :46:51.Labour leaders who would absolutely disagree with Darren. It's very easy
:46:52. > :46:56.being a political opponent, not having the responsibility. I think
:46:57. > :46:59.there is an element of irresponsible criticism because if they look at
:47:00. > :47:04.the leadership of the other cities, I am doing the same and more. Let's
:47:05. > :47:11.move on to what you are announcing tomorrow. I will not tell you what
:47:12. > :47:16.is happening because I will announce tomorrow night! What I am doing is
:47:17. > :47:25.taking ?90 million over the next three years, so we will have set the
:47:26. > :47:30.scene. And I will just tell you that a huge amount of that will come out
:47:31. > :47:38.of efficiency and changing the way we are doing things, so what
:47:39. > :47:43.represented 25% cut in net budget will be considerably less in the
:47:44. > :47:52.loss of services. How many job losses, as a result of this? About
:47:53. > :48:01.800 full time job losses. That's really serious. We have got to do
:48:02. > :48:04.that as sensitively as possible We have got to seek voluntary
:48:05. > :48:10.redundancies, but in the end, I can't take that many people out
:48:11. > :48:14.without the need for some compulsory redundancies. Which services will
:48:15. > :48:19.take the brunt of the cuts? You have to wait until tomorrow because it is
:48:20. > :48:23.unfair on people working in any particular area to learn from this
:48:24. > :48:29.programme as to whether their jobs are at risk. But the biggest cup
:48:30. > :48:40.comes out of the administration I am surprised how much slack there
:48:41. > :48:46.was. You can, if you have not had a lot of George already, there is a
:48:47. > :48:49.special programme about George Ferguson on BBC One tomorrow night
:48:50. > :48:52.at 7:30pm. The very survival of one West
:48:53. > :48:56.Country police force is in the balance. Money is so tight in Dorset
:48:57. > :48:59.that the Police and Crime Commissioner says the force may have
:49:00. > :49:02.to merge with another one if there are any more cuts. Our home affiars
:49:03. > :49:06.correspondent, Steve Brodie, reports.
:49:07. > :49:10.In Dorset, one of the country's smallest police forces. Times are
:49:11. > :49:21.hard and the reductions in central funding have been difficult to make.
:49:22. > :49:23.If you have mobile body cams, you are capturing evidence of everything
:49:24. > :49:26.they are doing. Its crime commissioner says the outlook is
:49:27. > :49:31.bleak. He claims a merger with neighbouring forces could be the
:49:32. > :49:36.only solution. We can't take any more cuts. We can take what we have
:49:37. > :49:42.got, just, but we are cliff edge now. If the Government cuts us
:49:43. > :49:45.again, it may be a merger. Like all PCCs, Angus Macpherson has to face
:49:46. > :49:48.the reality of funding his police force with less money from central
:49:49. > :49:59.Government, and like the rest, he can only put up his share of the
:50:00. > :50:03.council tax by 2%. The Wiltshire commissioner says he has no
:50:04. > :50:06.intention of going above the 2% cap, but unlike his neighbour in Dorset,
:50:07. > :50:14.he's ruled out any form of official merger. I wouldn't go down that
:50:15. > :50:23.line. It's very important that the people of Wilts recognised but I am
:50:24. > :50:26.held to account. Former chief constable Dr Tim Brain doesn't think
:50:27. > :50:35.mergers are an economic solution to budget problems. In many cases, they
:50:36. > :50:39.turn out to be more expensive in smaller forces and it's not an
:50:40. > :50:45.answer to fundamental under resourcing or cuts. The problem we
:50:46. > :50:47.have got at the moment is there are many cuts in policing and
:50:48. > :50:51.amalgamations of forces are not the right answer. The commissioner in
:50:52. > :50:54.charge of the West's biggest police force has ruled nothing out when it
:50:55. > :50:57.comes to next year's budget. Sue Mountstevens says she's already been
:50:58. > :51:01.holding initial discussions with the fire service to see if they can save
:51:02. > :51:04.money by working together more but she hasn't ruled out any budget
:51:05. > :51:08.proposals, from a freeze to a 1 % increase. And no decision on the
:51:09. > :51:11.council tax share has yet been made in Gloucestershire, but already PCC
:51:12. > :51:24.Martin Surle has cut more than 1 million from the budget to build new
:51:25. > :51:30.a new custody suite. I thought it was unacceptable. It was ?2 million
:51:31. > :51:34.over the budget. We had almost come to the wire. I was expected to sign
:51:35. > :51:37.it and I just couldn't. With no sign of any change of direction from the
:51:38. > :51:47.Government, the cost of policing will fall directly on where you
:51:48. > :51:49.live. Have the new Police and Crime
:51:50. > :51:59.Commissioners been effective, Darren Jones? I think they have been. They
:52:00. > :52:08.have given a visible face to the police. Sue has been getting around
:52:09. > :52:14.my constituency very well. She has made itself known to people. The
:52:15. > :52:18.police were previously unaccountable to anybody. Nobody knew about the
:52:19. > :52:22.police authorities and how they worked. The police have very
:52:23. > :52:27.substantial budgets to which cuts are being made and you need to know
:52:28. > :52:33.who you can complain to about that, who is a democratic representative.
:52:34. > :52:36.You could make a similar argument for Somerset. But do these areas
:52:37. > :52:42.need a high level of policing anyway? That's something that can be
:52:43. > :52:46.determined by a police and crime commissioners who can respond to the
:52:47. > :52:49.needs of the local communities and in the Avon and Somerset area, there
:52:50. > :52:58.are different needs the different places. Part of rural areas in my
:52:59. > :53:07.constituency 's needs a presence of policing. This all goes back to
:53:08. > :53:10.austerity. Is Labour going to reverse those cuts or do you agree
:53:11. > :53:17.with the Prime Minister that austerity is here to stay? This is
:53:18. > :53:21.an example in practice because the problem is, the Conservatives are
:53:22. > :53:27.centralising power, and on the other hand, they are saying, speak to your
:53:28. > :53:32.policing crime commissioners who say, I can't do anything about that.
:53:33. > :53:37.So you reduce the power of communities to have an impact on
:53:38. > :53:42.policing. Our priority is making sure people are saved on the streets
:53:43. > :53:50.and their communities. The election cost ?100 billion of the
:53:51. > :53:55.commissioners. The priority has to be about people being safe in their
:53:56. > :53:59.communities. I was on patrol in my constituency, and to see the
:54:00. > :54:10.relationships they have in the neighbourhood is fantastic. I was
:54:11. > :54:13.asking you about cuts. It's above my pay grade to tell you what will be
:54:14. > :54:21.in the budget of the next Labour government. I have had a briefing
:54:22. > :54:25.from Ed Balls, but he said on some of these decisions, because we don't
:54:26. > :54:29.have access to the information the Government has, we will have to make
:54:30. > :54:32.sensible decisions when we arrive in government in 2015.
:54:33. > :54:36.It's time now to take a spin through this week's other political stories
:54:37. > :54:39.in 60 seconds. The Ministry of Defence has been
:54:40. > :54:44.ordered to take action to improve the safety of its military selection
:54:45. > :54:47.exercises. It follows the death of Corporal James Dunsby who collapsed
:54:48. > :54:54.in the Brecon Beacons while taking part in tests to join the SAS.
:54:55. > :54:57.The Liberal Democrat Cabinet in Bath have agreed to cut ?2.3 million
:54:58. > :55:02.allocated to 11 children's centres in the city. Parents and carers are
:55:03. > :55:09.furious and will keep campaigning until the cuts are reversed.
:55:10. > :55:13.A deal to stop two of Somerset's district councils from going broke
:55:14. > :55:16.has been voted through. West Somerset and Taunton Deane hope to
:55:17. > :55:21.save millions of pounds by merging staff and services.
:55:22. > :55:24.Critics say they're outraged at Wiltshire councillors' decision to
:55:25. > :55:27.pay themselves more in expenses The leader, Jane Scott, will be able to
:55:28. > :55:40.claim 22% more, taking her annual expenses to ?30,722.
:55:41. > :55:43.Let's pick up on the story about councillors in Wiltshire voting
:55:44. > :55:57.through an increase in their expenses. Cannot be justified? It's
:55:58. > :56:01.absolutely absurd. These councils are implementing carts and they are
:56:02. > :56:08.then paying themselves more. Not that long ago, or councillors could
:56:09. > :56:15.do was claim modest expenses. Now, to get ?43,000 a year is absurd and
:56:16. > :56:20.is an insult to the Wilts voters and taxpayers. Jacob, you MPs are about
:56:21. > :56:27.to vote through an 11% increase in your salary. As long as there is a
:56:28. > :56:38.freezing public sector, they should maintain their pay. In my view, MPs
:56:39. > :56:44.have to take responsibility. What do you think about councillors being
:56:45. > :56:52.paid? I agree with Jacob, which is unusual, but a 22% pay rise is not
:56:53. > :56:55.acceptable. Much like with MPs, councillors should move the
:56:56. > :57:00.decisions on their remuneration expenses to an independent body
:57:01. > :57:11.Should they actually be paid a salary rather than make do with
:57:12. > :57:15.expenses? There's a debate on that. Unless you are retired or wealthy,
:57:16. > :57:20.you can't afford to take a cut in your hours work to do it. But it
:57:21. > :57:24.needs to be sensible and can't be made by the council is receiving the
:57:25. > :57:37.money. I don't think they should be paid. Are you saying that because
:57:38. > :57:40.you are a wealthy man in you could do it? Some people from other
:57:41. > :57:48.backgrounds couldn't possibly play put in the hours. The administrators
:57:49. > :57:57.are doing the implementation policy. We've got a confusion. Councillors
:57:58. > :58:01.should be focusing on the policy decision, which isn't a full`time
:58:02. > :58:04.job. That's it from the West this week.
:58:05. > :58:08.Thank you to Jacob Rees`Mogg, Darren Jones and George Ferguson for
:58:09. > :58:09.joining us. I'll see you again next week, but don't go away because the
:58:10. > :58:10.programme if we hear more. Thank you. Andrew,
:58:11. > :58:28.it is back to you. Who'd be an MP? It's a good
:58:29. > :58:31.question. Certainly something Mark Pritchard must have asked himself
:58:32. > :58:34.when his picture graced the front page of the Daily Telegraph, with
:58:35. > :58:37.allegations that he had offered to set up business deals overseas in
:58:38. > :58:40.return for hundreds of thousands of pounds. Mr Pritchard dismissed the
:58:41. > :58:42.claims as hurtful and wrong. He referred himself to the
:58:43. > :58:44.Parliamentary Standards Commissioner who has now said there is
:58:45. > :58:47.insufficient evidence to investigate. In a moment we'll talk
:58:48. > :58:50.to Mr Pritchard, but first let's take a look back at how the story
:58:51. > :58:54.unfurled. A Conservative MP has denied allegations that he used his
:58:55. > :58:58.Parliamentary contacts for financial gain... The daily Telegraph says
:58:59. > :59:05.Mark Pritchard offered to broker investments overseas. In a statement
:59:06. > :59:13.he said the allegations made by the Telegraph are false. Mr Pritchard
:59:14. > :59:18.was secretly filmed... What do you make of these allegations? He has
:59:19. > :59:21.referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for
:59:22. > :59:30.standards to clear his name and I suspect this story will reopen the
:59:31. > :59:38.debate about what MPs should be allowed, having business interests
:59:39. > :59:48.elsewhere. Is it not clear that you did ask for money in consultancy
:59:49. > :59:52.services? First of all I would like to apologise for the sunglasses I
:59:53. > :00:01.have had a lot of comments about that. On a serious point, these
:00:02. > :00:08.claims by the Telegraph of false. You didn't ask for ?3000? They are
:00:09. > :00:12.false, hurtful and malicious. It is known widely that I have sued the
:00:13. > :00:18.Telegraph previously. I have also been critical of their coverage of
:00:19. > :00:21.the plebgate affair, their reporting of that. I have been supportive of
:00:22. > :00:26.the cross-party Royal Charter and I know that some people in the media
:00:27. > :00:31.don't like my position on that. That is why it is malicious. I believe in
:00:32. > :00:38.a free press. That free press also has a responsibility to be fair
:00:39. > :00:43.accurate and lawful. In discussions with this business who turned out to
:00:44. > :00:49.be a Telegraph reporter, it is true that you ask for ?3000 a month
:00:50. > :00:56.consultancy fee. The point is.. That is the point. No. That video
:00:57. > :01:01.has been cut and pasted to serve the Telegraph's story. The story was
:01:02. > :01:07.that we want to get Mark Bridger, for whatever reason, at any cost. --
:01:08. > :01:11.Mark Bridger hard. I would not go down the line they were hoping I
:01:12. > :01:17.would go down. Everything I own outside of Parliament is openly
:01:18. > :01:19.declared. We are allowed to have outside witness interests. The
:01:20. > :01:25.Telegraph need to say clearly whether they accept that or they
:01:26. > :01:29.don't. I think you need to say clearly whether you asked for the
:01:30. > :01:33.money or not. You then went on to ask for ?300,000 if it was a 10
:01:34. > :01:40.million deal, you asked for 3% commission. Let me be clear, if I
:01:41. > :01:44.was asking for income in return for lobbying, or raising issues in
:01:45. > :01:49.Parliament, or setting up Parliamentary groups, or going to
:01:50. > :01:55.ministers, writing to ministers that would be completely
:01:56. > :02:00.inappropriate. I was approached by somebody to advise them on business.
:02:01. > :02:03.It is entirely proper and entirely within the rules for members of
:02:04. > :02:10.Parliament to have outside consultancies and interests. Did you
:02:11. > :02:13.or didn't you? I am answering the question in the way that I want to
:02:14. > :02:17.answer it, not in the way that fits a particular narrative. The
:02:18. > :02:21.narrative, unfortunately, of some parts of the Telegraph and to be
:02:22. > :02:26.fair, there are some very good journalists, I know there is a
:02:27. > :02:30.dispute about the direction of that paper at senior parts. Do they want
:02:31. > :02:35.to return to being a Catholic, objective newspaper or do they want
:02:36. > :02:40.to slip into the slippery slope of being an agnostic rag, looking for
:02:41. > :02:42.sensationalist headlines? Part of this has come from your membership
:02:43. > :02:51.of these all-party Parliamentary groups. You were in Malta when you
:02:52. > :02:55.are first approached, I think you were on a trip there, Hungary is
:02:56. > :02:59.another one, there is an uncomfortable overlap between your
:03:00. > :03:03.political and business interests. I have no business interests in any of
:03:04. > :03:10.those countries. Some of the country is the Telegraph mentioned, let me
:03:11. > :03:14.be clear, I have not even visited. You were boasting that you knew the
:03:15. > :03:20.Albanian Prime Minister and the Mayor of Teheran and the previous
:03:21. > :03:24.prime minister. I make no apology for making foreign trips. I think it
:03:25. > :03:29.is unfortunate we have a narrative developing in some parts of the
:03:30. > :03:33.press that if a politician goes abroad at the taxpayers expense it
:03:34. > :03:36.is wrong. If they go abroad at a host government's expense it is
:03:37. > :03:41.wrong. If they go abroad with a charity, NGO and private company,
:03:42. > :03:46.even if it is declared, it is wrong. We want people with an international
:03:47. > :03:51.perspective in Parliament. Look at this map. You are a member of 5
:03:52. > :03:56.country groups. I don't know what Canada has done not to deserve you,
:03:57. > :04:03.or Australia. 54 groups, you are a part of. You're like... This is the
:04:04. > :04:07.Mark Pritchard British Empire. That is very kind. If I had global
:04:08. > :04:15.interests that white I would not be in Parliament. No, no, no. That is
:04:16. > :04:19.the point... It is the suspicion, that you used these groups to drum
:04:20. > :04:22.up business for your consultants. Prove it, that is the trouble. These
:04:23. > :04:31.sorts of headlines, create suspicion. I am suing the
:04:32. > :04:38.Telegraph... Have you issued a writ? I expect an apology. Have you issued
:04:39. > :04:45.a writ? I have just answered your question. It is yes or no, have you
:04:46. > :04:49.issued a writ? I am in final legal discussions tomorrow about issuing a
:04:50. > :04:54.writ. You have raised something for top the fact is that is inaccurate.
:04:55. > :05:01.I am a member of 40-something Parliamentary groups, of which I
:05:02. > :05:07.make no apology. We have got 54 Let me answer the question if I may It
:05:08. > :05:12.would be very useful. There are 196 countries around the world, it is
:05:13. > :05:21.less than a quarter of the country groups on my figures. I make no
:05:22. > :05:23.apology. One of my regrets is not having visited Syria, I don't know
:05:24. > :05:29.if I am a member of the Syria group, part I should become a member, I
:05:30. > :05:33.make no apology. -- perhaps I should become. When it came to the Syria
:05:34. > :05:40.vote, I was blind sided foot of yes, we have excellent briefings. I had
:05:41. > :05:44.to make a judgement based on part knowledge with nothing beats being
:05:45. > :05:49.on the ground, as even BBC journalists recognised this week.
:05:50. > :05:52.Nothing beats being on the ground. You posted about your connections in
:05:53. > :05:56.Albania to getting a business contract. You meet these people
:05:57. > :06:02.through these all Parliamentary groups. That is where there is an
:06:03. > :06:08.unhealthy overlap. That is what the Telegraph said, let's wait and see.
:06:09. > :06:12.Look... You are a newspaperman, you know lots of people in the newspaper
:06:13. > :06:16.industry, as well as being a respected broadcaster. I am not
:06:17. > :06:20.going to prejudice my legal proceedings against the Telegraph. I
:06:21. > :06:26.make no apology. A good politician has to be local am a national and
:06:27. > :06:32.international. Hang on hang on - has to be local, national and
:06:33. > :06:35.international. We need politicians who get out of the Westminster
:06:36. > :06:38.bubble, who have a business hinterland, who keep their foot in
:06:39. > :06:45.the real world and have an international perspective. And ask
:06:46. > :06:49.for 3% commission? I have answered the question. It was a cut and
:06:50. > :06:53.pasted video, photo shopped to suit the agenda of the Telegraph. They
:06:54. > :06:56.need to get back to serious news reporting and I wish those well at
:06:57. > :07:00.the senior part of the Telegraph who want to get to those days. We look
:07:01. > :07:03.forward to the writ. Thank you. Now - there's been more good news on
:07:04. > :07:06.the economy for George Osborne this week - inflation's down, growth
:07:07. > :07:09.forecasts have been revised up and unemployment has fallen again. On
:07:10. > :07:12.Friday the former Bullingdon boy donned a head torch and went down't
:07:13. > :07:15.pit for just one of many photo opportunities ahead of the Autumn
:07:16. > :07:18.Statement, which he'll deliver in the Commons on fifth December. And,
:07:19. > :07:25.who knows, he might even take his hard hat off for that.
:07:26. > :07:35.# Going underground. # Let the boys all saying and let
:07:36. > :07:41.the boys all shout for tomorrow # Lah, lah, love, love.
:07:42. > :07:49.# I talk and talk until my head explodes.
:07:50. > :07:53.# Make this boy shout, make this boy scream.
:07:54. > :08:03.# Going underground. # Going underground.
:08:04. > :08:09.# I'm going underground. # I'm going underground.
:08:10. > :08:17.George Osborne in his heart out he probably sleeps with it on. This
:08:18. > :08:22.Autumn Statement is becoming a more important part of the political
:08:23. > :08:25.calendar for the coalition. It looks like this is where they are finally
:08:26. > :08:31.going to come up with some kind of response to Ed Miliband's game
:08:32. > :08:35.changing electricity price freeze. The idea which is mooted is they
:08:36. > :08:40.will move people's green tax on two general bills which is not an answer
:08:41. > :08:44.but cosmetically it could have apolitical impact. George Osborne is
:08:45. > :08:50.receiving a lot of representations from lobby groups, business, MPs on
:08:51. > :08:54.his own side, for tax cuts and extra bits spending and he has to spend
:08:55. > :08:57.the next two weeks reminding people of something that has been skewered
:08:58. > :09:06.by the economic recovery. This country has a fiscal deficit which
:09:07. > :09:09.is twice that of France, supposedly the crisis economy in western Europe
:09:10. > :09:12.or if you accept it will take another parliament again to
:09:13. > :09:15.eliminate this deficit, we are not even halfway through the age of
:09:16. > :09:20.austerity. He is in no position to give anything away. He has to hold
:09:21. > :09:24.the line. Danny Alexander has been useful but this is his real
:09:25. > :09:29.challenge. He is going to give stuff away. When the Autumn Statement
:09:30. > :09:33.comes away, 15 months from an election, Nick Clegg has been
:09:34. > :09:38.talking about raising the tax allowance threshold even further,
:09:39. > :09:42.talk of moving green levies of the electricity bills, he is going to
:09:43. > :09:44.give stuff away. We will get funding for free school meals that Nick
:09:45. > :09:49.Clegg mentioned in his party conference. The significance of the
:09:50. > :09:54.Autumn Statement is twice a year, a Chancellor stands up and we all look
:09:55. > :09:57.at the state of the economy. If you talk to members of the Chancellor's
:09:58. > :10:01.circle, it is interesting how nervous they are. They say, don t
:10:02. > :10:04.assume we are going to have this wonderful growth for ever, don't
:10:05. > :10:09.assume everything is fine in the eurozone. I think what would help
:10:10. > :10:14.the Chancellor is if somebody was able to see some of that humility in
:10:15. > :10:15.public. It is recognised that he was far too triumphalist
:10:16. > :10:22.speech he made on the 9th of September, when he said to Ed Balls,
:10:23. > :10:23.we have one and you cannot make an economic policy on the cost of
:10:24. > :10:36.living -- we have... Won. economic policy on the cost of
:10:37. > :10:40.people don't seem to learn from Norman Lamont's green shoots. Labour
:10:41. > :10:46.has moved from complaining there is no growth, now there is, to say
:10:47. > :10:46.has moved from complaining there is is gross but living standards are
:10:47. > :10:51.not rising. If the economy grows by nearly 3% next year, even the bank
:10:52. > :10:56.is saying it will grow by 2.8%, living standards could start to
:10:57. > :10:59.rise. It does but everybody in a difficult position politically if
:11:00. > :11:02.the economy starts growing, ironically. We need to remind
:11:03. > :11:08.ourselves that economy, the natural direction of an economy is to grow.
:11:09. > :11:13.Unless the politicians screw up Unless you have some idiot in
:11:14. > :11:17.charge! It is not a cause for the Morris dance that they seem to be
:11:18. > :11:20.doing, certainly on the Tory side. Osborne is put in a difficult
:11:21. > :11:27.position goes he will have to stop giving stuff away, he cannot push
:11:28. > :11:33.the austerity line at the same time as jangling his magical growth - he
:11:34. > :11:39.will have to start giving stuff away. It puts Labour in a difficult
:11:40. > :11:46.position, it is very unlikely that living standards will match GDP Not
:11:47. > :11:52.since 2003, GDP has been a great indicator. Wages have stagnated for
:11:53. > :11:56.ten years, food has gone up 17% energy has gone up 24%. That is a
:11:57. > :12:01.decade in which everybody has got poorer. The real sweet spot comes
:12:02. > :12:06.when wages start to outstrip inflation. It is a sweet spot and
:12:07. > :12:11.will be a huge challenge for Ed Miliband. As ever on the economy
:12:12. > :12:15.with a sweet spot, you have a danger moment because that is when the
:12:16. > :12:18.governor of the Bank of England will have to look at interest rates.
:12:19. > :12:22.Everything he was saying last week was when we move toward 7%
:12:23. > :12:25.unemployment come that is not the trigger for raising interest rates,
:12:26. > :12:31.it is the moment when we look at it. Everything was saying he did not
:12:32. > :12:33.want to do that. When do you anticipate wages outstripping
:12:34. > :12:40.inflation? It hasn't happened for so long. The second half of next year.
:12:41. > :12:42.Wages and prices are not the sole measure of living standards, there
:12:43. > :12:46.are broader measures which no one seems willing to use.
:12:47. > :12:49.That's all for today. The Daily Politics will be back at tomorrow at
:12:50. > :12:53.midday on BBC Two and I will back here on BBC One at 11:00am next
:12:54. > :12:58.week. Remember if it's Sunday, it's the Sunday Politics.