17/11/2013 Sunday Politics West

Morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics.

Downing Street announces an inquiry into allegations of hardball tactics

and intimidation by unions in industrial disputes. That's our top

story. Thousands dead. Hundreds of

thousands without homes. Millions affected. What is Britain doing to

help the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan? We'll ask

International Development Secretary Justine Greening.

Winter is coming and so, it seems, is another crisis in England's

hospitals. I'll be asking the Shadow Health Secretary how he'd put a stop

to In the West: It's a year since he

was elected as Mayor but is George Ferguson spending too much time

doing it his way? He's live with us doing it his way? He's live with us

fatalities on the capital's streets, and renewed calls to get lorries off

the roads in peak hours. With me, the best and brightest

political panel that money can buy. Janan Ganesh, Nick Watt and this

week, Zoe Williams, who'll be tweeting their thoughts throughout

the programme. The Government has announced a

review to investigate what the Prime Minister has called "industrial

intimidation" by trade union activists. Bruce Carr QC will chair

a panel to examine allegations of the kind of tactics that came to

light during the Grangemouth dispute, when the Unite union took

their protests - replete with a giant rat - outside the family homes

of the firms' bosses. Earlier this morning the Cabinet office minister,

Francis Maude spoke to the BBC and this is what he had to say. To look

at whether the law currently works and see if it is ineffective in

preventing the kind of intimidatory activity that was alleged to have

taken place around range mouth during the previous disputes --

Grangemouth. We make no presumptions at the beginning of this. I do think

it is a responsible thing for the government to establish what

happened and really do a proper review into whether the law is

adequate to meet the needs. That was Francis Maude. This is a purely

political move, isn't it? Unite did this a couple of times, it is hardly

happening all over the country but the government want to say, we are

prepared to investigate Unite properly, Labour isn't. This seemed

a lot worse when I thought it was a real rat. I thought it was a giant

dead rat. I am not sure if you know much about rats but real rats are

not this big, even the ones in London. The thing is, obviously it

is naked politics but I think it is more intelligent than it looks. They

are trying to taint Miliband as a week union puppet and that doesn't

really wash. They hammer away with it and it might wash for some

people. But it really castrates Miliband in the important issues he

has to tackle. Zero hours, living wage, all of those things in which

he needs to be in concert with the unions, and to use their expertise.

He is making them absolutely toxic to go anywhere near. It keeps the

Unite story alive, have to kill -- particularly since Mr Miller band is

under pressure to reopen the investigation into what Unite are up

to -- Mr Miliband. They are frustrated, not only at the BBC but

the media generally at what they think is a lack of coverage. I see

the political rationale from that respect. There is a risk. There are

union members who either vote Tory or are open to the idea of voting

Tory. All Lib Dem. If the party comes across as too zealous in as --

its antipathy, there is an electoral consequence. Ed Miliband has been

careful to keep a distance. Yes they depend on vast amounts of

money. When Len McCluskey had a real go at the Blairites, Ed Miliband was

straight out there with a very strong statement. Essentially Len

McCluskey wanted Blairites in the shadow cabinet sacked and Ed

Miliband was keen to distance himself or for that is why it is not

quite sticking. Another story in the Sunday papers this morning, the Mail

on Sunday got hold of some e-mails. When I saw the headline I thought it

was a huge cache of e-mails, it turns out to be a couple. They peel

away the cover on the relationship between Ed Miliband and Ed Balls,

with some of Ed Miliband's cohorts describing what Mr balls is trying

to do as a nightmare. How bad are the relations? They are pretty bad

and these e-mails confirm the biggest open signal in Westminster,

which is that relations are pretty tense, -- open secret. That Ed

Miliband doesn't feel that Ed Balls is acknowledging the economy has

grown that Labour needs to admit to past mistakes. The sort of great

open signal is confirmed. On a scale of 1-10, assuming that Blair-Brown

was ten. I think it is between six and seven. They occupy this joint

suite of offices that George Cameron and -- David Cameron and George

Osborne had. It is not just on the economy that there were tensions,

there were clearly tensions over HS2, Ed Balls put a huge question

over it at his conference. There will be more tensions when it comes

to the third runway because my information is that Mr balls wants

to do it and Ed Miliband almost resigned over it when he was in

government. I don't think Ed Miliband is thinking very

politically because he has tried live without Ed Balls and that is

not tenable either. -- life without. He has defined a way of making it

work. That is where Tony Blair had the edge on any modern politician.

He didn't want to make Ed Balls his Shadow Chancellor, he had to.

Somebody said to him, if you make Ed Balls Shadow Chancellor, that will

be the last decision you take as leader of the Labour Party. Is it as

bad? I was surprised at how tame the e-mails were. At the FT it is

compulsory, one French word per sentence! To call him a nightmare,

compared to what they are willing to say in briefings, conversations

bits of frustrations they express verbally come what is documented in

the e-mails is actually pretty light. It has been a grim week for

the people of the Philippines as they count the cost of the

devastation wrought by Typhoon Haiyan. HMS Daring has just arrived

near the worst hit areas - part of Britain's contribution to bring aid

to the country. It has been one of the worst natural

disasters in the history of the Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan hit the

country nine days ago, leaving devastation in its wake. The numbers

involved are shocking. The official death toll is over 3600 people, with

many thousands more unaccounted for. More than half a million people have

lost their homes and the UN estimates 11 million have been

affected. David Cameron announced on Friday that the UK government is to

give an extra ?30 million in aid, taking the total British figure ?250

million. An RAF Sea 17 aircraft landed yesterday with equipment to

help aid workers get too hard to reach areas. HMS Illustrious is on

its way and due to arrive next weekend. The British public have

once again dipped into their pockets and given generously. They have

given more than ?30 million to the Disasters Emergency Committee.

The International Development Secretary, Justine Greening, joins

me now for the Sunday Interview Good morning, Secretary of State.

How much of the ?50 million that the government has allocated has got

through so far? All of it has landed on the ground now. HMS Daring has

turned up, that will be able to start getting help out to some of

those more outlying islands that have been hard to reach. We have

seen Save the Children and Oxfam really being able to get aid out on

the ground. We have a plane taking off today that will not read just

carrying out more equipment to help clear the roads but will also have

their staff on board, too. We have ?50 million of aid actually on the

ground? We instantly chartered flights directly from Dubai where we

have preprepared human Terry and supplies, and started humanity work

-- humanitarian supplies. A lot of it has now arrived. I think

we have done a huge amount so far. We have gone beyond just providing

humanitarian supplies, to getting the Royal Air Force involved. They

have helped us to get equipment out there quickly. We have HMS

Illustrious sailing over there now. Why has that taken so long? It was

based in the Gulf and is not going to get there until two weeks after

the storm first hit and that is the one ship we have with lots of

helicopters. The first decision we took was to make sure we could get

the fastest vessel out there that was able to help HMS Daring. HMS

Illustrious was just finishing an exercise and planning to start to

head back towards the UK. We have said to not do that, and diverted

it. Shouldn't it have happened more quickly? We took the decisions as

fast as we were able to, you can't just turn a big warship around like

the HMS Illustrious. We made sure we took those decisions and that is

while it will be taking over from HMS Daring come and that is why HMS

Daring is ready there. It will be able to provide key support and

expertise that has not been there so far. The US Navy is doing the heavy

lifting here. The US Navy had the USS Washington, there is an aircraft

carrier, 80 planes, 5000 personnel and they have the fleet, they are

doing the real work. We obviously helping but the Americans are taking

the lead. It is a big international effort. Countries like the US and

the UK, that have a broader ability to support that goes beyond simply

call humanitarian supplies -- have made sure we have brought our

logistics knowledge, we have sent out our naval vessels. It shows we

are working across government to respond to this crisis. Why does

only just over 4% of your aid budget go on emergency disaster and

response? A lot depends on what crises hit in any given year. We

have done a huge amount, responding to the crisis in Syria, the conflict

there and the fact we have 2 million refugees who have fled the country.

We are part of an international effort in supporting them. Shouldn't

we beginning more money to that rather than some of the other

programmes where it is harder to see the results question of if we were

to give more money to the refugees, it would be a visible result. We

could see an improvement in the lives of children, men and women.

What we need to do is alongside that is stop those situations from

happening in the first place. A lot of our development spend is helping

countries to stay stable. Look at some of the work we are doing in

Somalia, much more sensible. Not just from an immigration but there

is a threat perspective. There is a lot of terrorism coming from

Somalia. You only have to look at Kenya recently to see that. Which is

why you talk about what we do with the rest of the spend. It is why it

is responsible to work with the government of Somalia. Should we

give more, bigger part of the budget to disaster relief or not? I think

we get it about right, we have to be flexible and we are. This Philippine

relief is on top of the work in Syria. Where can you show me a

correlation between us giving aid to some failed nation, or nearly failed

nation, and that cutting down on terrorism? If you look at the work

we have done in Pakistan, a huge amount of work. Some of it

short-term. It is written by terrorism. That is -- ridden by

terrorism. That is not going to fix it self in a sense. Look at the work

that we do in investing in education. The things that little

girls like Malala talk about as being absolutely key. We are ramping

up our aid to Pakistan, it will be close to half ?1 billion by the time

of the election. Why should British taxpayers be giving half ?1 billion

to a country where only 0.5% of people in Pakistan pay income tax,

and 70% of their own MPs don't pay income tax. It is a good point and

that is why we have been working with their tax revenue authority to

help them increase that and push forward the tax reform. You are

right, and I have setup a team that will go out and work with many of

these countries so they can raise their own revenues. You really think

you will raise the amount of tax by sending out the British HRM see How

many troops I we sending out to protect them? They don't need

troops. We make sure that we have a duty of care alongside our staff,

but we have to respond to any crisis like the Philippines, and alongside

other countries we have two work alongside them so that they can

reinvest in their own public services. If they can create their

own taxes, will we stop paying aid? We need to look at that but the new

Pakistan Government has been very clear it is a priority and we will

be helping them in pursuing that. Let me show you a picture. Who are

these young women? I don't know I'm sure you are about to tell me. They

are the Ethiopian Spice Girls and I'm surprised you don't know because

they have only managed to become so famous because your department has

financed them to the tune of ?4 million. All of the work we do with

women on the ground, making sure they have a voice in their local

communities, making sure they have some control over what happens to

their own bodies in terms of tackling FGM, female genital

mutilation... Did you know your department has spent ?4 million on

the Ethiopian Spice Girls? Yes, I do, and we have to work with girls

and show them there is a life ahead of them with opportunity and

potential that goes beyond what many of them will experience, which

includes early and forced marriage. It is part of the work we do with

local communities to change attitudes everything you have just

said is immeasurable, and they broadcast on a radio station that

doesn't reach most of the country so it cannot have the impact. It only

reaches 20 million people and the project has been condemned saying

there were serious inefficiencies. That aid report was done a while ago

now, and it was talking about the project when it first got going and

a lot of improvements have happened since. I would go back to the point

that we are working in very difficult environments where we are

trying to get longer term change on the ground and that means working

directly with communities but also investing for the long-term,

investing in some of these girls start changing attitudes in them and

their communities. Why does the British taxpayers spend ?5 million

on a Bangladesh version of Question Time? We work with the BBC to make

sure we can get accountabilities... That is bigger then the BBC Question

Time Normal -- budget. That includes the cost of David Dimbleby's

tattoo! We are working to improve people's prospects but also we are

working to improve their ability to hold their governments to account so

that when they are not getting services on the ground, they have

ways they can raise those concerns with the people who are there to

deliver services for them. In your own personal view, should the next

Conservative Government, if there is one, should you continue to ring

fence spending on foreign aid? But it is critical that if we are going

to spend 7.7% of our national income, we should make sure it is in

our national interest and that means having a clear approach to

humanitarian responses, in keeping the country safe, and a clearer

approach on helping drive economic development and jobs so there is a

long-term end of the dependency Do you believe in an shrine in the

percentage of our GDP that goes on foreign aid in law? Yes, and that is

a coalition agreement. There have been a lot of agreements that you

are sceptical about ring fencing. We are focused on shaking up the

economy and improving our public finances. Why haven't you done that?

At the end of the day we will be accountable but we are committed to

doing that. You are running out of time, will you do it? I hope we can

find the Parliamentary time, but even if we don't, we have acted as

if that law is in place and we have already met 0.7% commitment. If you

are British voter that doesn't believe that we should enshrine that

in by law, which means that with a growing economy foreign aid will

rise by definition, and if you think we should be spending less money on

the Ethiopian Spice Girls, for whom should you wrote in the next

election? I think we have a very sensible approach. I don't know what

the various party manifestoes.. The only party who thinks we shouldn't

be doing this is UKIP. I think you have to look at the response to both

the Philippines crisis and Children In Need. Of all the steps we are

taking to get the country back on track, it shows the British people

will respond to need when they need it and it is one of the things that

makes Britain's special. Thank you. "It's always winter but

never Christmas" - that's how doctors describe life inside

accident and emergency. The College of Emergency Medicine have warned

that this year could bring the "worst crisis on record". If that

dire prediction comes, expect a spring of political recriminations,

but how prepared are the NHS in England? And what do they make of

this autumnal speculation? Giles has been to Leeds to find out.

This winter has already come to our hospitals. It had an official start

date, November the 3rd. That is when weekly updates are delivered to the

NHS's most senior planners, alerting them to any sudden changes in

patient numbers coming in. Where do they numbers register most then

A They are the barometer for what is going on everywhere else, and

they are the pressure point, so if the system is beginning to struggle

then it is in the A department that we see the problems. It is not

that the problems are the A departments, but they are the place

where it all comes together. Plans to tackle those problems start being

drawn up in May and they look at trends, even taking notice of any

flu epidemics in New Zealand. They also look at the amount of bets But

the weather, economic realities structural reforms, and changes to

the general health of the population, are all factors they

have to consider. We get huge amounts of information through the

winter in order to help the NHS be the best it can be, but we had to

redouble our efforts this year because we expected to be a

difficult winter. We know the NHS is stretched so we are working hard to

be as good as we can be. That means they are looking at winter staffing

levels, plans to ask for help from neighbouring hospitals, and

dovetailing help with GP surgeries, and still having the ability to move

up an extra gear, a rehearsed emergency plan if the NHS had to

face a major disease pandemic. You spend any time in any of our

hospitals and you realise the NHS knows that winter is coming and they

are making plans, but you also get a palpable feeling amongst health

workers across the entire system that they do get fed up of being

used as a political football. Doctors and all health care

professionals are frustrated about the politics that surrounds the NHS

in health care. They go to work to treat patients as best as they can,

and the political knock-about does not help anyone. I find it

frustrating when there is a commentary that suggests the NHS

does not planned, when it is surprised by winter, and wherever

that comes from it is hard to take, knowing how much we do nationally

and how much our hard working front line staff are doing. When the

Coalition have recently tried to open up the NHS to be a more

independent body, it is clear the NHS feel they have had an unhealthy

dose of political wrangling between parties on policy. The NHS is not

infallible or making any guarantees, but they seem confident that they

and their patients can survive the winter.

Joining me now from Salford in the Shadow Health Secretary, Andy

Burnham. Tell me this, if you were health secretary now, you just took

over in an emergency election, what would you do to avoid another winter

crisis? I would immediately halt the closure of NHS walk-in centres. We

heard this week that around one in four walk-in centres are closed so

it makes no sense whatsoever for the Government to allow the continued

closure of them. I would put nurses back on the end of phones and

restore an NHS direct style service. The new 111 service is not in a

position to provide help to people this winter. I think the time has

come to rethink how the NHS care is particularly for older people so I

propose the full integration of health and social care. It cannot

make any sense any more to have this approach where we cut social care

and let elderly people drift to hospitals in greater numbers. We

have two rethink it as a whole service. So you would repeal some of

the Tory reforms and move commissioning to local authorities

so the NHS should brace itself for another major top-down health

reorganisation? No, unlike Andrew Lansley I will work with the

organisations ie inherit. He could work with primary care trusts but he

turned it upside down when it needed stability. I will not do that but I

will repeal the health and social care act because last week we heard

that hospitals and health services cannot get on and make sensible

merger collaborations because of this nonsense now that the NHS is

bound by competition law. Let me get your views on a number of ideas that

have been floated either by the press or the Coalition. We haven't

got much time. Do you welcome the plan to bring back named GPs for

over 75s? Yes, but it has got harder to get the GP appointment under this

Government because David Cameron scrapped the 48-hour guarantee that

Tony Blair brought in. He was challenged in the 2005 election

about the difficulty of getting a GP appointment, and Tony Blair brought

in the commitment that people should be able to get that within 48

hours. That has now been scrapped. Do you welcome the idea of allowing

everyone to choose their own GP surgery even if it is not in our

traditional catchment area? I proposed that just before the last

election, so yes. Do you welcome the idea of how a practice is being

rated being a matter of public record, and of us knowing how much,

at least from the NHS, our GP earns? Of course, every political party

supports transparency in the NHS. More information for the public of

that kind is a good thing. Do you welcome this plan to make it will

form the collect in an NHS hospital -- make wilful neglect a criminal

offence. It is important to say you can't pick and mix these

recommendations, you can't say we will have that one and not the

others. It was a balanced package that Sir Robert Francis put forward.

My message is that it must be permitted in full. If we are to

learn the lessons, the whole package must be addressed, and that includes

safe staffing levels across the NHS. Staff have a responsible to two

patients at the government also has responsible at T2 NHS staff and it

should not let them work in understaffed, unsafe conditions -- a

responsibility to NHS staff. Is there a part of the 2004 agreements

that you regret and should be undone? A lot of myths have been

built up about the contract. When it came in, there was a huge shortage

of GPs across the country. Some communities struggle to recruit

This myth that the government have built, that the 2004 GP contract is

responsible for the AM decries is, it is spin of the worst possible

kind -- the A crisis. You would redo that contract? It was redone

under our time in government and change to make it better value for

money. GPs should be focused on improving the health of their

patients and that is a very good principle. Not so great if you can't

get 24-hour access. I agree with that. We brought in evening and

weekend opening for GPs. That is another thing that has gone in

reverse under Mr Cameron. It is much harder to get a GP appointment under

him and that is one of the reasons why A is an oppressor. -- under

pressure. What do you make of the review into intimidatory tactics by

unions? If there has been intimidation, it is unacceptable,

and that should apply to unions as well as employers. Was Unite wrong

to turn up and demonstrate? I don't know the details, this review will

look into that presumably. I need reassurance that this is not a

pretty cool call by Mr Cameron on the designed to appear near the

election -- that this is not a political call. Are you sponsored by

unite? No. Do you get any money from Unite? No. What have you done wrong?

It seems others are getting money from Unite. Can I tell you what I

think is the scandal of British party political funding, two health

care companies have given ?1.5 million in donations to the Tory

party, they have ?1.5 billion in NHS contracts. I wonder why you don t

spend much time talking about that and obsess over trade union funding.

We are happy to talk about that We see from e-mails that Mr Miliband's

closest advisers regard Mr Ed Balls as a bit of a nightmare, do you see

a bit of a nightmare about him as well? I don't at all, he is a very

good friend. I can't believe that you are talking about those e-mails

on a national political programme. My goodness, you obviously scraping

the barrel today. I have been in front-line labour politics for 0

years. I can't remember the front bench and the wider party being as

united as it is today and it is a great credit to Ed Miliband and Ed

Balls. We are going into a general election and we are going to get rid

of a pretty disastrous coalition government. It was worth spending a

few seconds to establish your not having nightmares. Thank you for

joining me. It's just gone 11:30am. You're

watching the Sunday Politics. Coming up in just over 20 minutes, I'll be

talking to the MP accused of Thank you, Andrew, and welcome to

the part of the programme that's just for us here in the West. We are

live here on BBC One with a classy line up of guests. Coming up today:

It's a year since he was elected, so has the red trouser`wearing Mayor,

George Ferguson, been a good thing for Bristol? We hear from his

colleagues who say it's either his way or the highway.

And George Ferguson is with us this morning, along with Jacob Rees Mogg,

the Conservative MP from Somerset, and Darren Jones, who is a Labour

candidate in Bristol. Welcome. John Major said this week that it was

"truly shocking" that the private school`educated and affluent middle

class still run Britain. There is a concern that some state

education has failed people and that there has not been a high enough

level of education to provide a greater degree of competition you

would want. It's the quality of the education, not the quality of the

people. I'm not sure the old boy network exists that effectively To

some extent, the old boys in the Conservative party don't want more

old boys. And that's part of the reason Michael Gove is doing such

good work. Has eaten held you back? No. Networks are really important,

though. I have encountered the glass ceiling, time and time again. How

old are you? 27. Isn't that just a statement to how well the

comprehensive school system works, then? I am an exception to the rule.

What about you, George? I have a privileged education but I think

there is a huge job to be done. I think John Major is absolutely

right. We have got to give opportunities to people. I am

setting at the Venice commission that is looking at just that, how we

give greater access to people who do feel excluded. I think Darren is a

great example because he's got the determination, but we've also got to

recognise that we shouldn't exclude anybody because of their background.

Do you find yourself apologising for your background sometimes? No, I

don't. What I've done, I've done for myself, but I've also done

everything I can to give people a leg up.

It's a year since George Ferguson was elected Mayor of Bristol. Since

then, we have grown accustomed to the man with the red trousers, and

tomorrow, he makes an important speech on the future of the city of

Bristol. Paul Barltrop reports on his first year in office.

Bristol broke the mould, first by opting for a mayor when other cities

said no, then by snubbing the parties who'd long dominated its

politics. There've been other celebrations. He was in France to

hear Bristol had, at the third attempt, been chosen as a European

Green Capital. We had tried three times, so third time lucky. He likes

to be decisive. Within hours, he'd renamed the council house and

abolished on`street Sunday parking charges, but any idea of being the

motorist's friend soon vanished His biggest controversy: Proposing

residents' parking for 18 zones Seems to me, George, this is about

what you want. He had to compromise, and he'll face more flak as the

scheme is rolled out. He made a bad mistake with residents' parking The

way it was done not good and not in anyone's manifesto. People were

saying, "Can he do that?!" And I was saying, "Yes, did you not realise

that's what it's all about?!" It's one of many issues which has brought

him into conflict with councillors. He's shown frustration with what

goes on in the Chamber. He's had a negative effect. Some decisions have

been delayed. There have been rows and a breakdown in working

relationships in the council between the mayor and councillors, the mayor

and officers, and officers and councillors. Some say his fondness

for the media, especially the new media, sidelines democratic

processes. Very critical decision`making by Twitter. It's

become issue. I've talked to senior officers who've joined Twitter so

they know what the mayor's doing. The truth is a year isn't really

long enough to judge the leader s achievements. Some successes like

the Green Capital were started by others, some of the rows like

residents' parking have yet to be resolved, but one thing's for sure:

The mayor, with his colourful character and trademark red

trousers, has certainly made an impact. He's posed for innumerable

pictures, taken part in stunts, gone to hundreds of openings and events.

His long hours have sometimes left him rather frayed, such as when he

swore at a heckler. You don't apologise for using those words ! I

don't. I probably will do something of the sort again! And he has been

blunt, off camera this time, with councillors. When you're in a

position of power, you can't continue to be everything to all

people. You're going to have to offend people, and perhaps by

offending them by swearing at them, especially on camera, was a mistake.

But he kept his language clean for a visit to Downing Street, the Prime

Minister joining a lengthening list of major figures aware of those red

trousers and where they come from. George, let's talk about your style

as leader. Do you accept you've governed via Twitter? I have a very

direct relationship with the people of Bristol. They elected me, not the

council, and I try make that clear and that direct relationship is

really important. On some issues, I do, but I value the huge help I get

by the six members of my cabinet from four different parties. They

work really cohesively and brilliantly. There are some

councillors who see it as their job just to shoot me down. What's all

this with Twitter? I made one decision on Twitter, because I want

to make it really clear I meant what I said about changes to what was the

bus transport. I said I am doing it. It took about 11 months for the

Department of Transport to approve the change, but we got there. You

are going with all sorts of people on Twitter. Is that a wise use of

your time? I do these things. I sit through ridiculously long council

meetings. We really should sharpen up our act and get shorter and more

efficient about it. I communicate with people buy every single means.

Social media just happens to be one of them. I do both formally and

personally. You got elected in a very sketchy manifesto. Therefore,

no one really knew where you came from what you wanted do. You have to

listen, don't you? People didn't know what you planned. I am more

visible and more accessible than any leader Bristol has ever had, and the

level of attention I get, the lecture I am giving tomorrow night

at the University has sold out. Trying come! There is a huge level

of connectivity between the citizens of Bristol and their leadership that

has not been there before, and I do listen, and I had 35 clear points in

my non`manifesto. Was there a single specific point? There were many

such as tackling transport, but also cover delivery of the arena. If you

have a look through it, there are five or six specific points, but

mainly, about a more liveable city. It's about leadership, isn't it

What is it take to be a good leader? I would have hoped Bristol would

have elected a conservative may in the future. Leadership is crucially

important. Having an individual who is accountable can work extremely

well. If you look at Boris Johnson in London, the police and crime

commissioners, they are a focus for people's attention. Under Labour,

Bristol languished for years and didn't really meet its potential. Do

you give your wholehearted support to what the Maia is doing? Just

because you say you listen doesn't mean you do. The majority of Bristol

didn't elect you because turnout was so embarrassingly low. Every

community has councillors to represent them. That's why you got

to listen to those councillors, George. In the communities I work

with, a lot of the things you're doing mean to them. The transport

issues are still ongoing. These things affect people's lives. I

think Darren is completely wrong! I am tackling many issues and well

advanced with every single issue here is mentioning. There are seven

Labour leaders who would absolutely disagree with Darren. It's very easy

being a political opponent, not having the responsibility. I think

there is an element of irresponsible criticism because if they look at

the leadership of the other cities, I am doing the same and more. Let's

move on to what you are announcing tomorrow. I will not tell you what

is happening because I will announce tomorrow night! What I am doing is

taking ?90 million over the next three years, so we will have set the

scene. And I will just tell you that a huge amount of that will come out

of efficiency and changing the way we are doing things, so what

represented 25% cut in net budget will be considerably less in the

loss of services. How many job losses, as a result of this? About

800 full time job losses. That's really serious. We have got to do

that as sensitively as possible We have got to seek voluntary

redundancies, but in the end, I can't take that many people out

without the need for some compulsory redundancies. Which services will

take the brunt of the cuts? You have to wait until tomorrow because it is

unfair on people working in any particular area to learn from this

programme as to whether their jobs are at risk. But the biggest cup

comes out of the administration I am surprised how much slack there

was. You can, if you have not had a lot of George already, there is a

special programme about George Ferguson on BBC One tomorrow night

at 7:30pm. The very survival of one West

Country police force is in the balance. Money is so tight in Dorset

that the Police and Crime Commissioner says the force may have

to merge with another one if there are any more cuts. Our home affiars

correspondent, Steve Brodie, reports.

In Dorset, one of the country's smallest police forces. Times are

hard and the reductions in central funding have been difficult to make.

If you have mobile body cams, you are capturing evidence of everything

they are doing. Its crime commissioner says the outlook is

bleak. He claims a merger with neighbouring forces could be the

only solution. We can't take any more cuts. We can take what we have

got, just, but we are cliff edge now. If the Government cuts us

again, it may be a merger. Like all PCCs, Angus Macpherson has to face

the reality of funding his police force with less money from central

Government, and like the rest, he can only put up his share of the

council tax by 2%. The Wiltshire commissioner says he has no

intention of going above the 2% cap, but unlike his neighbour in Dorset,

he's ruled out any form of official merger. I wouldn't go down that

line. It's very important that the people of Wilts recognised but I am

held to account. Former chief constable Dr Tim Brain doesn't think

mergers are an economic solution to budget problems. In many cases, they

turn out to be more expensive in smaller forces and it's not an

answer to fundamental under resourcing or cuts. The problem we

have got at the moment is there are many cuts in policing and

amalgamations of forces are not the right answer. The commissioner in

charge of the West's biggest police force has ruled nothing out when it

comes to next year's budget. Sue Mountstevens says she's already been

holding initial discussions with the fire service to see if they can save

money by working together more but she hasn't ruled out any budget

proposals, from a freeze to a 1 % increase. And no decision on the

council tax share has yet been made in Gloucestershire, but already PCC

Martin Surle has cut more than 1 million from the budget to build new

a new custody suite. I thought it was unacceptable. It was ?2 million

over the budget. We had almost come to the wire. I was expected to sign

it and I just couldn't. With no sign of any change of direction from the

Government, the cost of policing will fall directly on where you

live. Have the new Police and Crime

Commissioners been effective, Darren Jones? I think they have been. They

have given a visible face to the police. Sue has been getting around

my constituency very well. She has made itself known to people. The

police were previously unaccountable to anybody. Nobody knew about the

police authorities and how they worked. The police have very

substantial budgets to which cuts are being made and you need to know

who you can complain to about that, who is a democratic representative.

You could make a similar argument for Somerset. But do these areas

need a high level of policing anyway? That's something that can be

determined by a police and crime commissioners who can respond to the

needs of the local communities and in the Avon and Somerset area, there

are different needs the different places. Part of rural areas in my

constituency 's needs a presence of policing. This all goes back to

austerity. Is Labour going to reverse those cuts or do you agree

with the Prime Minister that austerity is here to stay? This is

an example in practice because the problem is, the Conservatives are

centralising power, and on the other hand, they are saying, speak to your

policing crime commissioners who say, I can't do anything about that.

So you reduce the power of communities to have an impact on

policing. Our priority is making sure people are saved on the streets

and their communities. The election cost ?100 billion of the

commissioners. The priority has to be about people being safe in their

communities. I was on patrol in my constituency, and to see the

relationships they have in the neighbourhood is fantastic. I was

asking you about cuts. It's above my pay grade to tell you what will be

in the budget of the next Labour government. I have had a briefing

from Ed Balls, but he said on some of these decisions, because we don't

have access to the information the Government has, we will have to make

sensible decisions when we arrive in government in 2015.

It's time now to take a spin through this week's other political stories

in 60 seconds. The Ministry of Defence has been

ordered to take action to improve the safety of its military selection

exercises. It follows the death of Corporal James Dunsby who collapsed

in the Brecon Beacons while taking part in tests to join the SAS.

The Liberal Democrat Cabinet in Bath have agreed to cut ?2.3 million

allocated to 11 children's centres in the city. Parents and carers are

furious and will keep campaigning until the cuts are reversed.

A deal to stop two of Somerset's district councils from going broke

has been voted through. West Somerset and Taunton Deane hope to

save millions of pounds by merging staff and services.

Critics say they're outraged at Wiltshire councillors' decision to

pay themselves more in expenses The leader, Jane Scott, will be able to

claim 22% more, taking her annual expenses to ?30,722.

Let's pick up on the story about councillors in Wiltshire voting

through an increase in their expenses. Cannot be justified? It's

absolutely absurd. These councils are implementing carts and they are

then paying themselves more. Not that long ago, or councillors could

do was claim modest expenses. Now, to get ?43,000 a year is absurd and

is an insult to the Wilts voters and taxpayers. Jacob, you MPs are about

to vote through an 11% increase in your salary. As long as there is a

freezing public sector, they should maintain their pay. In my view, MPs

have to take responsibility. What do you think about councillors being

paid? I agree with Jacob, which is unusual, but a 22% pay rise is not

acceptable. Much like with MPs, councillors should move the

decisions on their remuneration expenses to an independent body

Should they actually be paid a salary rather than make do with

expenses? There's a debate on that. Unless you are retired or wealthy,

you can't afford to take a cut in your hours work to do it. But it

needs to be sensible and can't be made by the council is receiving the

money. I don't think they should be paid. Are you saying that because

you are a wealthy man in you could do it? Some people from other

backgrounds couldn't possibly play put in the hours. The administrators

are doing the implementation policy. We've got a confusion. Councillors

should be focusing on the policy decision, which isn't a full`time

job. That's it from the West this week.

Thank you to Jacob Rees`Mogg, Darren Jones and George Ferguson for

joining us. I'll see you again next week, but don't go away because the

programme if we hear more. Thank you. Andrew,

it is back to you. Who'd be an MP? It's a good

question. Certainly something Mark Pritchard must have asked himself

when his picture graced the front page of the Daily Telegraph, with

allegations that he had offered to set up business deals overseas in

return for hundreds of thousands of pounds. Mr Pritchard dismissed the

claims as hurtful and wrong. He referred himself to the

Parliamentary Standards Commissioner who has now said there is

insufficient evidence to investigate. In a moment we'll talk

to Mr Pritchard, but first let's take a look back at how the story

unfurled. A Conservative MP has denied allegations that he used his

Parliamentary contacts for financial gain... The daily Telegraph says

Mark Pritchard offered to broker investments overseas. In a statement

he said the allegations made by the Telegraph are false. Mr Pritchard

was secretly filmed... What do you make of these allegations? He has

referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for

standards to clear his name and I suspect this story will reopen the

debate about what MPs should be allowed, having business interests

elsewhere. Is it not clear that you did ask for money in consultancy

services? First of all I would like to apologise for the sunglasses I

have had a lot of comments about that. On a serious point, these

claims by the Telegraph of false. You didn't ask for ?3000? They are

false, hurtful and malicious. It is known widely that I have sued the

Telegraph previously. I have also been critical of their coverage of

the plebgate affair, their reporting of that. I have been supportive of

the cross-party Royal Charter and I know that some people in the media

don't like my position on that. That is why it is malicious. I believe in

a free press. That free press also has a responsibility to be fair

accurate and lawful. In discussions with this business who turned out to

be a Telegraph reporter, it is true that you ask for ?3000 a month

consultancy fee. The point is.. That is the point. No. That video

has been cut and pasted to serve the Telegraph's story. The story was

that we want to get Mark Bridger, for whatever reason, at any cost. --

Mark Bridger hard. I would not go down the line they were hoping I

would go down. Everything I own outside of Parliament is openly

declared. We are allowed to have outside witness interests. The

Telegraph need to say clearly whether they accept that or they

don't. I think you need to say clearly whether you asked for the

money or not. You then went on to ask for ?300,000 if it was a 10

million deal, you asked for 3% commission. Let me be clear, if I

was asking for income in return for lobbying, or raising issues in

Parliament, or setting up Parliamentary groups, or going to

ministers, writing to ministers that would be completely

inappropriate. I was approached by somebody to advise them on business.

It is entirely proper and entirely within the rules for members of

Parliament to have outside consultancies and interests. Did you

or didn't you? I am answering the question in the way that I want to

answer it, not in the way that fits a particular narrative. The

narrative, unfortunately, of some parts of the Telegraph and to be

fair, there are some very good journalists, I know there is a

dispute about the direction of that paper at senior parts. Do they want

to return to being a Catholic, objective newspaper or do they want

to slip into the slippery slope of being an agnostic rag, looking for

sensationalist headlines? Part of this has come from your membership

of these all-party Parliamentary groups. You were in Malta when you

are first approached, I think you were on a trip there, Hungary is

another one, there is an uncomfortable overlap between your

political and business interests. I have no business interests in any of

those countries. Some of the country is the Telegraph mentioned, let me

be clear, I have not even visited. You were boasting that you knew the

Albanian Prime Minister and the Mayor of Teheran and the previous

prime minister. I make no apology for making foreign trips. I think it

is unfortunate we have a narrative developing in some parts of the

press that if a politician goes abroad at the taxpayers expense it

is wrong. If they go abroad at a host government's expense it is

wrong. If they go abroad with a charity, NGO and private company,

even if it is declared, it is wrong. We want people with an international

perspective in Parliament. Look at this map. You are a member of 5

country groups. I don't know what Canada has done not to deserve you,

or Australia. 54 groups, you are a part of. You're like... This is the

Mark Pritchard British Empire. That is very kind. If I had global

interests that white I would not be in Parliament. No, no, no. That is

the point... It is the suspicion, that you used these groups to drum

up business for your consultants. Prove it, that is the trouble. These

sorts of headlines, create suspicion. I am suing the

Telegraph... Have you issued a writ? I expect an apology. Have you issued

a writ? I have just answered your question. It is yes or no, have you

issued a writ? I am in final legal discussions tomorrow about issuing a

writ. You have raised something for top the fact is that is inaccurate.

I am a member of 40-something Parliamentary groups, of which I

make no apology. We have got 54 Let me answer the question if I may It

would be very useful. There are 196 countries around the world, it is

less than a quarter of the country groups on my figures. I make no

apology. One of my regrets is not having visited Syria, I don't know

if I am a member of the Syria group, part I should become a member, I

make no apology. -- perhaps I should become. When it came to the Syria

vote, I was blind sided foot of yes, we have excellent briefings. I had

to make a judgement based on part knowledge with nothing beats being

on the ground, as even BBC journalists recognised this week.

Nothing beats being on the ground. You posted about your connections in

Albania to getting a business contract. You meet these people

through these all Parliamentary groups. That is where there is an

unhealthy overlap. That is what the Telegraph said, let's wait and see.

Look... You are a newspaperman, you know lots of people in the newspaper

industry, as well as being a respected broadcaster. I am not

going to prejudice my legal proceedings against the Telegraph. I

make no apology. A good politician has to be local am a national and

international. Hang on hang on - has to be local, national and

international. We need politicians who get out of the Westminster

bubble, who have a business hinterland, who keep their foot in

the real world and have an international perspective. And ask

for 3% commission? I have answered the question. It was a cut and

pasted video, photo shopped to suit the agenda of the Telegraph. They

need to get back to serious news reporting and I wish those well at

the senior part of the Telegraph who want to get to those days. We look

forward to the writ. Thank you. Now - there's been more good news on

the economy for George Osborne this week - inflation's down, growth

forecasts have been revised up and unemployment has fallen again. On

Friday the former Bullingdon boy donned a head torch and went down't

pit for just one of many photo opportunities ahead of the Autumn

Statement, which he'll deliver in the Commons on fifth December. And,

who knows, he might even take his hard hat off for that.

# Going underground. # Let the boys all saying and let

the boys all shout for tomorrow # Lah, lah, love, love.

# I talk and talk until my head explodes.

# Make this boy shout, make this boy scream.

# Going underground. # Going underground.

# I'm going underground. # I'm going underground.

George Osborne in his heart out he probably sleeps with it on. This

Autumn Statement is becoming a more important part of the political

calendar for the coalition. It looks like this is where they are finally

going to come up with some kind of response to Ed Miliband's game

changing electricity price freeze. The idea which is mooted is they

will move people's green tax on two general bills which is not an answer

but cosmetically it could have apolitical impact. George Osborne is

receiving a lot of representations from lobby groups, business, MPs on

his own side, for tax cuts and extra bits spending and he has to spend

the next two weeks reminding people of something that has been skewered

by the economic recovery. This country has a fiscal deficit which

is twice that of France, supposedly the crisis economy in western Europe

or if you accept it will take another parliament again to

eliminate this deficit, we are not even halfway through the age of

austerity. He is in no position to give anything away. He has to hold

the line. Danny Alexander has been useful but this is his real

challenge. He is going to give stuff away. When the Autumn Statement

comes away, 15 months from an election, Nick Clegg has been

talking about raising the tax allowance threshold even further,

talk of moving green levies of the electricity bills, he is going to

give stuff away. We will get funding for free school meals that Nick

Clegg mentioned in his party conference. The significance of the

Autumn Statement is twice a year, a Chancellor stands up and we all look

at the state of the economy. If you talk to members of the Chancellor's

circle, it is interesting how nervous they are. They say, don t

assume we are going to have this wonderful growth for ever, don't

assume everything is fine in the eurozone. I think what would help

the Chancellor is if somebody was able to see some of that humility in

public. It is recognised that he was far too triumphalist

speech he made on the 9th of September, when he said to Ed Balls,

we have one and you cannot make an economic policy on the cost of

living -- we have... Won. economic policy on the cost of

people don't seem to learn from Norman Lamont's green shoots. Labour

has moved from complaining there is no growth, now there is, to say

has moved from complaining there is is gross but living standards are

not rising. If the economy grows by nearly 3% next year, even the bank

is saying it will grow by 2.8%, living standards could start to

rise. It does but everybody in a difficult position politically if

the economy starts growing, ironically. We need to remind

ourselves that economy, the natural direction of an economy is to grow.

Unless the politicians screw up Unless you have some idiot in

charge! It is not a cause for the Morris dance that they seem to be

doing, certainly on the Tory side. Osborne is put in a difficult

position goes he will have to stop giving stuff away, he cannot push

the austerity line at the same time as jangling his magical growth - he

will have to start giving stuff away. It puts Labour in a difficult

position, it is very unlikely that living standards will match GDP Not

since 2003, GDP has been a great indicator. Wages have stagnated for

ten years, food has gone up 17% energy has gone up 24%. That is a

decade in which everybody has got poorer. The real sweet spot comes

when wages start to outstrip inflation. It is a sweet spot and

will be a huge challenge for Ed Miliband. As ever on the economy

with a sweet spot, you have a danger moment because that is when the

governor of the Bank of England will have to look at interest rates.

Everything he was saying last week was when we move toward 7%

unemployment come that is not the trigger for raising interest rates,

it is the moment when we look at it. Everything was saying he did not

want to do that. When do you anticipate wages outstripping

inflation? It hasn't happened for so long. The second half of next year.

Wages and prices are not the sole measure of living standards, there

are broader measures which no one seems willing to use.

That's all for today. The Daily Politics will be back at tomorrow at

midday on BBC Two and I will back here on BBC One at 11:00am next

week. Remember if it's Sunday, it's the Sunday Politics.