:00:33. > :00:41.Good morning. And, of course, it's Budget week ahead of us. The minimum
:00:42. > :00:47.wage to be doubled? The top rate of tax to rise to 85p in the pound and
:00:48. > :00:50.banks to be nationalised? Plus, a clear announcement that the United
:00:51. > :00:55.Kingdom is to leave the European Union. More or less what the Budget
:00:56. > :00:59.would have said if Tony Benn had been in power. I was going to say
:01:00. > :01:04.rest in peace. But it's hard to think of anybody less likely to do
:01:05. > :01:10.that. If the angelic horde isn't a closed shop already, they'd better
:01:11. > :01:13.get cracking. There's much reflection on the life and career of
:01:14. > :01:16.Tony Benn in today's papers, and of course plenty of speculation too
:01:17. > :01:20.about the Budget coming up this week. Our reviewers this morning are
:01:21. > :01:23.the former Labour MP Clare Short, Stephanie Flanders, no stranger to
:01:24. > :01:29.the studio as the BBC's former Economics Editor, now with the
:01:30. > :01:32.investment bank JP Morgan. Budgets are always as much about politics as
:01:33. > :01:35.economics, especially with an election in sight, so how will the
:01:36. > :01:38.Chancellor resolve the conflicting pressures on him - notably over
:01:39. > :01:44.income tax, which has dominated the build-up this time? Will he side
:01:45. > :01:48.with the Lib Dems, who want more help for the low-paid? Or with those
:01:49. > :01:55.in his own party, demanding relief for "middling professionals"? George
:01:56. > :01:58.Osborne is here. Facing a mountain of debt, can he persuade us to
:01:59. > :02:07.swallow even more austerity? That's a problem for Labour too. The Shadow
:02:08. > :02:11.Chancellor, Ed Balls, is also here to explain how he'd make the cuts,
:02:12. > :02:14.or raise the taxes, to balance the nation's books. He and Mr Osborne
:02:15. > :02:17.are not exactly known for their warm and friendly relationship. But they
:02:18. > :02:21.did recently form a united front against Scottish independence. They
:02:22. > :02:25.warn that if Scotland goes its own way, it won't be allowed to keep the
:02:26. > :02:31.pound. Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond says they're bullying,
:02:32. > :02:35.and it'll backfire. With six months to go till the referendum, is the
:02:36. > :02:39.currency now the crunch issue in deciding Scotland's future? I'll be
:02:40. > :02:42.asking Mr Salmond later. Serious questions for serious times, but we
:02:43. > :02:53.finish with some music guaranteed to lift your mood:
:02:54. > :02:58.The Excitements, over from Barcelona, with the sound of Motown,
:02:59. > :03:02.they'll be bringing us some Spanish soul at the end of the show. But
:03:03. > :03:07.let's start with the news, from Naga Munchetty. Good morning. People in
:03:08. > :03:10.the Ukrainian region of Crimea have started voting in a controversial
:03:11. > :03:13.referendum. Two million voters are being offered a choice between
:03:14. > :03:18.joining Russia or gaining greater autonomy within Ukraine. The ballot
:03:19. > :03:21.has been organised by the new pro-Russian administration in the
:03:22. > :03:23.region but it's seen as illegal by the government in Kiev and its
:03:24. > :03:25.western allies. Our correspondent Ben Brown sent us this report from
:03:26. > :03:35.Crimea. It is a referendum condemned around
:03:36. > :03:40.the world as a sham, but for many Russians here it is a moment of
:03:41. > :03:44.history they have longed -- long dreamt of, chance to be ruled not by
:03:45. > :03:48.Keir but Moscow. To many observers the result seems a foregone
:03:49. > :03:55.conclusion, a large majority in favour of reuniting with Russia for
:03:56. > :03:59.the first time in 60 years -- Kiev but Moscow. The optimistic spirit is
:04:00. > :04:03.high among people. Everybody wants to entrust us to Russia so we will
:04:04. > :04:07.feel that lifting spirits. It is spring, and we want to live. When I
:04:08. > :04:14.look at the protest is, it is pure horror. At the United Nations
:04:15. > :04:19.Security Council, Russia inevitably vetoed the resolution condemning the
:04:20. > :04:25.referendum is illegal. But Moscow was isolated. China, so often it is
:04:26. > :04:30.allied, chose to abstain. -- so often its ally. It did not stop
:04:31. > :04:34.Russians here in Simferopol from celebrating even before a ballot had
:04:35. > :04:38.been cast. They are utterly confident they will win today's
:04:39. > :04:43.referendum. But, actually, this peninsula is already de facto
:04:44. > :04:47.Russian. Thousands of Russian troops in self defence volunteers on the
:04:48. > :04:52.ground have made sure of that. Crimea already belongs to Moscow.
:04:53. > :04:57.America calls it annexation by the back door. And it seems certain that
:04:58. > :04:58.the referendum will trigger immediate Western sanctions against
:04:59. > :05:06.Russia. Investigators are focusing their
:05:07. > :05:09.efforts on the possible role of the pilots in the mysterious
:05:10. > :05:12.disappearance eight days ago of a plane with 239 people on board.
:05:13. > :05:16.Evidence suggests that the Malaysia Airlines flight was diverted from
:05:17. > :05:19.its route between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing by a deliberate action from
:05:20. > :05:21.someone on board. The homes of both the pilot and co-pilot have been
:05:22. > :05:30.searched by police. The Chancellor George Osborne and
:05:31. > :05:33.Labour's Ed Balls have set out their competing messages, ahead of this
:05:34. > :05:36.week's budget, with articles in Sunday newspapers. Mr Osborne has
:05:37. > :05:40.pledged to build a resilient economy and says that a recovery is underway
:05:41. > :05:42.but the job is not yet done. However, the Shadow Chancellor has
:05:43. > :05:46.challenged his claim, saying millions of working people on lower
:05:47. > :05:50.incomes are not feeling any recovery at
:05:51. > :05:55.Police are looking for a mother who took her one-year-old daughter from
:05:56. > :05:58.a foster family during a supervised visit. Lola Page was taken at about
:05:59. > :06:02.1:00pm on Friday afternoon by Stacey Ball, who is thought to have got
:06:03. > :06:05.into a dark coloured car with the child. West Midlands Police say
:06:06. > :06:08.they're extremely worried about the welfare of both and anyone with
:06:09. > :06:12.information is asked to contact them. A North Yorkshire town has
:06:13. > :06:15.been named as the best place to live in Britain. Skipton tops the Sunday
:06:16. > :06:20.Times list, with Newnham in Cambridge second. Monmouth and
:06:21. > :06:22.Falmouth are third and fourth. Low crime rates, good schools and
:06:23. > :06:26.reasonably priced property were credited with helping the areas top
:06:27. > :06:29.the list. That's all from me, for now. I'll be back with the headlines
:06:30. > :06:40.just before 11:00am. Back to you, Andrew. Thank you Naga. Now to the
:06:41. > :06:43.papers. There are two huge stories, the one for the hunt for the
:06:44. > :06:48.hijacked flight on the other with what is going on in the Crimea.
:06:49. > :06:57.Sunday Times says Putin goes to the brink of war the Sunday Telegraph
:06:58. > :07:02.goes with the fear of that 9/11 style plot. The Observer leads with
:07:03. > :07:09.the high-speed rail link -- rethink with work beginning in the North to
:07:10. > :07:13.push jobs. All many theories there. And with me to review the papers are
:07:14. > :07:16.Stephanie Flanders and Clare Short. Can we start with the Ukraine,
:07:17. > :07:25.probably the biggest political story of the world, probably? I want to
:07:26. > :07:30.draw attention to the wise commentary in the Independent. This
:07:31. > :07:35.sort of Putin is wrong, the West is right is a really false story and
:07:36. > :07:39.thus encircling Russia saying that Ukraine will come to the EU and then
:07:40. > :07:48.come into NATO is bound to inflame Russia. And of course, Crimea has
:07:49. > :07:54.been part of Russia through time -- for a long time, and we are behaving
:07:55. > :07:59.in a provocative way and we should back off and why not have more
:08:00. > :08:04.autonomy for Crimea. Calm it down. I don't think there will be a war
:08:05. > :08:09.because we won't go to war. The big question is, is this the beginning
:08:10. > :08:14.of something bigger? Crimea, then eastern Ukraine, Moldova, the Baltic
:08:15. > :08:19.states, or is this a one-off event? I don't think any of the papers tell
:08:20. > :08:24.us the answer. There is a massive spread. The Sunday Times says that
:08:25. > :08:29.our honour is at stake and we will dive the Ukraine. It is shaping up
:08:30. > :08:39.to be an important moment -- we will dive for the Ukraine. But we also
:08:40. > :08:43.have completely underestimated from day one, because we went on the
:08:44. > :08:46.assumption he wouldn't put the narrow interest ahead of the broader
:08:47. > :08:51.economic interests because Russia would be the biggest loser from
:08:52. > :08:55.sanctions. The City of London would be a big loser. We have been
:08:56. > :09:00.enjoying large amounts of slightly dirty Russian money will sloshing
:09:01. > :09:04.around. It looks like it wouldn't have a huge economic impact because
:09:05. > :09:07.Russia is a small economy and the financial book is not that large but
:09:08. > :09:14.we could be surprised how much we find we are connected with Russia.
:09:15. > :09:21.Gas is important to Western Europe, so that's another part of the game.
:09:22. > :09:24.Equally, Putin has supposed that the West would not back up their actions
:09:25. > :09:31.and he has not been proved wrong so far. But it is not a clear-cut
:09:32. > :09:34.situation. There is even a suggestion that the European Union
:09:35. > :09:37.countries might not all agree with song sucked -- strong sanctions
:09:38. > :09:44.because of the rebound on them. We are being foolish surrounding him.
:09:45. > :09:49.Not that he is a nice man, but look at the US behaviour over Cuba, they
:09:50. > :09:55.didn't want anything pro-Soviet near to them and have behaved in a strong
:09:56. > :10:01.way. We will talk a lot about the Budget, and maybe you can keep this
:10:02. > :10:07.up with stuff about the budget. -- kick us off with stuff about the
:10:08. > :10:12.Budget. I think the big thing is the massive rise of inequality. After
:10:13. > :10:18.the US we are one of the biggest countries that is unequal, and then
:10:19. > :10:24.you have the Queen saying nobody helps the poor, and then you have
:10:25. > :10:27.Danny Alexander saying it is the low-paid who need help. There is all
:10:28. > :10:37.the talk about cutting taxes the people on ?40,000. -- on people on
:10:38. > :10:45.?40,000. It is terrible to people on low incomes, they won't be able to
:10:46. > :10:48.consume that will keep the flat. It's an interesting moment. Normally
:10:49. > :10:51.we would say this is a fantastic budget for George Osborne who is
:10:52. > :10:55.away from an election and everything is coming up roses. What is striking
:10:56. > :11:03.is how the rising economic confidence has not transferred to
:11:04. > :11:08.great support for the coalition. And is it because people are simply not
:11:09. > :11:10.feeling it in their pocket? The impact on living standards in the
:11:11. > :11:14.last few years and the fact that they are not picking up in the way
:11:15. > :11:18.the economy is picking up is part of that. That is the challenge for
:11:19. > :11:23.everyone. There is a piece in the Sunday Telegraph about Osborne being
:11:24. > :11:26.about to disappoint the middle class because he won't be able to show the
:11:27. > :11:31.economy is strong enough to do anything for the middle. This is
:11:32. > :11:35.what is fundamental to the living standards debate, the debate about
:11:36. > :11:40.taxes, what is going on in the economy? In my old job I used to
:11:41. > :11:45.talk about the productivity puzzle, the view you take on how much room
:11:46. > :11:48.there is for the economy to grow affects how much the Chancellor has
:11:49. > :11:53.to tighten over the next few years, how much public spending has to fall
:11:54. > :11:55.and how much he has to give in taxes. The office the budget
:11:56. > :11:59.responsibility is taking a gloomy view on the amount of room for
:12:00. > :12:06.growth -- the office for budget responsibility. In Birmingham are
:12:07. > :12:13.they talking about HS2 as an engine for recovery? The City Council says
:12:14. > :12:17.it is all wonderful, but those of us who use the train say we have a
:12:18. > :12:21.brilliant service, three trains an hour, an hour and 20 minutes, is
:12:22. > :12:25.this the highest priority for the country must let's invest in
:12:26. > :12:31.infrastructure but we have a very good train service. Maybe it's more
:12:32. > :12:36.important further north. There was the story about Vince Cable talking
:12:37. > :12:42.about speeding up the second stage. They are losing the argument really.
:12:43. > :12:45.They started with economic arguments that rather faded away and then it
:12:46. > :12:52.came about narrowing the north and South divide. Just building a faster
:12:53. > :12:56.link between Birmingham and London, how would that help Birmingham more
:12:57. > :13:00.than London? We should be looking at the rail links that are bad in the
:13:01. > :13:06.North. There is the need for a northern hub. In the speed of
:13:07. > :13:10.getting to London, and Birmingham is good, but by the time you get to you
:13:11. > :13:17.walk or Leeds, it doubles the time. Even the second bit will not go
:13:18. > :13:21.beyond the Pennines -- you get to you walk or leads. There are echoes
:13:22. > :13:26.of coverage about the Malaysia and plain. Have we learnt anything new
:13:27. > :13:33.-- acres of coverage about the Malaysian plane. There was screaming
:13:34. > :13:37.about the two young men, and then it was asylum seekers and it wasn't
:13:38. > :13:41.then. The current one is that the pilot was a fanatical supporter of
:13:42. > :13:47.the opposition leader, who was chair of the development committee at the
:13:48. > :13:50.World Bank when I was in -- in the UK Governor. The thought that
:13:51. > :13:53.somebody with reasonable views would commit suicide and kill these people
:13:54. > :14:01.without saying anything is unbelievable. The more it goes on,
:14:02. > :14:05.the less we know. A genuine mystery. There is this sense that most
:14:06. > :14:11.stories in the papers are variations on stories we have heard before.
:14:12. > :14:17.This is generally a story we have not heard before so we are
:14:18. > :14:21.mesmerised. Absolutely. Lots of interesting thoughts about the
:14:22. > :14:27.number of airfields within the range of the plane. So excruciating for
:14:28. > :14:30.the families. We all hope that they landed in Kazakhstan and they were
:14:31. > :14:36.all come trooping out, but it's very odd. The way the world economy has
:14:37. > :14:39.changed we have huge numbers of relatives who were Chinese, and who
:14:40. > :14:46.would not have had that ten years ago. The technological aspect is
:14:47. > :14:50.fascinating. You found out that the engine had still been talking to
:14:51. > :14:53.Rolls-Royce of all of these hours, and these technical things carry on
:14:54. > :14:58.after the radars do not track them. In effect you have computers talking
:14:59. > :15:02.to each other. We must turn to the other story of the week in
:15:03. > :15:05.politics, the death of Tony Benn. You have chosen something from the
:15:06. > :15:17.Sunday Times, a chap called Adam Bowden. Everyone knows that Tony was
:15:18. > :15:23.utterly charming, whatever his political positions. Lovely family
:15:24. > :15:34.relationships, are very happy marriage. When his son had his first
:15:35. > :15:40.day at the front bench, Tony Benn and tears rolling down his eyes.
:15:41. > :15:44.This strange political trajectory because he could have been a very
:15:45. > :15:48.influential politician if he had stayed in the mainstream but he went
:15:49. > :15:53.off and became a hate figure, then became a national treasure. The
:15:54. > :16:02.obituaries until now have been charming, now they are turning
:16:03. > :16:09.nasty. This on saying he was ineffectual and usually wrong. What
:16:10. > :16:22.is your view of him during the years of the Bennite upsurge? Did it do
:16:23. > :16:25.the Labour Party damage? I think the divisiveness was something we didn't
:16:26. > :16:33.understand at the time, and that was his power base and I think he got a
:16:34. > :16:38.little bit high on that adoration. I think he should have been in power
:16:39. > :16:43.longer and the people we were supposed to represent suffered as a
:16:44. > :16:50.consequence, but he was a brilliant communicator. Stephanie, he was a
:16:51. > :17:00.family friend? Yes, throughout my life I have celebrated the American
:17:01. > :17:04.Thanksgiving every year with Benns. The interesting thing is how many
:17:05. > :17:09.people felt a personal connection with him. I'd think across the
:17:10. > :17:14.nation over the last few days people will have been hearing that voice on
:17:15. > :17:19.the radio and perhaps feeling sadder than they expected. Andrew Walmsley
:17:20. > :17:23.has been touching on some of the things you were mentioning, he also
:17:24. > :17:30.felt a personal connection because he had interviewed him, and he
:17:31. > :17:44.mentions when David Cameron and Boris Johnson wax warmly it is about
:17:45. > :17:47.respect but also a seal on his failure. He didn't like to be
:17:48. > :17:57.interviewed, he had a special machine that wipes the tape from the
:17:58. > :18:06.tape recorder. One of the big issues in the economy is house prices, and
:18:07. > :18:13.I think you have something on that, Clare. It says it so graphically,
:18:14. > :18:19.one London home, all 25 in the north. Some of these beautiful parts
:18:20. > :18:25.of Britain, I think, over this time this will rebel into the economy.
:18:26. > :18:32.When you hear that Skipton is the best place in the country, go to
:18:33. > :18:37.Yorkshire. Lots of parks, good space, good schools. Everyone in
:18:38. > :18:45.London will be thinking, should I sell my house and buy a castle? It
:18:46. > :18:49.is extraordinary. Stephanie, you have eloquently left a picture on
:18:50. > :19:00.the table of a bald man with an apple on his head. Luck I have been
:19:01. > :19:10.living with my partner Jonathan I've... You have been living with
:19:11. > :19:18.your partner who writes about Jonathan Ive! He should have been
:19:19. > :19:24.one of the great British heroes but we never hear about him. I have to
:19:25. > :19:30.say this but it is a very interesting read and it is not
:19:31. > :19:35.someone you hear from very often. Thank you both very much indeed for
:19:36. > :19:41.that. Over to the weather forecast now. We have had truly springlike
:19:42. > :19:48.weather in the last week, are we in danger of being carried away? It has
:19:49. > :19:54.been very springlike over the last week and temperatures will be doing
:19:55. > :19:58.very well for the time of year. We could see 19 Celsius today. It is
:19:59. > :20:05.bright and breezy for the rest of the day with high pressure generally
:20:06. > :20:10.still in charge of things, but blustery winds perhaps of up to 50
:20:11. > :20:19.mph in Scotland, but they will ease through the course of the afternoon.
:20:20. > :20:25.Further south will keep the sunshine for the longest, up to 19 Celsius
:20:26. > :20:30.here. The cloud infiltrates the country this evening and overnight.
:20:31. > :20:35.Some hillfort and drizzle for western coasts and up slopes but it
:20:36. > :20:40.will be frost free to start Monday morning. For Monday itself, we will
:20:41. > :20:45.have quite a bit of cloud on offer, some drizzly rain possible for
:20:46. > :20:50.western areas, but in general it will be a largely dry day on Monday.
:20:51. > :20:55.Temperatures up to 15 degrees, and for the rest of the week we will see
:20:56. > :21:01.blustery conditions at times with rain in the north and cloudy skies
:21:02. > :21:04.as well. Ed Balls said recently he was daunted at the prospect of
:21:05. > :21:08.becoming Chancellor if Labour win the election because of the huge
:21:09. > :21:12.levels of borrowing and debt he would inherit. Whoever you blame for
:21:13. > :21:18.that, it is true that balancing the Budget will be a huge task so how
:21:19. > :21:23.will he go about it? Ed Balls is with me. Good morning. You have
:21:24. > :21:28.given me a list of things you would like to spend, including a huge
:21:29. > :21:33.house-building projects, but also things like bringing the 10p rate to
:21:34. > :21:39.help people at the bottom, and much more childcare for families and so
:21:40. > :21:44.on, and the big question is how you will pay for it? We set out how we
:21:45. > :21:49.would pay for each of those items, we said we would raise the bank levy
:21:50. > :21:54.to give more childcare to working parents. We would pay for the 10p
:21:55. > :21:59.rate by abolishing the unfair marriage tax break which George
:22:00. > :22:06.Osborne has only given to a third... Very popular, of course. It
:22:07. > :22:10.goes to only a third of married couples, only one in six families
:22:11. > :22:15.with children get it, you only get it if you have only one earner in
:22:16. > :22:22.the family. If both parents are going to work, you get no help from
:22:23. > :22:28.David Cameron. A 10p rate would help all lower and middle income
:22:29. > :22:32.families. We would do a mansion tax over ?2 million as well. These
:22:33. > :22:36.things are paid for. I'm not making any spending commitments that we
:22:37. > :22:44.haven't showed how we would pay for it. What about the jobs guarantee?
:22:45. > :22:48.It is an important policy because we would end up spending huge amounts
:22:49. > :22:53.if we allow long-term unemployment to become entrenched for young
:22:54. > :22:57.people. We want to give young people are guaranteed job on the minimum
:22:58. > :23:02.wage which they would have to take on lose benefit, plus restricting
:23:03. > :23:08.pension tax relief for the highest earners over ?150,000 to the same
:23:09. > :23:16.rate as everyone else. It is all paid for. We will be responsible on
:23:17. > :23:22.public spending. The bankers' bonus you have already said you would use
:23:23. > :23:26.for the VAT rise and indeed to pay for returning to the old level of
:23:27. > :23:32.child benefit so that is at least two ways you have spent that money
:23:33. > :23:37.already. We are still in opposition, we haven't spent it at all. The next
:23:38. > :23:40.Labour government will have a bank bonus tax in the first year which
:23:41. > :23:47.will only be used to pay for the jobs guarantee. So you won't be
:23:48. > :23:53.reversing the VAT rise and you won't be able to replace the child
:23:54. > :23:59.benefit? I have said some tough things to the Labour Party, that we
:24:00. > :24:06.will get the debt falling, stick to the spending plans of the Government
:24:07. > :24:11.in 2015/16. I cannot promise to reverse the VAT rise even though it
:24:12. > :24:17.was a foolish mistake of George Osborne. What about the cuts in
:24:18. > :24:24.child benefit, is that going to stay? Ed Miliband said last year
:24:25. > :24:28.that when it comes to deciding our priorities for the Government, there
:24:29. > :24:34.is a cost of living crisis which is hitting middle and low income
:24:35. > :24:37.families. Will it be to restore it to higher earning families, I would
:24:38. > :24:42.like to but we cannot commit to that. It cannot be a priority
:24:43. > :24:49.because at the moment we have a broad cost of living crisis. We can
:24:50. > :24:54.freeze energy prices for everybody. Why doesn't George Osborne act in
:24:55. > :24:58.this Budget? He boasts about recovery, but most people are not
:24:59. > :25:07.feeling it. Why is the 10p rate better than raising thresholds? It
:25:08. > :25:13.cuts the margin rate for people coming into the threshold. It is a
:25:14. > :25:19.good thing to do, it is why we introduced it in the first place. It
:25:20. > :25:27.is a good way to support work and help middle and low income families.
:25:28. > :25:33.So why did you scrap it in government last time round? It was a
:25:34. > :25:36.mistake, many people told Gordon Brown it was the wrong decision.
:25:37. > :25:47.When you have made a mistake, you should admit it and learn from that.
:25:48. > :25:56.Gordon Brown has made a mistake, he should admit it perhaps. To be
:25:57. > :26:01.clear, what you haven't apologised for is the level of public spending,
:26:02. > :26:04.you will not apologise for that because you think it is fair enough
:26:05. > :26:09.despite the level of debt afterwords. It is a global financial
:26:10. > :26:18.crisis that happened all around the world and the deficit rose. George
:26:19. > :26:26.Osborne at the time had matched Labour's level of public spending.
:26:27. > :26:33.Am I going to apologise that George Osborne and Alistair Darling agreed
:26:34. > :26:38.on in 2007? Absolutely not. We should be honest about our mistakes
:26:39. > :26:42.because that is the way to show... Alistair Darling and Tony Blair have
:26:43. > :26:49.said in retrospect but knowing what they know now, the spending was too
:26:50. > :26:54.high. You wouldn't go that far? We had a very low deficit, low national
:26:55. > :26:58.debt before the crisis, and what happened was a collapse in tax
:26:59. > :27:03.revenues because of the crisis. Nothing could have been done
:27:04. > :27:35.precrisis to raise taxes or cut spending. The issue was the falling
:27:36. > :27:38.tax revenues because of the crisis. The reason for asking you about this
:27:39. > :27:40.is because we have to trust you about making huge cuts after the
:27:41. > :27:43.election if you win, and yet every time I talk to you about where you
:27:44. > :27:45.are going to make the cuts, you respond with a spending commitment.
:27:46. > :27:48.Today I have said to you that every commitment I am setting out is paid
:27:49. > :27:51.for and costed. Give me an example of where you are going to court to
:27:52. > :27:54.balance the books. We will match the Government's spending plans in 2015
:27:55. > :27:59.and 2016. To get the deficit down in a fair way, we will reintroduce the
:28:00. > :28:08.50p tax on those earning over ?150,000. We will take away the
:28:09. > :28:14.winter allowance for the richest pensioners. I think that is the
:28:15. > :28:21.right thing to do and George Osborne may agree but he is not allowed to
:28:22. > :28:25.say so. On HS2, we are going to hear tomorrow from the new chairman. If
:28:26. > :28:32.the Budget rises over 50 billion, will the next Labour government
:28:33. > :28:37.cancelled project? Back in our conference I said I was very worried
:28:38. > :28:40.about mismanagement and rising costs. David Cameron and George
:28:41. > :28:45.Osborne panicked and brought in David Higgins to do a review which
:28:46. > :28:52.comes out on Monday. I hope he will show he has got the down. If he does
:28:53. > :28:55.so, we will support this at the second reading but at every stage of
:28:56. > :29:02.this project over the next few years, I am going to say there is no
:29:03. > :29:09.blank cheque. The costs have got to come down. If this is not a value
:29:10. > :29:14.for money project... So, you are sceptical? We have not seen the
:29:15. > :29:21.report yet. We will support this because investment in new capacity
:29:22. > :29:25.is needed, north and south. We will support it at second reading but we
:29:26. > :29:32.will continue to be vigilant and get the costs down. We work -- we will
:29:33. > :29:39.talk later, but for now thanks very much indeed. There is six months ago
:29:40. > :29:43.until the referendum on Scotland's future. Would an independent
:29:44. > :29:47.Scotland be able to keep the pound? There are many other important
:29:48. > :29:51.questions as well. Will the Scots need passports when they travel down
:29:52. > :29:58.south? There is a huge amount at stake in this vote and I am joined
:29:59. > :30:03.now from Aberdeen by the First Minister, Alex Salmond. You haven't
:30:04. > :30:08.done too badly in the polls, but of your own supporters as well as those
:30:09. > :30:12.going to vote in the referendum no, everyone wants to know what your
:30:13. > :30:18.plan B will be if you cannot keep the pound. Are you going to
:30:19. > :30:28.enlighten us this morning? Not doing too badly was a euphemism. The polls
:30:29. > :30:33.have moved to 42% as the average in February, and the yes campaign seems
:30:34. > :30:36.to have the momentum. One of the reasons is that people can see
:30:37. > :30:41.through scaremongering when they hear it. An example of that is the
:30:42. > :30:46.bluster from people like Ed Balls and George Osborne on sterling
:30:47. > :30:49.because it is clear that not sharing your currency would cost the rest of
:30:50. > :30:57.the UK more than it would cost Scotland. In transaction costs about
:30:58. > :31:02.?500 million but also if you claim ownership of all of the assets, then
:31:03. > :31:07.you end up with all of the liabilities and that comes to
:31:08. > :31:19.100,000 million pounds which would otherwise be Scotland's share of the
:31:20. > :31:24.national debt. A decision is also to independence, -- it could be that
:31:25. > :31:29.they are so hostile to independence that they wanted lunch your guns.
:31:30. > :31:38.Maybe there is no goodwill on both sides. -- blunt your guns. That is a
:31:39. > :31:40.good point. If you look at the working group of Nobel prize winning
:31:41. > :31:45.economical laureates assembled by the Scottish Government, on their
:31:46. > :31:50.recommendation, they also set out a range of options for an independent
:31:51. > :31:57.Scotland. There wasn't just a plan B. We should argue for what is best
:31:58. > :32:00.for Scotland and the rest of the UK. What is an interesting aspect, this
:32:01. > :32:07.week we've seen a huge number of people, even the president of the
:32:08. > :32:10.US, and John Kerry, the Prime Minister claiming moral
:32:11. > :32:13.superiority, rightly in terms of the Scottish referendum as an agreed
:32:14. > :32:17.consensual process, as opposed to the snap referendum in the Crimea
:32:18. > :32:23.arranged by the Russian government and Crimea. Of course, you lose all
:32:24. > :32:28.of that moral superiority in the democratic process if you then say
:32:29. > :32:32.that Scots have the right under this process to vote for independence,
:32:33. > :32:39.but we will set about chucking them out of the EU, the whole argument
:32:40. > :32:42.dissolves. We have a democratic process in Scotland, consensually
:32:43. > :32:46.agreed, and it requires people on this side of the border and in
:32:47. > :32:51.London to express common-sense goodwill that the people want to
:32:52. > :32:54.see. I will come back to the EU later, but back to the currency,
:32:55. > :32:59.nobody can know what will happen after a referendum and a yes vote,
:33:00. > :33:02.therefore Scots will be left in a situation where they don't know what
:33:03. > :33:06.currency they will be using afterwards. Is it not sensible to
:33:07. > :33:12.have a plan, and if Scotland will be so successful and rich, what would
:33:13. > :33:18.be so bad about a Scottish currency? What is the argument
:33:19. > :33:22.against it? I thought I addressed that in the last question. What I
:33:23. > :33:28.pointed out was the fiscal commission working group set out not
:33:29. > :33:31.just a plan B, but many plans, a range of viable currency options for
:33:32. > :33:35.an independent Scotland. Clearly we should argue for the first option,
:33:36. > :33:41.the thing that is in the best interest of Scotland and the rest of
:33:42. > :33:44.the UK. I am also suggesting that the attitude of Ed Balls and George
:33:45. > :33:48.Osborne, shoulder to shoulder, hand-in-hand, not only undermines
:33:49. > :33:52.the Labour Party in Scotland incidentally, but is also the wrong
:33:53. > :33:56.attitude for politicians in London to have. That is the bullying
:33:57. > :34:01.attitude which increases support for the yes campaign at the moment. We
:34:02. > :34:04.should respect the right of the Scottish people to express their
:34:05. > :34:08.view on independence and follow the Edinburgh agreement that said after
:34:09. > :34:11.the result that politicians in London and Edinburgh should act in
:34:12. > :34:15.the best interests of Scotland and the rest of the UK. That is what we
:34:16. > :34:20.are doing and I don't think it is much to ask London politicians to do
:34:21. > :34:27.the same. So why not a Scottish currency? Again, the fiscal
:34:28. > :34:32.commission working group set out a range of monetary options. I am
:34:33. > :34:38.asking you and your own words to tell us. The range of options is
:34:39. > :34:43.there within the working group's proposals, which were published. The
:34:44. > :34:48.best option they identified was sharing the pound, which is as much
:34:49. > :34:54.our currency, and it is certainly more than it is than George
:34:55. > :34:57.Osborne's, but we are entitled to share it as much as people in London
:34:58. > :35:03.are. If you claim ownership over the currency like Ed Balls and George
:35:04. > :35:07.Osborne, unfortunately you claim ownership of the debt of the United
:35:08. > :35:10.Kingdom. No serious politician would argue that process. That is why
:35:11. > :35:19.people in Scotland are seeing through the bluff and bluster. When
:35:20. > :35:23.Mr Barosso came into the studio, I was surprised how steely am sure he
:35:24. > :35:29.was about Scotland not being able to enter the EU. -- and sure. He was
:35:30. > :35:33.certainly would not happen and he said he was speaking the many other
:35:34. > :35:41.big European heads. Why do you regard this as Unionist bluster? He
:35:42. > :35:47.has no particular dog in this fight. I think perhaps he has, and we will
:35:48. > :35:50.come to that in a second. Mr Barosso's comments have been
:35:51. > :35:54.attacked since by director generals of the European Union, Secretary
:35:55. > :36:00.generals, people in the court of justice like Sir David Edwards. He
:36:01. > :36:13.has actually united opinion against this. Go ahead. He will certainly
:36:14. > :36:19.soon be a former person as well, but I was interested in the remarks in
:36:20. > :36:22.the French national assembly and the French Senate this week where French
:36:23. > :36:29.senators pointed out that they believe that President Barosso was
:36:30. > :36:32.being influenced by his potential future candidacy for Secretary
:36:33. > :36:36.General of NATO and was sucking up to London in order to advance the
:36:37. > :36:40.process. I have no idea if that is the case, but what I do know is that
:36:41. > :36:48.serious people, Secretary generals, former presidents and former judges
:36:49. > :36:53.in the Courts of Justice have pointed out why you cannot exclude
:36:54. > :36:58.from the European Union citizens in Scotland who have been part of it
:36:59. > :37:01.for over 40 years. It would be totally ridiculous for the European
:37:02. > :37:05.Union not to accept the democratic wishes of the Scottish people.
:37:06. > :37:09.Again, of course, it comes back to the question of the process we are
:37:10. > :37:15.having in Scotland, a consensual referendum agreed by Pope parties --
:37:16. > :37:21.both parties, which means that there is an obligation on others,
:37:22. > :37:24.including in London, and indeed President Barosso, to accept the
:37:25. > :37:28.verdict of the Scottish people. Otherwise, the whole argument being
:37:29. > :37:32.placed about the superiority of this process compared to what is
:37:33. > :37:37.happening in Crimea dissolves in a puff of dust. I think it would be
:37:38. > :37:47.quite hard to get back in. But let's move on to the other big question,
:37:48. > :37:55.Theresa. -- Theresa. Can I examine that for a second. This is the
:37:56. > :38:02.Andrew Marr analysis then? Having spoken to Barosso, as you haven't.
:38:03. > :38:05.As opposed to the weight of evidence presented to the Scottish
:38:06. > :38:10.Parliament's committees at the present moment, is that an
:38:11. > :38:17.individual expression? I have no particular view on this and nor does
:38:18. > :38:24.the BBC. I was simply reflecting. You said what you opinion was! I
:38:25. > :38:29.said it would be difficult having spoken to President Barosso. We will
:38:30. > :38:32.one day be former people. But he is currently the president of the
:38:33. > :38:39.European Commission. It is not a small job. Andrew, I thought you
:38:40. > :38:43.asking questions. I mistook you there. I thought you were giving
:38:44. > :38:49.your opinion as opposed to the opinion of President Barosso. I put
:38:50. > :38:52.the weight of other people's opinion, the citizens of the
:38:53. > :38:56.European Union, who have been per 40 years, I would say they have
:38:57. > :39:01.acquired certain rights. And the democratic imperative of people in
:39:02. > :39:05.Scotland than in London, even into Brussels, to accept the democratic
:39:06. > :39:10.verdict of the Scottish people must be there. It is not just in the best
:39:11. > :39:14.interest of Scotland, and I think that the wider continent of Europe
:39:15. > :39:17.it would provide an imperative that is more important than the
:39:18. > :39:23.individual views of President Barosso, and any views that may or
:39:24. > :39:27.may not be held in the BBC. The Tories down here want a tougher
:39:28. > :39:32.immigration policy. An independent Scotland would want a more liberal
:39:33. > :39:35.immigration policy. Therefore, the Home Secretary says there would have
:39:36. > :39:38.to be controls on the borders between the countries and you always
:39:39. > :39:49.said that would never happen. Why is she wrong? We have had a Common
:39:50. > :39:54.travel area in these island since the 1920s, which encompasses
:39:55. > :39:58.Ireland, the Isle of Man, which are not in the EU either. There are
:39:59. > :40:01.differences between Irish immigration policy and immigration
:40:02. > :40:05.policy in the UK but that has not stopped the Common travel area
:40:06. > :40:08.working. The sort of proposals we are putting forward, like allowing
:40:09. > :40:13.international students, if they still choose to work and contribute
:40:14. > :40:22.to the Scottish economy, proposals that are perfectly compatible with
:40:23. > :40:27.having a Common travel area. I think Theresa May is scaremongering again,
:40:28. > :40:31.like they do on the EU, like, currency, people in Scotland seem to
:40:32. > :40:38.be seeing through it -- like on the currency. Well, it's the
:40:39. > :40:41.Chancellor's big day on Wednesday, his penultimate Budget before the
:40:42. > :40:44.election, although in practice his last opportunity to make any
:40:45. > :40:48.significant changes. Despite the recovery, he doesn't really have any
:40:49. > :40:51.money to play with. So what will be his priorities when it comes to
:40:52. > :40:55.sharing out scarce his resources? George Osborne is with me now. Good
:40:56. > :40:59.morning. Can we start by talking about the nature of the recovery?
:41:00. > :41:03.You said it was unbalanced and unsustainable. What needs to happen
:41:04. > :41:07.to make it balanced and sustainable? The message I will give is that the
:41:08. > :41:12.economic plan is working but the job is far from done. We need to build
:41:13. > :41:15.resilient economy which means addressing the long-term weaknesses
:41:16. > :41:18.in Britain, that we don't export enough, we don't invest enough, we
:41:19. > :41:22.don't build enough, we don't make enough. Those are the things I will
:41:23. > :41:25.address because we want Britain to earn its way in the world. You have
:41:26. > :41:29.to look at each of those things, what can we do to boost exports, how
:41:30. > :41:33.can we link ourselves to the new emerging markets in the world. How
:41:34. > :41:40.can we support business investment in this country? These are not new
:41:41. > :41:46.features of the British economy, just weaknesses that the recession
:41:47. > :41:51.has exposed. What have we done in terms of improving it in this
:41:52. > :41:55.period? The good news is that exports to places like China and
:41:56. > :42:00.India are now up. That is thanks to the efforts of the government. But
:42:01. > :42:04.I'm not satisfied. We have to go a lot further. We have to make sure we
:42:05. > :42:08.get to the bottom of what it is that provides economic security for the
:42:09. > :42:12.people of this country, the economic security of knowing you have got a
:42:13. > :42:16.job and your country is earning its way in the world, and you have your
:42:17. > :42:21.public finances under control. This is a long-term economic plan and we
:42:22. > :42:25.have to work through it. Very many conservatives want you to scrap the
:42:26. > :42:29.40p rate of tax to help the middle classes but you seem to be going
:42:30. > :42:33.towards the Liberal Democrats of raising the threshold again. Why are
:42:34. > :42:37.you doing that? I will not talk about what is in the Budget, but I'm
:42:38. > :42:44.incredibly proud of what I've done, the Conservative Party has done, and
:42:45. > :42:48.the coalition has done to raise the lowest rate of tax. It's taken the
:42:49. > :42:53.lowest paid 2 million people out of tax and the benefits have been felt
:42:54. > :42:57.by those on higher thresholds, those earning maybe ?60,000. That is a
:42:58. > :43:01.misconception in this debate. It's not that we are only helping those
:43:02. > :43:07.on low incomes, though of course we're, we're helping those on middle
:43:08. > :43:11.incomes. I am happy to be helping all of these hard-working people who
:43:12. > :43:16.deserve to keep more of their income tax. When your predecessors like
:43:17. > :43:20.Lord Lawson and Lord Lamont say you're not doing enough to the
:43:21. > :43:25.middle classes and the aspiring middle classes, they are wrong? My
:43:26. > :43:32.priority has been to increase the personal allowance which I have done
:43:33. > :43:38.in Budget after Budget. We will have a ?10,000 personal allowance from
:43:39. > :43:42.next week. You are taking a lot of people out of tax, but you are also
:43:43. > :43:46.helping those on middle incomes. Sometimes when you look at this
:43:47. > :43:49.debate, you would get the impression that somehow increasing the personal
:43:50. > :43:55.allowance only helps people on low incomes. It helps people watching
:43:56. > :44:01.this programme whether they earn ?20,000 or ?50,000. It's only a the
:44:02. > :44:04.people above ?100,000 who don't get the benefit, so it's an effective
:44:05. > :44:08.instrument making sure hard-working people keep more of their money and
:44:09. > :44:12.I'm proud to have been part of a government that delivered that. Huge
:44:13. > :44:17.numbers of people have been drawn into the 40p rate, 5 million in
:44:18. > :44:20.total. It was never intended to get that number of people in the net.
:44:21. > :44:26.Are you going to look at this again, or is this something you just
:44:27. > :44:30.accept, more people are dragged into it for ever and ever? We have set
:44:31. > :44:37.out plans to increase the threshold by 1%. That's below inflation. And
:44:38. > :44:40.because we are increasing the personal allowance there is the
:44:41. > :44:46.initial part of your income that you get tax-free. And you benefit from
:44:47. > :44:51.that whether you are paying the 40p rate or the 20p rate. I am a low tax
:44:52. > :44:57.Conservative. I want hard-working people on all incomes to keep more
:44:58. > :45:00.of their income tax-free, and you can only start to deliver something
:45:01. > :45:06.like this if you have a grip on the public finances, if your economy is
:45:07. > :45:09.growing, if you are creating jobs. This is because we have been able to
:45:10. > :45:13.do these things that we've been able to afford this increase in the
:45:14. > :45:18.personal allowance. In terms of your priorities you sound more like a
:45:19. > :45:22.Liberal Democrat and Conservative. I don't accept that at all.
:45:23. > :45:25.Conservatives believe in lower taxes Liberal Democrats want to put them
:45:26. > :45:32.up. As a conservative Chancellor, I have taken 2 million people out of
:45:33. > :45:36.income tax, delivered a tax cut that 25 million people and also frozen
:45:37. > :45:40.fuel duty year after year. I've kept council tax rise on. Where I have
:45:41. > :45:52.been able to avoid it, my priority has been to help hard-working
:45:53. > :46:01.families of the country. We are not even halfway through the cuts you
:46:02. > :46:07.need to deliver, some will be over 37% in real terms, that's right
:46:08. > :46:12.isn't it? This country racked up a very big deficit budget and the big
:46:13. > :46:17.question for Ed Balls is why would you give the keys back to the person
:46:18. > :46:23.who crashed the car, but we have got to make these decisions. In the last
:46:24. > :46:29.week you have seen us take difficult decisions on private sector pay.
:46:30. > :46:34.That will include decisions in the next Parliament. I have set out the
:46:35. > :46:38.size of the spending cuts required and I have also said that if you
:46:39. > :46:42.want to try and reduce the impact on some of these government
:46:43. > :46:46.departments, you should also be looking at savings in welfare. We
:46:47. > :46:52.are going to introduce a welfare cap which is one way of making sure a
:46:53. > :46:58.big part of government spending is properly controlled. Explain how
:46:59. > :47:06.that is going to work. At the moment it is set to increase. We have a lot
:47:07. > :47:11.of control over the education budget, we don't have control really
:47:12. > :47:18.over the overall welfare budget. We have taken measures to bring it down
:47:19. > :47:27.with individual payments. The cap sets a total... Would that be based
:47:28. > :47:31.on current spending or an entirely new figure? You will have to wait
:47:32. > :47:37.for Wednesday when I will set the level of the cap. It says to people,
:47:38. > :47:42.if you as a government want to spend more on welfare, have the honesty to
:47:43. > :47:48.seek Parliamentary approval. What happens if you hit the cap? You can
:47:49. > :47:53.either try to win a parliamentary vote, explain to the public what you
:47:54. > :48:04.are doing, or take more difficult measures to reduce the welfare
:48:05. > :48:08.budget. There was a welfare crash, and then we discovered there was a
:48:09. > :48:12.system we couldn't only not afford but also we have these perverse
:48:13. > :48:17.incentives that made it better for some people to stay out of work. We
:48:18. > :48:22.are changing that and the reforms we have brought in I think are one of
:48:23. > :48:26.the most progressive things any government has ever done. Ed Balls
:48:27. > :48:40.said one of his priorities was house building. Have you got
:48:41. > :48:46.house-building plans ahead? Our Help To Buy scheme has helped people get
:48:47. > :48:52.into their own homes, we will now extend that to the next decade
:48:53. > :48:56.meaning 125,000 new homes. We are also going to build a garden city in
:48:57. > :49:02.the Thames estuary, this means more homes, more aspiration for
:49:03. > :49:07.families, more economic security and resilience. What is the scale of
:49:08. > :49:18.your house-building ambitions? Ed Balls is talking about 200,001 year.
:49:19. > :49:30.We we -- we will be extending Help To Buy. In Epps fleet or everywhere?
:49:31. > :49:35.Across the country. We know that local people want to see
:49:36. > :49:39.regeneration. We have a stop on the high-speed line to the Channel
:49:40. > :49:44.tunnel so it is closely linked to London. It will be a proper garden
:49:45. > :49:49.city so it is not something this country has attempted for decades
:49:50. > :50:01.but that is one of the messages of my Budget. Britain has two earn its
:50:02. > :50:05.way in the world. A lot of people have thought this new garden city
:50:06. > :50:15.would be in Oxfordshire, or in the richer parts of the country. Why
:50:16. > :50:19.have you chosen Ebbsfleet? It is in the south-east of England where a
:50:20. > :50:23.lot of the housing pressure has been. Crucially there are local
:50:24. > :50:29.communities and local MPs who support the idea. We are going to
:50:30. > :50:32.create an urban development organisation to allow this thing to
:50:33. > :50:40.go ahead, cutting through a lot of the obstacles that happen. Will we
:50:41. > :50:45.see this start before the next election? There are already some
:50:46. > :50:51.homes built, progress is under way, but it was on a much smaller scale
:50:52. > :50:56.than what I am setting out today. If you look at Milton Keynes, our
:50:57. > :51:01.predecessors have the ambition to build for Britain. This ultimately
:51:02. > :51:09.means that a family who today may be in a good job can simply not afford
:51:10. > :51:19.to buy a house and I am not prepared to let that rest. Do you think there
:51:20. > :51:24.are ridiculous number of it only ends in government? You are
:51:25. > :51:27.referring to the Michael Gove comment. When you look at the
:51:28. > :51:34.achievements of this Government, turning the economy around, it will
:51:35. > :51:43.also be improving education in our state schools. Michael has done an
:51:44. > :51:48.incredible job. He is making the point that he wants the best
:51:49. > :51:52.education in our country to be in our state schools and it is
:51:53. > :51:58.something we can be enormously proud of, his achievement. If we want more
:51:59. > :52:04.it only ends around, what about Boris? It is entirely up to Boris
:52:05. > :52:09.what he wants to do. I have worked incredibly well with Boris Johnson
:52:10. > :52:17.for many years. I regularly speak to him and in This Budget there will be
:52:18. > :52:21.more houses at a site called Barking riverside which he is passionate
:52:22. > :52:25.about so we have worked together to deliver Crossrail, to deliver the
:52:26. > :52:33.Olympics on time, we have worked really closely together... So you
:52:34. > :52:38.love him back in the House of Commons? Sometimes you read in the
:52:39. > :52:43.papers that we don't get on, I read about that and it is just not true.
:52:44. > :52:48.I get on very well with him and we are delivering for the people of
:52:49. > :52:54.London. Would you like to see him back in the House of Commons? If he
:52:55. > :53:00.wants to absolutely, but that is his decision. Thank you very much for
:53:01. > :53:05.now. Now over to Naga for the news headlines. The chancellor George
:53:06. > :53:08.Osborne has said an economic recovery is under way but told this
:53:09. > :53:16.programme the job is not yet done and many difficult decisions lie
:53:17. > :53:20.ahead. The Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls said that Labour would not
:53:21. > :53:23.make any spending commitments that it could not pay for. Mr Balls said
:53:24. > :53:25.that a future Labour government would be responsible on public
:53:26. > :53:28.spending. People in the Ukrainian region of
:53:29. > :53:30.Crimea have started voting in a controversial referendum. Two
:53:31. > :53:33.million voters are being offered a choice between joining Russia or
:53:34. > :53:36.gaining greater autonomy within Ukraine. The ballot has been
:53:37. > :53:38.organised by the new pro-Russian administration in the region but
:53:39. > :53:42.it's seen as illegal by the Government in Kiev and its western
:53:43. > :53:46.allies. That's all from me. The next news on BBC One is at one o'clock.
:53:47. > :53:53.Back to Andrew in a moment. First, a look at what's coming up immediately
:53:54. > :53:58.after this programme. Join us live in Newcastle at ten o'clock when we
:53:59. > :54:03.will be debating trade unions, then the ethics of animal testing, and
:54:04. > :54:08.lastly, is religion the key to happiness? See you at ten o'clock on
:54:09. > :54:12.BBC One. Well George Osborne is still with
:54:13. > :54:18.me, and we've been joined again by Ed Balls. Joined at the shoulder,
:54:19. > :54:22.says Alex Salmond. In short, lying about Scotland not being able to
:54:23. > :54:27.have the pound afterwards because if they voted yes, you would have to
:54:28. > :54:32.accept that. It would be a sensible thing to share the pound with the
:54:33. > :54:38.Scottish, would it not? It is of course for the people of Scotland to
:54:39. > :54:45.make their own decision. We will not be voting in the referendum but it
:54:46. > :54:48.is important people know the facts. Any combination of government you
:54:49. > :54:53.can think of in Westminster has taken the view that we cannot share
:54:54. > :54:57.the pound, that it wouldn't work, it wouldn't be in the interest of
:54:58. > :55:01.Scotland or in the interest of the rest of the UK so if you walk away
:55:02. > :55:08.from the UK, you walk away from the pound, and that leaves Alex Salmond
:55:09. > :55:12.as a man without a plan. Why not? He was pointing out the transaction
:55:13. > :55:18.costs would be much higher, it would actually cost you more to refuse to
:55:19. > :55:21.have them sharing the pound. Everyone I have spoken to in the
:55:22. > :55:24.last few weeks in Westminster have been saying it would be bad for
:55:25. > :55:32.Scotland and for the whole of the UK. It would be a crisis of trying
:55:33. > :55:41.to keep the currency while breaking up other bonds. We disagree on the
:55:42. > :55:48.bedroom tax and tax rates, but on this issue, I think Alex Salmond is
:55:49. > :55:54.painting a false picture and we have to call him out on that. I don't
:55:55. > :55:58.understand why it is in the interests of the rest of the UK to
:55:59. > :56:02.not allow the Scottish to keep the pound. If the country separated,
:56:03. > :56:06.that would not be great for it economic lead but if you trade to
:56:07. > :56:11.create a currency union, would you not need much greater control over
:56:12. > :56:15.the Scottish budget, would you not be needing to stand behind their
:56:16. > :56:18.banks, and when you ask questions about how it would work, you come to
:56:19. > :56:25.see it would not be in the interests for the rest of the UK or it would
:56:26. > :56:29.not work for Scotland either. We do trade with the Eurozone and the
:56:30. > :56:33.United States of America, there are transaction costs there but we are
:56:34. > :56:39.not going to join the dollar so that is a red herring. You agree with
:56:40. > :56:43.that? If you pull Scotland and England away from each other and try
:56:44. > :56:49.to keep the pound, that is the Euro crisis in spades. We can agree on
:56:50. > :56:55.that, and we probably also agree there are too many Italians in the
:56:56. > :56:58.Cabinet! That's all we have time for this morning - thanks for all my
:56:59. > :57:02.guests. Do join me again next week, but we leave you now with a rhythm
:57:03. > :57:06.and soul band from Barcelona who arrived in the UK last night to
:57:07. > :57:08.begin a tour starting in London this week. This is The Excitements with
:57:09. > :57:22.their new single, ha-ha Ha. # You know! Some men think us women
:57:23. > :57:28.are like machines! # They need a mother, a lover and a
:57:29. > :57:33.friend! # But I can't be these three at the
:57:34. > :57:48.same time # So I gotta tell you! # Hahaha, oh yeah, a-hahaha # ha-ha
:57:49. > :57:53.ha, oh yeah, a-hahaha! # I've been working so hard every
:57:54. > :58:01.night and day # Tell me what I got? Headaches and pain.
:58:02. > :58:04.# I've been tryin' to please ya in every single way # But I just don't
:58:05. > :58:17.see no change. # Hahaha, oh yeah, a-hahaha # ha-ha
:58:18. > :58:22.ha, oh yeah, a-hahaha! # I've been buying you wine, every
:58:23. > :58:26.day and night # Tell me what I got? Screaming and fights.
:58:27. > :58:32.# I don't wanna hear that nothing's right # I'm just losing my mind.
:58:33. > :58:49.# Hahaha, oh yeah, a-hahaha # ha-ha ha, oh yeah, a-hahaha!
:58:50. > :58:59.# I've given up everything I had # Tonight, honey, I'll get something
:59:00. > :59:13.back. # Hahaha, oh yeah, a-ha-ha-ha! #
:59:14. > :59:20.Hahaha, oh yeah, a-ha-ha-ha! # Hahaha, oh yeah, a-ha-ha-ha!