Browse content similar to 30/03/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good morning. Welcome and congratulations. You are the cream | :00:34. | :00:40. | |
of the cream, the very elite of our audience - not only have you coped | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
with the clock going forward, you have found us here on BBC Two safely | :00:45. | :00:47. | |
away from little cars going round and round in circles on BBC One. | :00:48. | :00:53. | |
Well done, we'll do our best to make it worth your while. | :00:54. | :01:00. | |
And we've got a great pair of newspaper reviewers today, the | :01:01. | :01:02. | |
comedian and impressionist Rory Bremner, who's now taken to the West | :01:03. | :01:06. | |
End stage as an actor as well - and one of the key background figures in | :01:07. | :01:10. | |
the Liberal Democrats for many years, Ollie Grender, now Baroness | :01:11. | :01:13. | |
Grender. Frantic shuttle diplomacy this | :01:14. | :01:16. | |
weekend over Ukraine, and reports of Russian troops massing on the | :01:17. | :01:21. | |
border. The truth is, we don't have much of a military response these | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
days. A stream of senior defence figures, from the Pentagon and | :01:27. | :01:29. | |
Whitehall, has criticised the low level of British military spending. | :01:30. | :01:32. | |
And again this morning, one of Britain's top generals tells the | :01:33. | :01:35. | |
Sunday Times, UK forces can't do the job. I'll be talking to the Defence | :01:36. | :01:39. | |
Secretary, Philip Hammond, who was himself in Washington last week to | :01:40. | :01:42. | |
discuss the threat that Russia poses to Europe. | :01:43. | :01:48. | |
In addition to being Shadow Foreign Secretary, Douglas Alexander is Ed | :01:49. | :01:50. | |
Miliband's election strategist,whose job it is to coordinate a Labour | :01:51. | :01:56. | |
triumph next year. Judging by the polls, way to go. What's next from | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
Labour? There's a suggestion this morning that the party will axe | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
student fees. Could that be true? Yesterday, Ed Miliband made a lot of | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
his promise to freeze energy prices. It's become the Labour policy and | :02:13. | :02:16. | |
has infuriated the Big Six energy suppliers. But are they coming | :02:17. | :02:19. | |
around? The head of one of the biggest, SSE will be here later. | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
Local television stations are opening up across the UK. London's | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
one, London Live, is the brainchild of the Russian-born media tycoon | :02:28. | :02:31. | |
Evgeny Lebedev. With the London Evening Standard and the | :02:32. | :02:34. | |
Independent, he's building up quite a position in the capital. He joins | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
me to talk about that and what's going on in Russia. | :02:40. | :02:42. | |
And here's a coincidence, we've got some Russian-infused music. Sophie | :02:43. | :02:49. | |
Ellis-Bextor, a dance-floor queen rebooted, now full of eastern | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
promise. All that and more coming up soon. | :02:55. | :03:00. | |
First the news with Sally Nugent. Good morning. A warship towing a | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
black-box detector is preparing to join the search for the missing | :03:05. | :03:07. | |
Malaysian airliner, off the western coast of Australia. The plane, | :03:08. | :03:10. | |
carrying 239 people, vanished more than three weeks ago. Relatives of | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
the Chinese passengers on board have arrived in Kuala Lumpur, to press | :03:16. | :03:19. | |
for answers. From there, our correspondent Lucy Williamson has | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
this report. Four days, search teams have spotted | :03:26. | :03:30. | |
objects floating in the search zone. Now the focus is on the ships set to | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
retrieve them. Without finding whatever it is shifting in the ocean | :03:37. | :03:40. | |
currents, no one can say for sure if it is from the Malaysia Airlines | :03:41. | :03:45. | |
plane. And in the air, sorting the relevant from the rubbish is not | :03:46. | :03:49. | |
easy. We have recovered a couple of objects. There are some orange | :03:50. | :03:55. | |
banners. There are some other object that on closer examination were | :03:56. | :04:03. | |
fishing rope, that sort of thing. On first glance it looked interesting | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
but when examined closer, they turned out to be rubbish from | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
fishing vessels. While the wait for a breakthrough continues, | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
Malaysia's Transport Minister paid a visit to the families of ten Chinese | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
passengers waiting for news in Kuala Lumpur. A softer image of the | :04:23. | :04:25. | |
Malaysian government designed to disprove accusations that its | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
handling of the crisis is unreliable and un-transparent. More families of | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
those on board the missing flight arrived today from China, come to | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
find out why the search is taking so long and who to blame. They were | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
quickly whisked away from journalists by Malaysian authorities | :04:46. | :04:47. | |
but after more than three weeks of waiting, they are not here to stay | :04:48. | :04:50. | |
silent. The US Secretary of State, John | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
Kerry, will meet the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Paris | :04:55. | :04:57. | |
today to try to agree ways to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. The | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
decision came after President Vladimir Putin spoke to President | :05:02. | :05:04. | |
Barack Obama by phone late on Friday. Mr Obama has called on | :05:05. | :05:08. | |
Russia to pull its troops back from Ukraine's border. Mr Lavrov told | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
Russian TV on Saturday that Moscow had no intention of sending troops | :05:13. | :05:22. | |
into the country. A Conservative MP has resigned as a | :05:23. | :05:25. | |
ministerial aide because of allegations about his private life | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
published in the Sunday Mirror. Mark Menzies was parliamentary private | :05:30. | :05:31. | |
secretary to the International Development Minister Alan Duncan. | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
The paper has spoken to a man who says he was paid by Mr Menzies for | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
sex, but the MP says a number of the claims are not true. | :05:41. | :05:43. | |
Tele-marketing companies that plague members of the public with unwanted | :05:44. | :05:46. | |
calls could face bigger fines under new Government plans. The Ministry | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
of Justice wants to make penalties easier to impose. Currently firms | :05:51. | :05:53. | |
can only be punished if "substantial damage" is caused to householders. | :05:54. | :05:56. | |
But some consumer groups say the changes don't go far enough. | :05:57. | :06:00. | |
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have released a new official family | :06:01. | :06:03. | |
photograph, to coincide with Mother's Day. Prince George is | :06:04. | :06:13. | |
pictured in a blue jumper with his name on it in the informal shots | :06:14. | :06:19. | |
taken at Kensington Palace by photographer Jason Bell. The | :06:20. | :06:22. | |
family's pet cocker spaniel, Lupo is also included. William and Kate have | :06:23. | :06:25. | |
chosen to release the image ahead of their forthcoming tour to New | :06:26. | :06:28. | |
Zealand and Australia. That's all from me, for now. I'll be | :06:29. | :06:32. | |
back with the headlines just before ten o'clock. Back to you, Andrew. | :06:33. | :06:40. | |
Thank you Sally. Both the Sun and the Mirror have | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
almost identical front pages. He is not a top Tory, he is a | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
parliamentary bag carrier. The Sunday Mirror has the same story and | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
it quotes the rent boy, he has many drugs. That picture that you heard | :06:55. | :06:59. | |
about there on the front of the Mail on Sunday. Both the Independent on | :07:00. | :07:05. | |
Sunday and the Sunday Telegraph have Climate Change Act stories. This one | :07:06. | :07:08. | |
is about the disappearance of forests and the great climate change | :07:09. | :07:13. | |
guru James Lovelock suggested we will have to live tightly packed | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
together in cities if humanity is to survive. The Sunday Telegraph has | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, talking | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
about our lifestyle being to blame for climate change catastrophe. | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
Finally, the Observer has a story about Alistair Carmichael saying we | :07:32. | :07:37. | |
are in danger of losing the Scottish independence poll, that is the | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
Better Together campaign. As promised, Rory Bremner and Ollie | :07:44. | :07:52. | |
Grender, Baroness Grender are here. You are grander since the baroness | :07:53. | :08:02. | |
it! Rory, you have chosen the front of the Sunday Telegraph. Yellow | :08:03. | :08:11. | |
grass -- my analysis got as far as page one. Rowan Williams, is now | :08:12. | :08:18. | |
chairman of Christian aid. It is the eve of the panel on climate change | :08:19. | :08:28. | |
reporting. He was talking about the storms we saw over the winter as a | :08:29. | :08:32. | |
portent of things to come. He is highlighting that unless we take | :08:33. | :08:36. | |
serious action now, this will get worse and worse. And also that time | :08:37. | :08:39. | |
is running out. This is the first we have seen of it but overseas, they | :08:40. | :08:47. | |
have seen this. By this you mean the very wet winter? Yes, he says we are | :08:48. | :08:52. | |
seeing the predictions that uncontrolled burning of fossil fuels | :08:53. | :08:55. | |
will lead to the warming of the Earth and he says this is coming | :08:56. | :08:58. | |
true. What is interesting is the space they are the giving this in | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
the Telegraph which is traditionally very sceptical about climate | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
change. They are the most sceptical. They have given it a good | :09:08. | :09:13. | |
deal of space. I think the focus will be on climate change and he is | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
banging the drum and saying we must wake up and take responsibility. The | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
other thing which links into the Lib Dems thing, a weather-related story, | :09:22. | :09:28. | |
Willie Rennie, who I do not think will be familiar to all of your | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
viewers, he is the Lib Dem leader in Scotland, he has been calling for | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
the Sunshine strategy in the referendum debate, meaning that the | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
no campaign, according to the front page of the Observer, it has serious | :09:41. | :09:46. | |
jitters. It is a difficult message to push, let's keep things as they | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
are. He is calling for a Sunshine strategy which Scottish readers will | :09:52. | :09:58. | |
know it will last for about six days. As Billy Connelly said, we | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
have two seasons, winter and June! But they are getting jitters in the | :10:04. | :10:09. | |
no campaign. And back onto the Climate Change Act issue, I think | :10:10. | :10:12. | |
what is fascinating about this is there is now so much | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
incontrovertible science. I think what is slightly peculiar is that | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
the Telegraph tend to go for the nonscientist to bump up the story | :10:23. | :10:25. | |
that there is so much compelling science which tells us that this is | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
the case and we need to change this. And you have found another Scottish | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
story? This is a kind of contrast to the dispute that is going on at the | :10:36. | :10:38. | |
moment about the pound, which is actually, in Rosyth, 6.2 billion | :10:39. | :10:46. | |
will be spent and continue to be spent, regardless of the vote. When | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
Alex Salmond talks about, and it is always an odd picture to me, the | :10:51. | :10:53. | |
picture of Alex Salmond being bullied in some way, is this not | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
bullying, is it the opposite of bullying? This is that an | :10:58. | :11:03. | |
independent Scotland would build warships for the rest of the UK | :11:04. | :11:09. | |
after independence? Absolutely. Is this David Cameron's Black Sea | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
fleet, the Crimean thing, Britain will do exercises in the Solway | :11:16. | :11:26. | |
Firth to claim Scotland. I think his is an extremely difficult story. | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
Yes, the Sunshine strategy is a good thing, it is showing the positives, | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
that is why at the conference Willie Rennie was talking about in Britain, | :11:35. | :11:40. | |
in Europe and in work. Talking about jobs and the benefit of the UK | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
economy. Rory, take us to another story. As you mentioned, I am doing | :11:45. | :11:50. | |
a play, I'm doing a Noel Coward play in the West End. There is a lovely | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
line in Blyth spirit where he says, anything interesting in the Times | :11:56. | :11:58. | |
and his wife says, don't be silly. But there is something interesting | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
in the Times and that is about tuition fees. It is estimated that | :12:03. | :12:09. | |
45% of tuition fees are still underpaid. If it gets as high as 48% | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
it is costing more to administer it than they are getting in fees. | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
Labour have picked up on this. The new strategy as they are talking | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
about cutting tuition fees by 3000 or even ?5,000, bringing it right | :12:26. | :12:33. | |
down. There are other ideas. Paul Kirby is talking about some of the | :12:34. | :12:36. | |
lower ranked universities being stripped of their right to charge | :12:37. | :12:41. | |
you should fees if excessive number of students fail to complete their | :12:42. | :12:44. | |
courses. I think this is good for Labour to pick up on. And very | :12:45. | :12:51. | |
difficult for your great leader? Ironically coming from a party which | :12:52. | :12:54. | |
lamented the brown review in the first place which said there should | :12:55. | :12:58. | |
be unlimited caps, and if it is the cut I have seen in the Sunday Times, | :12:59. | :13:02. | |
this will impact on the wealthiest students but it will not help the | :13:03. | :13:06. | |
poorest students. The significance of what has happened recently is | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
students from a much poorer background in much larger numbers | :13:12. | :13:14. | |
are coming in, as a result of not having to pay so much for the Jewish | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
and fees as they currently stand. I will talk to Douglas Alexander about | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
all of this. In Scotland they do not charge them. Lots of gay marriage in | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
the paper. There are lots of photographs all over the place. What | :13:30. | :13:35. | |
are great proud moment for us as a nation. So fantastic. Ten years ago, | :13:36. | :13:42. | |
if we had been sitting here and predicting, would a conservative led | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
coalition, with the Liberal Democrats who we believe have been | :13:47. | :13:49. | |
instrumental in this, of course, be passing something like this gay | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
marriage? It would be extraordinary. We would think it was preposterous | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
but here we are. There are some beautiful pictures. And what a sad | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
contrast to this, which feels like we are going back to the 80s, of | :14:04. | :14:10. | |
somebody who most of us did admittedly have to Google. I do not | :14:11. | :14:14. | |
know that says something about our level of knowledge. It feels like an | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
old story. Gay marriage is about today but it feels like that story | :14:21. | :14:24. | |
is an old-fashioned sex scandal from ten years ago. I think what we | :14:25. | :14:30. | |
cannot miss out referencing is the weather this weekend is absolutely | :14:31. | :14:35. | |
glorious, in spite of the UKIP councillor's prediction that the | :14:36. | :14:38. | |
flooding was as a result of gay marriage. That is a very good point. | :14:39. | :14:45. | |
And the other big picture. You cannot move for these pictures. | :14:46. | :14:48. | |
Every other pillar of the establishment, if you like, or part | :14:49. | :14:53. | |
of the scenery in Britain, whether it is the banks which are | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
discredited literally, pulse dishes held in low esteem than ever, the | :14:58. | :15:04. | |
church has problem with women bishops, and yet the Royals seem to | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
be on a roll. That has carried on since the Jubilee a couple of years | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
ago. Their PR is great. They have now got the dog vote. We have got a | :15:15. | :15:20. | |
cocker spaniel ourselves. Lynton Crosby talks about the dog whistle | :15:21. | :15:24. | |
strategy, I think as a strategy for winning over... And I love in the | :15:25. | :15:31. | |
window, this gives the idea that they are actually living in one room | :15:32. | :15:40. | |
to save on the bedroom tax! George has got his own brand at Asda, | :15:41. | :15:47. | |
that's his little entrepreneur. He is in a 1-room flat with a dog. | :15:48. | :15:52. | |
Right, pretty much an open goal for you there, Ollie Grender. Andrew | :15:53. | :16:03. | |
Walmsley doesn't disappoint when he talks of the Labour Party. He | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
spreads the divisions between the Labour Party and those of us who | :16:08. | :16:11. | |
study at from a distance are always amazed by how intricate the | :16:12. | :16:14. | |
different groupings are. There are so many different groupings who are | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
Blairites, it sometimes gets very confusing. Andrew has helped us here | :16:19. | :16:25. | |
by dividing it up into 35% as being majoritarian. My favourite is Ed | :16:26. | :16:34. | |
versus Eder. The 35% people are those who think Labour can win with | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
35% of the vote, except that, enjoy the position and those who say we | :16:40. | :16:43. | |
must go further and reach deep into Middle England. Yes, and then your | :16:44. | :16:47. | |
interviewee coming up, Douglas Ickes and, comes up some people are to | :16:48. | :16:54. | |
ensure that he's bowled in terms of the manifesto -- Douglas Alexander. | :16:55. | :17:01. | |
Is it possible... We will ask him. We happen to have in the studio. | :17:02. | :17:07. | |
Now, you have chosen ADHD, story and the Observer. Whenever I read a | :17:08. | :17:13. | |
story where they say it's not a real disease because it gets my hackles | :17:14. | :17:16. | |
up because I have a relative with this. I have been diagnosed myself | :17:17. | :17:23. | |
with it over the years. It affects one in 20 schoolchildren, half a | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
million schoolchildren. Half a million families and possibly more | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
than that. Do you think you had at school? Yes, looking back at school | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
reports. The hyperactivity, inattentiveness, impulsiveness, all | :17:37. | :17:39. | |
of those things, I recognise that in myself. Half a million | :17:40. | :17:43. | |
schoolchildren in this country, and under estimate, I think, are | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
struggling with this. I think it's the real thing. People talk about it | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
being on the spectrum with autism and dyslexia. In a few weeks time, | :17:54. | :18:03. | |
Bruce Perry, a child trauma doctor in Huston set may be a jumble of | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
different conditions. They say it can be handled with drugs and | :18:08. | :18:13. | |
medication is proved to be quite effective in the treatment ADHD, | :18:14. | :18:16. | |
like depression, as it relates to chemicals in the brain. | :18:17. | :18:22. | |
Neurotransmitters and dopamine. Children who have ADHD aren't | :18:23. | :18:26. | |
producing that effectively said there was a role for medication. The | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
fact that they say it's not a real disease, I think it's more | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
complicated than that. Bruce Perry's point if they can teach | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
adults as well and coach them through helping children. It affects | :18:42. | :18:45. | |
so many children. I would like to do a documentary about in future. I | :18:46. | :18:49. | |
think it's hard not to do the papers and pick up on some of the flight MH | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
370 and there's no news, so it's incredibly tough, and we can see | :18:56. | :18:59. | |
that on the broadcast as well, but this endless search just off Western | :19:00. | :19:04. | |
Australia, trying to look for large pieces of wreckage for the Matthew | :19:05. | :19:10. | |
Parris has an interesting piece yesterday on the Times. He studied | :19:11. | :19:12. | |
the most hostile place on the planet. Much, much wild and | :19:13. | :19:18. | |
dangerous than every other C. We think of it as a duck pond, and why | :19:19. | :19:21. | |
can't they find something and actually, his piece yesterday was so | :19:22. | :19:27. | |
relevant and these poor relatives, it's now turned into almost a | :19:28. | :19:33. | |
mystery but everybody is watching but there are still 239 people who | :19:34. | :19:37. | |
died on it and we have 45 relatives of passengers who will be flying to | :19:38. | :19:41. | |
Kuala Lumpur today to find out more. I'm not going to let you do the | :19:42. | :19:48. | |
Tasmanian whiskey story and I have drank it and is not quite as good as | :19:49. | :19:51. | |
they say. I'm going to ask you about your play. It is Relative Values. It | :19:52. | :20:05. | |
is with Patricia Hodge and Caroline Quentin. It is doing somebody else's | :20:06. | :20:12. | |
lines but they are Noel Coward's lines and it's a dream cast and | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
director. It had underperformed Gemma Fulford we are obsessed with | :20:17. | :20:22. | |
people watching Downton Abbey, it's always been talked about here and | :20:23. | :20:26. | |
America and is set in an aristocratic house, and it's all | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
about class. Is this your future, do you think? One thing at a time. It's | :20:31. | :20:37. | |
different. It's a privilege to do a play in the West End for the West | :20:38. | :20:40. | |
End Fulford the bit something I never thought I'd do, | :20:41. | :20:43. | |
once-in-a-lifetime thing. We will be at the Harold Pinter Theatre for the | :20:44. | :20:47. | |
next two months. Ollie Grender mentioned the weather. It has been | :20:48. | :20:52. | |
beautiful. Well, just in case you've woken up and realised that you've | :20:53. | :20:56. | |
lost an hour out of your Sunday morning. Yes, British Summer Time | :20:57. | :20:58. | |
has begun. It was appropriately sunny and warm here in London | :20:59. | :21:02. | |
yesterday. Let's see what today will be like across the UK. Over to John | :21:03. | :21:04. | |
Hammond. Mixed fortunes up and down the UK. | :21:05. | :21:13. | |
Most of us will enjoy scenes like this if you're stepping out with a | :21:14. | :21:16. | |
walk with mother. Some warm sunshine, but a lot of cloud across | :21:17. | :21:21. | |
northern and western areas. Thick fog across north-east England. That | :21:22. | :21:25. | |
will lift and many of us can look forward to some fine weather. The | :21:26. | :21:29. | |
odd shower those two Cornel and Pembrokeshire particular in Northern | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
Ireland. And it stays gloomy. Just as it did yesterday across | :21:35. | :21:37. | |
north-eastern coast of England. And the more central and eastern parts | :21:38. | :21:40. | |
of Scotland, that's driving but temperatures, so bright and warm | :21:41. | :21:46. | |
further west. It will chair up in Northern Ireland. And it will warm | :21:47. | :21:51. | |
up across England and Wales. All way up to northern England, possible low | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
20s. It will brighten up across Wales, too. Further east, hazy | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
sunshine and temperatures will peak north of London, I think. Maybe 21 | :22:01. | :22:06. | |
degrees, nice day. Further ahead, more rain around can hit and miss. | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
Warm weather across southern areas. Further north, particular across | :22:13. | :22:15. | |
north-eastern parts, a lot of cloud coming in. A fairly chilly prospect, | :22:16. | :22:19. | |
I'm afraid but the most of us, fine day to come. | :22:20. | :22:23. | |
Many thanks. The major energy companies are really in the | :22:24. | :22:27. | |
spotlight. Denounced by politicians for allegedly ripping off their | :22:28. | :22:30. | |
customers, lectured on their moral responsibilities by the Archbishop | :22:31. | :22:33. | |
of Canterbury, and now the subject of a huge competition inquiry. But | :22:34. | :22:36. | |
now the second biggest supplier, SSE, is bringing in a price freeze | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
until 2016. I'm joined by SSE's chief executive, Alistair | :22:42. | :22:47. | |
Phillips-Davies. Good morning. Thanks for coming in. This price | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
freeze comes just ahead of the review into the position of the big | :22:53. | :22:55. | |
six, some people will say at a cynical move to try to head off the | :22:56. | :23:00. | |
review. Absolutely not. We had no idea when they were going to come | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
out and say this. They've only said at the moment they will consult the | :23:05. | :23:10. | |
price freeze. It was a result of us consulting customers, listening to | :23:11. | :23:13. | |
what they wanted, it was clear to us the biggest agenda for customers | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
following surveys we have done and the BBC have done if the cost of | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
living increases over the next couple of years, so we have worked | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
very hard to bring a price freeze in. This comes after all the | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
companies had been talking about the terrible nature of the Labour | :23:30. | :23:33. | |
Party's proposals to freeze prices. And suggestions from Centrica in | :23:34. | :23:36. | |
particular that the end of investment, that's not true. No, I | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
don't think it is due for the end of investment. In terms of what we said | :23:42. | :23:47. | |
to politicians, we have all got the same objective, to keep bills down. | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
That's very important to all of us. We have invested ?7.5 billion over | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
the last five years and will invest 1.6 billion over the next year. So | :23:57. | :24:00. | |
Ed Miliband says is possible to have a price freeze and keep the lights | :24:01. | :24:04. | |
on. He is right? On the price freeze, the issue with what it came | :24:05. | :24:09. | |
out with last September clearly was resonant with the public. We have | :24:10. | :24:14. | |
seen a change since then, David Cameron has rolled his sleeves up, | :24:15. | :24:16. | |
government changed policy in terms of dealing with some of green levies | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
that we called for to be taken of the bills, and we dropped bills and | :24:21. | :24:25. | |
?50 last week and on the back of the changes to the legislation, on | :24:26. | :24:29. | |
carbon in the budget, the things we have done, we have been able to put | :24:30. | :24:33. | |
a price freeze in place. Youth throws that a reasonably high level | :24:34. | :24:40. | |
in 2016. What happens then? Do they go shooting up again? Absolutely | :24:41. | :24:44. | |
not. We have written to the political parties asking them to | :24:45. | :24:48. | |
work with us to see if we can bring prices down, particularly when you | :24:49. | :24:50. | |
look at levies on the bills for the Wii just don't think it's fair | :24:51. | :24:53. | |
everybody pays the same amount for the people in fuel poverty, people | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
in hardship shouldn't pay the same amount as people who are not in | :24:59. | :25:02. | |
hardship. For us, it's all about working together to reduce those | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
levies and keep prices down. So we are well up for a debate on that. | :25:07. | :25:12. | |
You are one of the Big Six. Is there pressure on the others to do the | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
same? It's a competitive market out there. We all do different things. | :25:18. | :25:20. | |
There's something we felt very strongly about, so we will see how | :25:21. | :25:24. | |
everybody else response but in addition to the Big Six, there are | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
15 smaller companies getting bigger and that's very healthy for | :25:29. | :25:32. | |
competition. You have this huge competition enquiry. How worried are | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
you that your company can be broken up as a result? I don't agree have | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
any great concerns about the enquiry. The key thing for us is to | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
acting consumers interests? We will look at how to keep bills down going | :25:47. | :25:49. | |
forward, keep the investment flowing. As long as those things are | :25:50. | :25:55. | |
there, we welcome the enquiry. It has been a Labour success getting | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
you to this position, hasn't it? What I think is, when Ed Miliband | :26:00. | :26:03. | |
came up with a statement, it resonated with the public. What we | :26:04. | :26:07. | |
have been able to do, listening to him, is delivering something similar | :26:08. | :26:10. | |
but we have delivered it now, in our own way, and in a way which is | :26:11. | :26:16. | |
sustainable. We have seen costs come down in terms of what the government | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
is done, and that has allowed us to do it. Since I have got you here, | :26:21. | :26:23. | |
can I ask you about alternative sources of energy? There's huge | :26:24. | :26:28. | |
quantities of coal and leave the North Sea, more than there was gas | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
and oil, and that is the future. Does that recognise with you? New | :26:33. | :26:38. | |
technologies are very important. We were in Peterhead a few weeks ago, | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
and announced a big programme there. Certainly, if they're going to burn | :26:44. | :26:46. | |
coal going forward, we will have to have technology to make sure we | :26:47. | :26:50. | |
decarbonise some of those technologies, so I will be | :26:51. | :26:54. | |
interested see how that goes. Offshore wind? You were sceptical | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
about that. We have two big projects we have built, we have got a big | :26:59. | :27:04. | |
project at great gathered. Because they are big and expensive projects, | :27:05. | :27:10. | |
we lead a focus on one. We focused on one in Scotland. We will leave | :27:11. | :27:17. | |
the other three for our partners to develop. Thank you very much for | :27:18. | :27:22. | |
coming in this morning. Now then, Labour's popularity among voters | :27:23. | :27:25. | |
appears to have taken a dip according to some recent polls. So | :27:26. | :27:32. | |
here's the question. Is this because of a post-Budget Tory bounce or | :27:33. | :27:35. | |
because people simply aren't hearing Ed Miliband's message? Or don't like | :27:36. | :27:38. | |
it. Douglas Alexander, Labour's election coordinator, is the man | :27:39. | :27:41. | |
whose mission it is to ensure that Labour gets the vote out and gets | :27:42. | :27:45. | |
back in to Downing Street at next year's general election. Welcome. | :27:46. | :27:47. | |
Before we turn to the polls, what about this business of getting rid | :27:48. | :27:50. | |
of student fees? We are close to the levels where it's no worth | :27:51. | :27:56. | |
collecting. This seems to be another Conservative Lib Dem policy that's | :27:57. | :28:00. | |
not working. The rate of default emerged this week and is very high. | :28:01. | :28:04. | |
Ed Miliband has gone on the record in the past saying this is a policy | :28:05. | :28:07. | |
we are looking at, I suspect it's a policy we will address in our | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
manifesto, and I hope we can offer a better solution to the students of | :28:12. | :28:15. | |
this country and to the finances of this country than that we have seen | :28:16. | :28:19. | |
from the Conservatives. As the rate of default goes up towards 48%, its | :28:20. | :28:23. | |
possible Labour will get the did this fee? We are dealing with this | :28:24. | :28:27. | |
as part of a policy process and I expect it's an issue we will address | :28:28. | :28:31. | |
in the manifesto. It's very clear, even on the government market was | :28:32. | :28:34. | |
own evidence, it's not a policy that's working. Nobody wants to talk | :28:35. | :28:39. | |
about the polls, they never mean anything, nobody looks of the more | :28:40. | :28:43. | |
reason, but they are pretty die at the moment and a lot of people in | :28:44. | :28:46. | |
the party getting worried. What do you need to do differently from what | :28:47. | :28:50. | |
you've been doing in the past? We have got two different ones as | :28:51. | :28:54. | |
Monica one suggests we have a 7-point lead, so frankly, they will | :28:55. | :28:58. | |
move around but in terms of the last couple of weeks, some of the | :28:59. | :29:02. | |
headlines of changed, but they haven't change of economic and the | :29:03. | :29:08. | |
politics. One doesn't address the fundamental truth of the economy | :29:09. | :29:10. | |
that millions of people watching this programme are facing a cost of | :29:11. | :29:15. | |
living crisis and in terms of politics, we have always known this | :29:16. | :29:18. | |
is going to be a tough contest and a tight election but I certainly would | :29:19. | :29:23. | |
not call this a bad government that deserves to lose but election Labour | :29:24. | :29:30. | |
Coman. We watched Ed Miliband spate the Welsh Labour Party conference | :29:31. | :29:33. | |
yesterday. Yet the economists say the crisis is ending and average | :29:34. | :29:40. | |
wages are rising, and by the time of the next election, the cost of | :29:41. | :29:43. | |
living is not going to the number one issue. Cost of living is not | :29:44. | :29:47. | |
running out of steam. The Conservative government is running | :29:48. | :29:50. | |
out of time. At the time of the election, for the first time in | :29:51. | :29:54. | |
decades, we will have a government which has delivered lower living | :29:55. | :29:57. | |
standards, for millions of British families, ?1600 worse off at the end | :29:58. | :30:01. | |
of the Parliament than at the beginning of the Parliament, which | :30:02. | :30:04. | |
is why it's critical we continue to set out our thinking as we did on | :30:05. | :30:07. | |
energy prices. Remember where we were in September. We had energy | :30:08. | :30:12. | |
bosses, like the one you just had, saying price freezes were impossible | :30:13. | :30:15. | |
and the Conservatives saying it was ridiculous. This week we have seen | :30:16. | :30:19. | |
one of the Big Six confirming there was going to be a price freeze which | :30:20. | :30:23. | |
you just heard about and we also heard from Ofgem saying actually, | :30:24. | :30:27. | |
the resetting of the energy market is necessary. That would not have | :30:28. | :30:30. | |
happened but for the leadership Ed Miliband and the Labour Party are | :30:31. | :30:37. | |
shown. So why are things not better? The polls remain pretty dire | :30:38. | :30:42. | |
for you. You have had this long recession, what you regard as a | :30:43. | :30:47. | |
ridiculous government stuffed with old Etonians and people are still | :30:48. | :30:52. | |
level pegging, in fact, you only just back at the level you took in | :30:53. | :30:58. | |
2010. We took a bad beating in 2010. Let's look at what has happened in | :30:59. | :31:04. | |
terms of votes. We have won more council seats across the country. | :31:05. | :31:08. | |
And we can look ahead to the next year. We have the Conservatives in a | :31:09. | :31:12. | |
death struggle with UKIP on the right of politics with the Liberal | :31:13. | :31:15. | |
Democrats wandering around trying to find their base. There is a genuine | :31:16. | :31:23. | |
opportunity in the next year with Labour with a credible manifesto to | :31:24. | :31:25. | |
dominate politics, not just potentially be the largest party | :31:26. | :31:28. | |
that I believe to secure the Labour majority which can transform the | :31:29. | :31:33. | |
country. So you are content? I am not content, I am ambitious. I want | :31:34. | :31:40. | |
to change things for people suffering the cost of living prices. | :31:41. | :31:43. | |
We are in politics to change lives. When you look at what is happening | :31:44. | :31:47. | |
in terms of youth unemployment, poverty across the country, the | :31:48. | :31:52. | |
country needs a Labour government. But there are no new messages coming | :31:53. | :31:57. | |
from Labour? We have had clear policies in relation to the energy | :31:58. | :32:05. | |
crisis and banking. We will have our growth commission. We will set out | :32:06. | :32:08. | |
our thinking at the time of the conference which I believe addresses | :32:09. | :32:12. | |
the needs of the country and we can offer that with confidence and no | :32:13. | :32:19. | |
complacency. We read a lot of arguments between those radicals and | :32:20. | :32:24. | |
less radical, where are you? I do not think it is a great headline | :32:25. | :32:28. | |
saying the Labour team are united in working for a victory so I think we | :32:29. | :32:32. | |
can dismiss some of the headlines. It is a totally false choice to be | :32:33. | :32:36. | |
credible or radical. If you are not credible, then people will not trust | :32:37. | :32:41. | |
you. If you are not radical, people say you all the same. That is why I | :32:42. | :32:45. | |
say we will offer credible and radical policies. That is what we | :32:46. | :32:50. | |
have done on energy prices. You have brought in a barn's great election | :32:51. | :32:55. | |
winning Guru and Ireland are being told he will change things on the | :32:56. | :33:00. | |
ground -- you have brought in Barack Obama's election Guru. And now you | :33:01. | :33:08. | |
have fired him. He is still working for the party. He will be involved | :33:09. | :33:11. | |
in the general election campaign. The work he has started will be | :33:12. | :33:17. | |
taken forward. We have 100 organisers. We did not have 100 | :33:18. | :33:22. | |
organisers in 1997 when we won our historic victory. We are up against | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
the party which has halved its membership since David Cameron | :33:28. | :33:33. | |
became leader, average age 69 and rising. The Conservative Party are | :33:34. | :33:37. | |
party in retreat. Labour is advancing in the critical margin | :33:38. | :33:41. | |
seats where we will see the outcome in the general election. Let me ask | :33:42. | :33:44. | |
you about a choice coming much earlier than that which is the | :33:45. | :33:48. | |
Scottish referendum campaign. Your Liberal Democrats colleague Mr | :33:49. | :33:56. | |
Carmichael has said that he is worried that the Better Together or | :33:57. | :33:59. | |
no campaign are losing the argument. It seems a bit like Vietnam's | :34:00. | :34:07. | |
politics. The no campaign are bombing from huge height and down in | :34:08. | :34:11. | |
the jungle the SNP are fighting a gorilla campaign and they are | :34:12. | :34:15. | |
winning. I was on the streets of Paisley yesterday and our messages | :34:16. | :34:19. | |
break clear. We can, as Scots, have the best of both worlds. More | :34:20. | :34:23. | |
decisions in Scotland and at the same time having the strength and | :34:24. | :34:27. | |
stability of the United Kingdom behind us. I think that will be a | :34:28. | :34:31. | |
winning message in September. You are not worried that the SNP are | :34:32. | :34:38. | |
doing better than they were. The reality is, the SNP have given up | :34:39. | :34:43. | |
trying to reduce evidence, they are simply appealing to a motion. I | :34:44. | :34:48. | |
think the right way for the Better Together campaign to win is not just | :34:49. | :34:52. | |
to offer evidence but to offer an ocean. I passionately believe in | :34:53. | :34:56. | |
Scotland's possibilities for the future. I passionately believe we | :34:57. | :35:00. | |
would be stronger together and weaker apart. You also Shadow | :35:01. | :35:05. | |
Foreign Secretary so let's jump a long way to Ukraine. Are you worried | :35:06. | :35:08. | |
about the amassing of troops on the border and you think we see a big | :35:09. | :35:21. | |
escalation in the problem? Yes, I am worried about that. I think this is | :35:22. | :35:23. | |
the biggest security challenge we have faced in many years. We have | :35:24. | :35:27. | |
taken a bipartisan approach on this. We are working with other members of | :35:28. | :35:32. | |
the European Union, with our friends and allies in the United States, to | :35:33. | :35:37. | |
alter the risk of of judgement that Putin takes. We have to stop him | :35:38. | :35:41. | |
moving into Ukraine. He has to realise there will be consequences | :35:42. | :35:45. | |
if we see that regrettable action. Does that mean some sabre rattling | :35:46. | :35:50. | |
is needed at this point? No, I think there needs to be deft and frankly | :35:51. | :35:56. | |
difficult diplomacy in the weeks ahead to make sure there is an | :35:57. | :36:00. | |
alteration of course by the Russians. Douglas Alexander, thank | :36:01. | :36:04. | |
you for joining us this morning. Evgeny Lebedev is a Russian who's | :36:05. | :36:08. | |
part of a revolution. A TV revolution. When the government | :36:09. | :36:11. | |
announced the creation of "ultra-local" television stations | :36:12. | :36:14. | |
across the UK, one of the biggest names to get a new licence as a | :36:15. | :36:17. | |
broadcaster was Mr Lebedev. The owner of the London Evening Standard | :36:18. | :36:21. | |
and the Independent newspaper, now a British citizen, he has used his | :36:22. | :36:24. | |
financial and cultural clout to establish London Live. Welcome. And | :36:25. | :36:33. | |
London Live opens tomorrow? Yes, 630 PM on channel eight on the free | :36:34. | :36:40. | |
view. What can we expect? I love London. I have been here since the | :36:41. | :36:48. | |
age of eight. I own a pub and also the only London newspaper, the | :36:49. | :36:52. | |
London Evening Standard. So now I thought London does not have its own | :36:53. | :36:58. | |
TV channel, that is wrong, so that is why this came about. London is a | :36:59. | :37:01. | |
great city which has so much to offer in terms of culture, art, | :37:02. | :37:07. | |
theatre, sport and music so that we'll all be brought to London | :37:08. | :37:14. | |
tomorrow. ITV offers a London news channel. This is purely a London | :37:15. | :37:19. | |
channel. Even though it will be the same quality as all the national | :37:20. | :37:23. | |
channels, I have been watching a lot of pilots and it looks very exciting | :37:24. | :37:28. | |
and interesting, but what is different is it provides all the | :37:29. | :37:32. | |
great thing about London culturally, politically as well as | :37:33. | :37:35. | |
business, through this channel which goes live tomorrow. For example, | :37:36. | :37:41. | |
Digital theatre is going to be presenting live Theatre on London | :37:42. | :37:49. | |
Live. The first play, Love song at Hammersmith Lyric will be broadcast. | :37:50. | :37:56. | |
Will you have a close grip on the editorial issues, who will be next | :37:57. | :38:01. | |
mayor, that kind of thing? As in the newspapers, the same thing will be | :38:02. | :38:05. | |
on television. They will have their own editors. It has to be in line | :38:06. | :38:09. | |
with OFCOM rules like the BBC and other channels. I think what is also | :38:10. | :38:16. | |
important to point out is that Londoners have so much that they see | :38:17. | :38:21. | |
on a daily basis and that is not always represented because the other | :38:22. | :38:25. | |
channels have to represent nationwide television. You have the | :38:26. | :38:28. | |
London Evening Standard, not just the Independent but also the "i" | :38:29. | :38:37. | |
which circulates more cheaply. Some people will say you have too much | :38:38. | :38:43. | |
power. Jelena what I am trying to do is create a service for London. This | :38:44. | :38:49. | |
stage in -- this station was awarded to me by the British government. I'm | :38:50. | :38:54. | |
trying to create something which will give Londoners not only jobs | :38:55. | :39:01. | |
but also this channel succeeds, a platform to create more talent. You | :39:02. | :39:05. | |
asked me earlier about the BBC and ITV, we are trying to create a | :39:06. | :39:10. | |
channel which is completely different from all the others. I | :39:11. | :39:13. | |
like taking well-known names and celebrities and putting them on the | :39:14. | :39:17. | |
channel. We have tried to create a launch pad for new talent. We have | :39:18. | :39:25. | |
taken people who are on YouTube and given them a platform on London | :39:26. | :39:30. | |
Live. We mentioned the Independent. I have read it is up for sale at the | :39:31. | :39:37. | |
moment. Is it really up for sale? I am not actively trying to sell it. | :39:38. | :39:40. | |
If somebody comes about and offers the right price, it could be for | :39:41. | :39:44. | |
sale but that could be said about any newspaper. What I will say, | :39:45. | :39:50. | |
going back to the Independent and London Live, we as a company have | :39:51. | :39:54. | |
been known for innovation. We have taken the Evening Standard which was | :39:55. | :39:58. | |
about to shut down if it was not to be sold. It was losing circulation | :39:59. | :40:04. | |
very much. We have taken it free and now we have gone from 700,000 to | :40:05. | :40:10. | |
900,000 copies and from losing 30 million, it is now making a profit. | :40:11. | :40:15. | |
And the same with the "i". It was launched when people said newspapers | :40:16. | :40:24. | |
are dying. Together with the Independent, it sells over three and | :40:25. | :40:29. | |
60,000 copies and it is also will be losing ?5 million compared to 20 | :40:30. | :40:32. | |
million which it was losing a year ago. So that is better. You also own | :40:33. | :40:38. | |
a lot of property in the Crimea. Are you worried about your holdings | :40:39. | :40:41. | |
there and what you think of what is going on back? Yes, I still own | :40:42. | :40:47. | |
property in the Crimea, hopefully. I am very concerned. What I will say | :40:48. | :40:53. | |
it is a very comes located subject that a lot of the time is | :40:54. | :40:58. | |
misunderstood in the West. Crimea, what people do not realise, has been | :40:59. | :41:04. | |
for many centuries part of Russia, and only recently part of Ukraine. | :41:05. | :41:08. | |
And although I would say the referendum may not have been held | :41:09. | :41:12. | |
under the right circumstances, I think the actual outcome of the vote | :41:13. | :41:15. | |
would have been the same. One thing I would say is yesterday we have | :41:16. | :41:19. | |
seen that Russia has reached out to the west and I think now it is time | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
to stop Cold War rhetoric on both sides and start talking. The Cold | :41:25. | :41:27. | |
War is over, let's not start another one. In the middle of the Cold War | :41:28. | :41:33. | |
rhetoric, do you think there is a bit of a shiver going through the | :41:34. | :41:36. | |
oligarchs in London and what will happen to them and their positions? | :41:37. | :41:41. | |
To be very honest, I do not speak to many oligarchs in London. But I | :41:42. | :41:46. | |
think if sanctions were to go any further, I think the city of London | :41:47. | :41:53. | |
and London's economy would have been affected, but I think now there is | :41:54. | :41:56. | |
not going to be any further incursions into any land and not in | :41:57. | :42:02. | |
Crimea and definitely not any further. I think it is now time to | :42:03. | :42:07. | |
talk. Thank you for joining us. Last week a committee of MPs | :42:08. | :42:10. | |
expressed concerns about Britain's military capability after years of | :42:11. | :42:13. | |
cuts. Recently, Robert Gates, the former US Defence Secretary | :42:14. | :42:16. | |
suggested that the UK was incapable of acting as a full military partner | :42:17. | :42:20. | |
to America. The chorus of concern is almost deafening. Is there any sign | :42:21. | :42:25. | |
at all that the government's listening? The Defence Secretary, | :42:26. | :42:32. | |
Philip Hammond joins me now. Are you listening to all these generals, | :42:33. | :42:35. | |
people who think you have cut too far, you are down to the bone and | :42:36. | :42:40. | |
really damaging our standing abroad? Of course I am listening. | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
Much of what I am hearing is nonsense. We still have the fourth | :42:46. | :42:49. | |
largest defence budget in the world. I was in the Pentagon this week | :42:50. | :42:54. | |
past. I heard my US counterpart talk about Britain as a credible, capable | :42:55. | :42:59. | |
and reliable ally and that is what we intend to remain. Of course we | :43:00. | :43:05. | |
have had to make savings and take tough decisions. But we are working | :43:06. | :43:09. | |
with the military chiefs to make sure we prioritise our very large | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
defence budget, invest it in the areas which will matter in the | :43:14. | :43:17. | |
future and I recognise that sometimes that has meant that we | :43:18. | :43:21. | |
have had to take decisions which have upset people, about legacy | :43:22. | :43:25. | |
capabilities. But we are looking to the future and not the past. So when | :43:26. | :43:30. | |
the general said this morning that the Royal Navy is no longer in a | :43:31. | :43:34. | |
position when it is taking part in regular naval exercise as it used | :43:35. | :43:40. | |
to, is he wrong? We do take part in naval exercises but we also busy | :43:41. | :43:44. | |
interrupting large drug shipments and the Navy has had incredible | :43:45. | :43:49. | |
successes, counterpart was the work off the Horn of Africa, reassurance | :43:50. | :43:54. | |
in the Gulf where we have a significant presence. We have a | :43:55. | :43:58. | |
vessel on the way to the southern Indian Ocean at the moment to help | :43:59. | :44:04. | |
with the Malaysia Airlines search. We said two warships to the | :44:05. | :44:10. | |
Philippines to help in the disaster relief there after the hurricane. | :44:11. | :44:15. | |
The Royal Navy is busy around the world and of course we would like to | :44:16. | :44:20. | |
have more assets, but we are very effective at using the assets we | :44:21. | :44:23. | |
have got to deliver the effect we need to do. Are you concerned about | :44:24. | :44:27. | |
the Russian forces on the edge of the Ukraine at the moment? Of | :44:28. | :44:33. | |
course, everybody is concerned. We are concerned there might be further | :44:34. | :44:37. | |
incursion in the territory of a sovereign nation. But whether there | :44:38. | :44:41. | |
is or there is not, we all ought to be concerned about the use of this | :44:42. | :44:44. | |
very crude and blunt instrument to try and influence other and their | :44:45. | :44:54. | |
behaviour. So when a former Defence Staff says we should keep forces in | :44:55. | :44:58. | |
Germany and go into larger scale exercises, in Germany, is that | :44:59. | :45:03. | |
something you can get satisfaction on? One of the things you're looking | :45:04. | :45:08. | |
at is a greater participation in exercises in the Baltic states, | :45:09. | :45:11. | |
Eastern European, NATO member countries, as a way of reassuring | :45:12. | :45:16. | |
them about our commitment to the Article five of the Washington | :45:17. | :45:22. | |
Treaty, the mutual guarantee of the collective national... I don't agree | :45:23. | :45:28. | |
with that. The decisions we made about bringing our forces out of | :45:29. | :45:32. | |
Germany are in order to ensure maximum effectiveness. By keeping | :45:33. | :45:37. | |
all our armoured capability together on the Salisbury plain, so would | :45:38. | :45:41. | |
contain together and work together, we will maximise the effectiveness | :45:42. | :45:45. | |
of it. It's those kind of decisions about how we maximise the | :45:46. | :45:49. | |
effectiveness of our forces that are necessary if we're going to remain | :45:50. | :45:54. | |
first-rate miniature power. When there is a lot of worry about what's | :45:55. | :45:57. | |
going to happen next in Eastern Europe and on the Russian border, | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
what extra help can we give the NATO partners? We have already announced | :46:02. | :46:07. | |
we will provide Typhoon aircraft, based possibly in Estonia, to | :46:08. | :46:12. | |
support the Polish led Baltic air policing mission, during the summer. | :46:13. | :46:17. | |
We are looking at opportunities to increase participation in planned | :46:18. | :46:26. | |
NATO exercises as another way of reassuring our NATO allies. Nobody | :46:27. | :46:29. | |
should be in any doubt of our resolve to live up to our | :46:30. | :46:32. | |
commitments under the NATO treaty. Do we have the commitment to live up | :46:33. | :46:39. | |
to the resolve? That was the question Mr Gates was suggesting. | :46:40. | :46:43. | |
The answer is yes, we are a credible ally for that one of only two large | :46:44. | :46:49. | |
NATO allies that spends over 2% of our GDP on defence. And we have the | :46:50. | :46:54. | |
fourth largest defence budget in the world. The USA is made clear in its | :46:55. | :47:00. | |
own defence review that it will rely on allies and partners more in the | :47:01. | :47:03. | |
future than it has done in the past and Britain is the most obvious and | :47:04. | :47:07. | |
most credible ally for the United States. I have to ask you this. It's | :47:08. | :47:13. | |
been suggested that a Cabinet minister spoke to the Guardian | :47:14. | :47:17. | |
newspaper and implied that Britain and an independent Scotland could | :47:18. | :47:21. | |
share the pound. There could be a trade-off involving trident. A lot | :47:22. | :47:25. | |
of people are suggesting a few. I have been in Washington this last | :47:26. | :47:32. | |
week. Let me be very clear. When the euro was union without a fiscal | :47:33. | :47:43. | |
political union will not work. We were proven to be right. And we are | :47:44. | :47:50. | |
not about to repeat the mistake with Scotland in the unlikely event the | :47:51. | :47:53. | |
Scottish people vote for independence. The reasons we | :47:54. | :47:56. | |
couldn't have a currency union between the rest of the UK in | :47:57. | :48:01. | |
Scotland are not political. It's not because they would be bad blood. | :48:02. | :48:04. | |
It's because there are sound economic reasons why a currency | :48:05. | :48:10. | |
union without deep fiscal and political union doesn't work. These | :48:11. | :48:16. | |
are two closely integrated economies. Would it be common sense | :48:17. | :48:28. | |
to accept that? You can't do it. If you have different fiscal holidays, | :48:29. | :48:32. | |
different political policies generally, your economies will | :48:33. | :48:38. | |
diverged. The monetary needs of one economy will be different to the | :48:39. | :48:44. | |
other. And we saw that in Europe during the Euro crisis of what | :48:45. | :48:47. | |
would've been the right monetary stance for Germany was the wrong | :48:48. | :48:52. | |
monetary stance for or Italy. If the Scots are prepared to accept that | :48:53. | :48:57. | |
and have that, that's their problem, surely, not London's | :48:58. | :49:02. | |
problem. We have made it clear we do not believe a monetary union could | :49:03. | :49:06. | |
work between two independent nations with separate fiscal and political | :49:07. | :49:09. | |
systems. The Chancellor and the chief secretary, across the | :49:10. | :49:15. | |
coalition have made clear that we could not do that. What about this | :49:16. | :49:20. | |
colleague, whoever he or she could be covered you know who they are? | :49:21. | :49:25. | |
No, I don't. It's someone close to central government. According to the | :49:26. | :49:30. | |
government, some of you would expect to play a major role in negotiations | :49:31. | :49:35. | |
post-referendum. That's why they were talking about you because | :49:36. | :49:39. | |
defence is a huge issue. At the further thoughts about the future | :49:40. | :49:43. | |
trident? If there's a Yes Vote, if the end of trident, it? No, I've | :49:44. | :49:48. | |
answered this question on many occasions. The Trident base is | :49:49. | :49:56. | |
hugely important to Britain's defence and we provide defence for | :49:57. | :50:03. | |
whole of the UK. I firmly believe Scotland is safer as part of the UK. | :50:04. | :50:08. | |
If the Scottish people were to vote for independence, there would be a | :50:09. | :50:11. | |
protracted negotiation about many issues. And the future of the base | :50:12. | :50:16. | |
at Faslane would be one of those issues. What I'm saying about | :50:17. | :50:21. | |
currency union if that is not just another item that could be | :50:22. | :50:25. | |
negotiated because there are clear economic reasons why it would not | :50:26. | :50:29. | |
work. That's why we have set out clearly that that is not part of the | :50:30. | :50:34. | |
negotiations for the bid could not be part of the negotiations. | :50:35. | :50:38. | |
Afghanistan. At the moment, there's elections happening in Helmand | :50:39. | :50:45. | |
province and the Taliban are either shooting or hanging people who try | :50:46. | :50:49. | |
to vote. That is not the Afghanistan anybody thought we would be handing | :50:50. | :50:55. | |
over. No one has ever suggested Afghanistan has transformed into a | :50:56. | :50:58. | |
totally peaceful and functioning democracy, but it's a lot better | :50:59. | :51:04. | |
than it was when we went in there. We are conducting these elections | :51:05. | :51:08. | |
but, clearly, there is insurgent activity in parts of the country and | :51:09. | :51:12. | |
the government is not able to control what happens in every area. | :51:13. | :51:18. | |
the government is not able to It's not a perfect situation. | :51:19. | :51:19. | |
the government is not able to control what happens in every area. | :51:20. | :51:19. | |
the government is not able to It's not a perfect situation. The | :51:20. | :51:19. | |
key question is whether we can deliver our principal objectives, | :51:20. | :51:24. | |
ensuring that Al-Qaeda and its associates cannot re-establish | :51:25. | :51:29. | |
themselves in Afghanistan and use Afghanistan as a base from which to | :51:30. | :51:35. | |
strike. An extremist antifemale, theocratic state in Afghanistan | :51:36. | :51:38. | |
which kept Al-Qaeda ad would be enough for us? No, we have | :51:39. | :51:42. | |
established in Afghanistan the conditions which have allowed a | :51:43. | :51:46. | |
democracy, not a perfect one, to take hold, a presidential election | :51:47. | :51:54. | |
going on right now which has been aggressively fought between | :51:55. | :51:56. | |
candidates with clearly differentiated policy positions. And | :51:57. | :52:00. | |
voting will take place across the country. I'm not going to say to you | :52:01. | :52:05. | |
in every single location it will happen in the way we would like to | :52:06. | :52:08. | |
happen. The situation there is a lot better than it was before we went | :52:09. | :52:13. | |
into that country. There's been a lot in today's papers about the | :52:14. | :52:15. | |
aftermath of gay marriage at the weekend. Looking at the happy | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
photographs and so on, do you think this is a good thing for a | :52:21. | :52:23. | |
Conservative government have done? We have made that decision, | :52:24. | :52:30. | |
Parliament made a decision... I'm wondering whether you changed your | :52:31. | :52:33. | |
mind on this? I was never against the principle. My concern was about | :52:34. | :52:37. | |
the pace, but it's history, we have done it and like all my colleagues | :52:38. | :52:42. | |
across government, I have been involved in making sure the | :52:43. | :52:45. | |
introduction of same-sex marriage is smooth and effective, it's now in | :52:46. | :52:49. | |
place. The people who have been opposed to this, people with | :52:50. | :52:52. | |
concerns about it, we'll get used to it, they will move on, and there are | :52:53. | :52:56. | |
many other battles to fight in the future. Where you shocked by the | :52:57. | :53:01. | |
front page of the Mirror and the sun this morning, one of your | :53:02. | :53:04. | |
colleagues, not a top Tory, but a colleague, who has had to resign | :53:05. | :53:09. | |
over rent by allegations? This is a personal matter for the individual | :53:10. | :53:12. | |
concerned. I haven't actually read the front page this morning of the | :53:13. | :53:16. | |
mirror, but it's always very sad when people are involved in personal | :53:17. | :53:20. | |
issues that impact on their careers. That's a matter for the person | :53:21. | :53:24. | |
concerned. Philip Hammond, thank you very much indeed for joining us. Now | :53:25. | :53:28. | |
over to Sally for the news headlines. Good morning. The US | :53:29. | :53:34. | |
Secretary of State, John Kerry, will meet the Russian Foreign Minister | :53:35. | :53:37. | |
Sergei Lavrov in Paris today to try to agree ways to resolve the crisis | :53:38. | :53:41. | |
in Ukraine. The decision came after President Vladimir Putin spoke to | :53:42. | :53:44. | |
President Barack Obama by phone late on Friday. Mr Obama has called on | :53:45. | :53:47. | |
Russia to pull its troops back from Ukraine's border. Mr Lavrov told | :53:48. | :53:50. | |
Russian TV on Saturday that Moscow had no intention of sending troops | :53:51. | :53:54. | |
into the country. A warship towing a black-box detector is preparing to | :53:55. | :53:57. | |
join the search for the missing Malaysian airliner, off the western | :53:58. | :54:00. | |
coast of Australia. Relatives of Chinese passengers from the plane | :54:01. | :54:03. | |
have flown to Kuala Lumpur to seek answers from the Malaysian | :54:04. | :54:06. | |
authorities. The plane carrying 239 people went missing more than three | :54:07. | :54:18. | |
weeks ago. That's all from me. Back to Andrew in just a moment but first | :54:19. | :54:21. | |
a look at what's coming up immediately after this programme. | :54:22. | :54:28. | |
Join us on BBC Two, live from Glasgow when, as a review of the | :54:29. | :54:31. | |
voting system is announced, we debate whether Britain was democracy | :54:32. | :54:34. | |
is working and then promiscuity and the morning after pill, and lastly, | :54:35. | :54:40. | |
the end Times, are they imminent? See you at 10am on BBC Two. Thank | :54:41. | :54:49. | |
you, Sally. Philip Hammond are still here. These talks going on between | :54:50. | :54:52. | |
the Americans and Sergei Lavrov, is this a big breakthrough? Is this | :54:53. | :54:57. | |
when the crisis started to recede? I hope so because we have to find a | :54:58. | :55:00. | |
deeper magic solution to the crisis over the Crimea while continuing to | :55:01. | :55:05. | |
make very clear to the Russians that if they were to go any further into | :55:06. | :55:11. | |
the Ukraine, there would be a raft of new measures against them would | :55:12. | :55:15. | |
have heard the Russian economy. These talks are vital but in the USA | :55:16. | :55:19. | |
and Russia but equally vital we see talks between Russia and the | :55:20. | :55:22. | |
Ukraine, that's the basis on which we can see a lowering of the | :55:23. | :55:25. | |
temperature and a de-escalation of what remained so very serious on | :55:26. | :55:30. | |
eastern Ukrainian border. For how long do you think we will be worried | :55:31. | :55:32. | |
about Russian energy security policies? When will we have our own | :55:33. | :55:41. | |
independence as an SSE man? We are investing a lot in this country. We | :55:42. | :55:45. | |
have gas from Norway and other places, as well, tax incentives | :55:46. | :55:49. | |
coming into the North Sea. I would like to see more North Sea | :55:50. | :55:52. | |
investment coming to. Maybe in ten years' time, we won't be thinking | :55:53. | :55:56. | |
the Russians could turn out the lights? Reducing our collective | :55:57. | :56:02. | |
independence on Russian energy is critically important. That's an | :56:03. | :56:04. | |
important issue, independent of what happened over the last few weeks. | :56:05. | :56:09. | |
The development is going on now give us good cause to expect that we will | :56:10. | :56:16. | |
become more independent. If the Russians want Ukraine to stay out of | :56:17. | :56:19. | |
NATO, is that a reasonable request given the historic links? It must be | :56:20. | :56:24. | |
for the Ukrainian people to determine their future. Including | :56:25. | :56:28. | |
where they stand on international organisations but, we need | :56:29. | :56:32. | |
discussions between the Ukrainians and the Russians. Thank you very | :56:33. | :56:36. | |
much all of you. I'm afraid that's all we've got time for this morning. | :56:37. | :56:42. | |
We will be back next Sunday at 9am on BBC One. We will talk about | :56:43. | :56:47. | |
welfare and that man in charge, Iain Duncan Smith joined this next | :56:48. | :56:51. | |
Sunday. Until then, we leave you with Sophie Ellis-Bextor. This is 13 | :56:52. | :56:52. | |
Little Dolls. Good morning. # Darkness ain't a sin. | :56:53. | :57:02. | |
# It's the visions in your head. # Leave it on the windowsill. | :57:03. | :57:05. | |
# It's for them now instead. # Do you think they know your heart? | :57:06. | :57:12. | |
# It wouldn't be a big surprise. # Because the pendulum will swing. | :57:13. | :57:17. | |
# Whenever night arrives. # 13 go a-wandering from grandma's | :57:18. | :57:20. | |
hands to mine. # And I'll never be alone. | :57:21. | :57:25. | |
# I'm cursed and I am blessed. # It's all and it is less. | :57:26. | :57:32. | |
# You would not believe the tales they tell. | :57:33. | :57:37. | |
# The good, the bad, the hurts like hell. | :57:38. | :57:41. | |
# Burden those who live the shaded path. | :57:42. | :57:45. | |
# They won't betray their wooden mask. | :57:46. | :57:50. | |
# Find them, hide them, keep them safe. | :57:51. | :57:53. | |
# Those one three little dolls. # One for each mood of the day. | :57:54. | :57:57. | |
# Those one three little dolls. # Cross your heart and dare to | :57:58. | :57:59. | |
sleep. # Leave them out to play. | :58:00. | :58:03. | |
# One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13 | :58:04. | :58:05. | |
little dolls. # See I was told a tale. | :58:06. | :58:15. | |
# Of witches in a box. # Lift the lid and spirits rise. | :58:16. | :58:19. | |
# And I see them now, of course. # Now they're here beside the bed. | :58:20. | :58:22. | |
# I feel 620 eyes. # Because for every twist and turn. | :58:23. | :58:34. | |
# You would not believe the tales they tell. | :58:35. | :58:37. | |
# The good, the bad, the hurts like hell. | :58:38. | :58:39. | |
# Not apparent to the naked eye. # But with the third, it all takes | :58:40. | :58:50. | |
flight. # One, two, three, four, five, six, | :58:51. | :58:54. | |
seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13 little dolls. | :58:55. | :58:57. | |
# One, three, five, seven, nine, 11, 13, 13. | :58:58. | :58:59. | |
# One, three, five, seven, nine, 11, 13, 13. | :59:00. | :59:02. | |
# One, three, five, seven, nine, 11, 13, 13. | :59:03. | :59:04. | |
# One, three, five, seven, nine, 11, 13, 13. | :59:05. | :59:07. | |
# One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13 | :59:08. | :59:16. | |
little dolls #. # One for each mood of the day. | :59:17. | :59:19. | |
# Those 13 little dolls. | :59:20. | :59:22. |