:00:33. > :00:42.It is great to be back after the long, hot, gusty summer and we are
:00:43. > :00:46.looking at the political year just starting unlike any other in my
:00:47. > :00:50.lifetime, Scotland voting on whether to leave the United Kingdom, and
:00:51. > :00:54.incredibly closely fought general election, if the polls are right,
:00:55. > :00:58.which may turn leaders towards another referendum, this time for
:00:59. > :01:03.all of us, on leaving the European Union. And what do we need in these
:01:04. > :01:08.turbulent times? And civil questions and clear answers. In the spirit of
:01:09. > :01:14.optimism, keep watching. Joining me today for the review of the Sunday
:01:15. > :01:20.newspapers: Now chairing their own show here in London, and postman,
:01:21. > :01:24.top politician and is now award-winning writer, Alan Johnson.
:01:25. > :01:27.The biggest story of the day, the first major poll, showing that the
:01:28. > :01:32.guests to independence campaign in Scotland is pulling ahead.
:01:33. > :01:37.Potentially a huge crisis for the British state. The biggest card
:01:38. > :01:41.played by the Unionist side has been the threat that an independent
:01:42. > :01:46.Scotland could not keep the pound. Has that horribly backfired? The man
:01:47. > :01:50.who made the threat, the Chancellor, George Osborne, joined me today. We
:01:51. > :01:53.will also be speaking about the cost of taking the war to the so-called
:01:54. > :01:58.Islamic State, a conflict which could last three years or more. But
:01:59. > :02:02.we are not just hearing conservative views, on the other side of the
:02:03. > :02:06.fence, the trade union Congress meeting in Liverpool, general
:02:07. > :02:11.secretary Frances O'Grady will be talking with us about poverty wages
:02:12. > :02:16.and what she regards as the unfair, unbalanced recovery. Finally, the
:02:17. > :02:20.great writer, Ian McEwan, author of novels such as Atonement and in
:02:21. > :02:25.during Love, one of the most acute chroniclers of modern life and its
:02:26. > :02:28.discontents. He has a new book out which feels eerily current,
:02:29. > :02:33.examining what happens when the state steps into the life of a
:02:34. > :02:39.child. He will be here to talk about the children act. -- Enduring Love.
:02:40. > :02:41.Supporters of Scottish independence, claim they have the momentum,
:02:42. > :02:44.with less than two weeks to go before the referendum.
:02:45. > :02:46.A poll by YouGov for The Sunday Times suggests that a
:02:47. > :02:51.narrow majority of Scottish voters is now in favour of leaving the UK.
:02:52. > :02:54.It is the first time a mainstream poll has put the Yes campaign
:02:55. > :02:56.ahead although the figures don't include undecided voters.
:02:57. > :02:58.Another poll gives the No campaign a narrow lead.
:02:59. > :03:08.Our Scotland Correspondent, James Cook, reports.
:03:09. > :03:14.Campaigners for the Yes campaign, enjoying their moment in the sun,
:03:15. > :03:17.mocking their rivals, for decades, Scottish Independent had a majority
:03:18. > :03:23.following, but now its supporters say they are on a roll, dancing
:03:24. > :03:28.towards victory. The problem with the Yes campaign. -- the beauty of
:03:29. > :03:33.the Yes campaign is that it has an impetus of its own. It is grassroot,
:03:34. > :03:38.different groups in every single sector of society, campaigning for a
:03:39. > :03:42.yes vote. It is a momentum which I think is unstoppable. There is some
:03:43. > :03:47.evidence of momentum, a poll by you go, for the Sunday Times, suggests a
:03:48. > :03:54.yes vote by the narrowest of margins, if the 1% of 49, when don't
:03:55. > :04:00.know is excluded. It is the first poll of this kind to predict the
:04:01. > :04:04.break-up. -- YouGov. If it was just the 1 poll, perhaps that would be
:04:05. > :04:08.all that it caused. In fact, the underlying trend is the same as in
:04:09. > :04:13.other recent surveys. Movement towards a yes vote. Opponents of
:04:14. > :04:17.independence say that the game is not over until the final whistle,
:04:18. > :04:21.they have been parading their signings, 18 big names in Scottish
:04:22. > :04:24.football who are supporting a no vote, and even senior figures in the
:04:25. > :04:31.campaign admit that these are nervous moment. -- moments. We are
:04:32. > :04:38.in the exciting part of the campaign, it is squeaky bum time. As
:04:39. > :04:43.they say in football. We will give it our all in the next few days, to
:04:44. > :04:46.make sure we showed that this is the best thing for the people of
:04:47. > :04:51.Scotland. The vote is only 11 days away, both sides agree on this, the
:04:52. > :04:54.race is tight and the stakes could hardly be higher.
:04:55. > :04:57.Renewed fighting in eastern Ukraine has called into question
:04:58. > :05:05.Separatist rebels, backed by Russia, seem to have resumed their
:05:06. > :05:08.battle to drive Ukrainian troops out of the port city of Mariupol.
:05:09. > :05:10.It's not clear whether the shelling is a temporary
:05:11. > :05:13.break in the truce, or indicates the end of the peace plan.
:05:14. > :05:15.Detectives investigating the disappearance of schoolgirl Alice
:05:16. > :05:26.Gross have arrested a 25 year-old man on suspicion of murder.
:05:27. > :05:32.from her west London home 10 days ago.
:05:33. > :05:33.The arrest follows information detectives received on Saturday.
:05:34. > :05:36.Police say all lines of enquiry are still open.
:05:37. > :05:39.MPs should get a 9% pay rise next year as planned, the body overseeing
:05:40. > :05:40.their salaries and expenses has said.
:05:41. > :05:45.Standards Authority wants to push ahead with plans to increase
:05:46. > :05:48.salaries to ?74,000 a year despite opposition from David
:05:49. > :05:52.Cameron. The new chief executive of the authority says failure to pay a
:05:53. > :05:55."fair" rate will make it harder to attract good candidates for
:05:56. > :06:01.The squeeze on pay elsewhere in the public sector is expected to
:06:02. > :06:04.dominate the Trades Union Congress which starts this afternoon
:06:05. > :06:06.Hundreds of thousands of health workers are being balloted
:06:07. > :06:12.Delegates from more than 50 unions will also hear calls to
:06:13. > :06:14.oppose Conservative plans, for further curbs on industrial action.
:06:15. > :06:18.That is all from me for now, I will be back with the headlines just
:06:19. > :06:30.before 9:30am. There's no doubt that economic
:06:31. > :06:32.recovery is underway. But beyond homeowners in London
:06:33. > :06:35.and the southeast, are the benefits How do things look from Liverpool,
:06:36. > :06:39.where the annual Trade Union Congress is taken place this week,
:06:40. > :06:41.kicking off the Conference season? I'm joined by the TUC leader,
:06:42. > :06:49.Frances O'Grady. Welcome. Good morning. The big news is going
:06:50. > :06:54.to be further strikes in support of higher pay, particularly in the
:06:55. > :06:58.public sector. The big thing for the TUC this year, Britain needs a pay
:06:59. > :07:01.rise, that is because we have seen workers not sharing in the benefits
:07:02. > :07:07.of economic recovery and taking real pay cuts in private and public
:07:08. > :07:10.sector, year-on-year out. I think there are three things that
:07:11. > :07:15.delegates here wants to hear from the Chancellor: why can't we have a
:07:16. > :07:20.higher minimum wage? What is the government doing to spread the
:07:21. > :07:23.living wage? Why did he reject that recommendation of the independent
:07:24. > :07:28.pay review body for health workers, nurses and midwives, for a 1%
:07:29. > :07:34.increase, and tell them they would get nothing? What can the TUC do
:07:35. > :07:40.about this? Are we going to see industrial action late in the year?
:07:41. > :07:43.I think we will see a mix of industrial action and protests,
:07:44. > :07:49.clearly some ballots are still happening and we will have to see
:07:50. > :07:52.the results of those. We have a big demonstration on October 18, Britain
:07:53. > :07:57.needs a pay rise. That will be a rallying point for those workers who
:07:58. > :08:02.take strike action, and everyone else who supports them. Not everyone
:08:03. > :08:07.is not going to have a pay rise, some people are getting a 10% pay
:08:08. > :08:12.rise. What message do you think that sense? Difficult question for you.
:08:13. > :08:16.Of course they should get a fair pay rise as well but I think that this
:08:17. > :08:21.will confirm the sense that we are led by a Conservative government
:08:22. > :08:24.that is so out of touch with how insulted ordinary people feel, who
:08:25. > :08:29.are just not seeing the benefits of the economic recovery that the
:08:30. > :08:33.Chancellor keeps telling us about. They are not feeling it in pay
:08:34. > :08:37.packets. What about the story in the Sunday Times, that one union is
:08:38. > :08:41.going to have hit squads going around to the houses of the owners
:08:42. > :08:45.of companies they are targeting, and indeed politicians like Boris
:08:46. > :08:52.Johnson, confronting them directly? Is it the kind of thing you feel
:08:53. > :08:55.comfortable with? This is a very old story about protest against
:08:56. > :09:02.blacklisting on Crossrail. The union has been very clear, that it would
:09:03. > :09:07.only engage in lawful protests. We do have a right to demonstrate in
:09:08. > :09:13.this country. As long as we abide by the law, as long as the police, who
:09:14. > :09:18.were there at the time, do not see any problems. -- who are there at
:09:19. > :09:22.the time. I think people should be very careful about buying fast and
:09:23. > :09:28.loose with Civil Liberties. Including outside peoples homes? The
:09:29. > :09:31.test here is whether it is a lawful protest, and of course, the police
:09:32. > :09:38.are in attendance to judge just that. Let's be clear, this was about
:09:39. > :09:43.construction workers standing up for their fellow workers on key issues
:09:44. > :09:48.like health and safety, losing their livelihoods as a result of a company
:09:49. > :09:53.blacklist. That was the cause of the problem, and now, that has been
:09:54. > :09:57.resolved. Looks very sunny in Liverpool, have a good week and
:09:58. > :10:03.thank you for joining us. It certainly is sunny. Scotland
:10:04. > :10:21.dominating the front pages of the serious newspapers. Here we
:10:22. > :10:26.new talks on the future of the United Kingdom, I shall be talking
:10:27. > :10:33.with the Chancellor, George Osborne, about that. And the Independent,
:10:34. > :10:51.Scotland, "independence crisis". Sunday Telegraph leads on MPs to get
:10:52. > :10:54.a 10% pay increase. Christiane Amanpour And Alan Johnson, take us
:10:55. > :10:59.away. People will have been shocked by this, there is a pro-majority for
:11:00. > :11:04.the Scottish, and existing shall threat but also around the world,
:11:05. > :11:16.because here we have, all outputs of Isis jihadi. -- all out blitz on
:11:17. > :11:23.Isis jihadis. I never thought that this vote was in the bag, and so
:11:24. > :11:28.what this does for me, it makes me want to go and campaign in Scotland
:11:29. > :11:31.and bring people up and say, look, Scotland as a nation is crucial to
:11:32. > :11:36.us and the United Kingdom, it is crucial to everything in my history.
:11:37. > :11:40.Whether it is the TUC, whether it is the Labour Party... But it is not
:11:41. > :11:46.about self-interest, otherwise David Cameron would be campaigning for a
:11:47. > :11:51.yes vote! Look at the great institutions: The Post Office, the
:11:52. > :11:57.BBC, the National Health Service. It is all about Scotland as a nation
:11:58. > :12:01.being in a wider community. I loved Will Hutton's phrase. As a famous
:12:02. > :12:11.American wallet -ish and said, sometimes you campaign in poetry and
:12:12. > :12:15.govern in prose. "2 countries on the same small island that have so much
:12:16. > :12:19.in common, if Britain cannot find a way of sticking together, it is the
:12:20. > :12:24.death of the liberal enlightenment before the atavistic forces of
:12:25. > :12:29.nationalism and ethnicity. He says it is a dark omen for the
:12:30. > :12:32.21st-century." A lot of Scottish people say all they want is a left
:12:33. > :12:36.of centre country, protecting the welfare state and the health service
:12:37. > :12:43.and they say they can no longer get that through Westminster. The fact
:12:44. > :12:47.that we have Westminster in power, we have evolved so much to Scotland.
:12:48. > :12:51.That is the issue, you could some of this campaign by saying the Yes
:12:52. > :12:55.campaign are saying vote yes and nothing will change where is the No
:12:56. > :12:58.campaign says vote no and everything will change. We have never put texts
:12:59. > :13:05.to that, we have never said what would change if they vote no. From
:13:06. > :13:10.an outsider 's point of view, looking as a foreign correspondence
:13:11. > :13:13.in, one question would be, has the Better Together campaign lacked
:13:14. > :13:17.imagination, as the newspapers have been arguing? Is there not been
:13:18. > :13:23.quite enough said about all of the virtues of staying within the union?
:13:24. > :13:26.This business about Ed Miliband, your party leader, saying there will
:13:27. > :13:31.be troops on the border if it comes to that, is that the case? Is
:13:32. > :13:35.campaigning is Scotland and campaigning for a no vote, and
:13:36. > :13:40.saying that the progressive future of this country depends upon our
:13:41. > :13:44.staying together. -- he is campaigning in Scotland. The way
:13:45. > :13:47.that you vote in this referendum is not like a general election, it is
:13:48. > :13:51.not, vote for one party now and you can reverse it in four or five
:13:52. > :13:57.years. The comment about the board is just saying, look... There could
:13:58. > :14:01.be two different immigration policies. Ed is saying, take
:14:02. > :14:05.Scotland as part of the United Kingdom, he's putting his energy
:14:06. > :14:10.into that. But questions are raised as to what would happen. Labour are
:14:11. > :14:17.disputing the way the story has been put forward. Take us on to the next
:14:18. > :14:22.existential threat, Isis. This is a huge issue, as world leaders have
:14:23. > :14:28.finally woken up to it, obviously very emotional and appalling
:14:29. > :14:31.decapitation videos of our colleagues, they have spurred
:14:32. > :14:37.international opinion. When you look now, you see poll saying that a
:14:38. > :14:42.majority would favour action. Astonishing turnaround. Because of
:14:43. > :14:48.some of these videos, but also because Isis, Isil, they have been
:14:49. > :14:52.able to claim a state. Is the first time a terrorist organisation has a
:14:53. > :14:59.state across a border, Syria and Iraq. Al-Qaeda never had that. These
:15:00. > :15:03.people are closer to us. For a long time, the international community,
:15:04. > :15:08.MI6, they have been talking about blowback, but now it is happening. I
:15:09. > :15:13.have spoken with the Iraqi president, he said they need our
:15:14. > :15:18.help, the consent is moving towards a coalition in NATO, and it may not
:15:19. > :15:20.just be a rack, it may be Syria as well, it is that is where Isis has
:15:21. > :15:40.its headquarters. -- just be Iraq. We are in effect at war, aren't we?
:15:41. > :15:48.Many of the people who went to fight in Syria were being encouraged. I
:15:49. > :15:52.have got no doubt that some of them are out there feeling very
:15:53. > :15:55.uncomfortable. If you get these people back and they are converted,
:15:56. > :16:05.they become very important advocates, just as other
:16:06. > :16:11.organisations have been. The 500 Brits who have gone over, hundreds
:16:12. > :16:19.of Americans, many Belgians, and they are saying, actually, we do
:16:20. > :16:23.need their intelligence. I think this wouldn't have happened if the
:16:24. > :16:31.international community had intervened in Syria much earlier. It
:16:32. > :16:37.meant supporting the muddy -- moderate Free Syrian Army. This
:16:38. > :16:47.could have been done three years ago and it would have been much easier
:16:48. > :16:52.than it is now. Can I ask, this notion of taking away passports,
:16:53. > :16:56.stripping them of British citizenship, do you think that is
:16:57. > :17:03.legally possible? I think there is a way to do it. You can remove their
:17:04. > :17:07.passport, and if they have dual nationality you can remove their
:17:08. > :17:18.British nationality. The question is if you are making their nationality
:17:19. > :17:23.and making them stateless. You cannot rush into it. The newspaper
:17:24. > :17:26.headlines demand an immediate response and then later, when things
:17:27. > :17:33.go wrong, they say they acted too quickly. Let's move on to the
:17:34. > :17:40.immigration story, I think it will be big in the papers again this
:17:41. > :17:52.week. That is Alan's story, isn't it? The major thrust of this is that
:17:53. > :18:02.we could do more to help the authorities in Calais. David
:18:03. > :18:07.Blunkett did a deal to close down sign out, what was happening there
:18:08. > :18:18.was that we moved our border from Dover across to France. There is a
:18:19. > :18:39.slight link, in that we have chosen not to sign up to the Schengen
:18:40. > :18:47.Agreement. They are not just trying to find a way to come to Germany, it
:18:48. > :18:51.is the UK as well. But it is a completely open French German
:18:52. > :18:59.border. We mentioned France, which takes us onto Francois Hollande, who
:19:00. > :19:25.has been having some nightmare weeks. Ridge about, his polls are in
:19:26. > :19:29.freefall. -- pretty bad. This woman has laid bare the presidency and
:19:30. > :19:35.crossed social norms, but beyond that he has also been forced to do
:19:36. > :19:48.what the international community has asked him to do, regarding Russia,
:19:49. > :19:53.and he has... There is no way of getting rid of him unless he chooses
:19:54. > :20:01.suddenly to go. He is safe so in fact he will stay there until 2017.
:20:02. > :20:14.Marvellous. The cheerful stories around the world would include a
:20:15. > :20:19.bowler. -- Ebola. I have been covering that story a lot. Sierra
:20:20. > :20:23.Leone, which the British famously stabilised after its terrible civil
:20:24. > :20:27.war a few years ago, things have been going better for Sierra Leone,
:20:28. > :20:32.but it is one of the worst hit in the crisis and in the next couple of
:20:33. > :20:37.weeks they are going to lock down the entire country for four days to
:20:38. > :20:47.try to stop the spread. This is a catastrophic failure of the
:20:48. > :20:54.international community. The WHO has been criticised for being too slow.
:20:55. > :20:59.You have a theme here this morning! It is true! I spoke to the
:21:00. > :21:04.discoverers of this virus, they say this is not something that needs to
:21:05. > :21:07.be this kind of crisis, it can be fairly easily contained and that
:21:08. > :21:13.kind of help should have been provided earlier. There has been a
:21:14. > :21:19.lot of coverage about Conservatives and Europe, we are still waiting for
:21:20. > :21:23.the by-election. What is going on? There was an extraordinary vote on
:21:24. > :21:28.the Private members Bill on Friday on the bedroom tax, probably the
:21:29. > :21:34.most vicious piece of legislation I have ever seen, became the subject
:21:35. > :21:39.of a big vote. Only one third of Scottish nationalists turned up to
:21:40. > :21:44.vote incidentally. That aside, 70 Tory MPs refused to come in on the
:21:45. > :21:47.three line whip, which is extraordinary. This piece in the
:21:48. > :22:00.Mail on Sunday, with Jacob Rees-Mogg, talk about damned with
:22:01. > :22:06.faint praise, in many ways it has been successful he says. It is fun
:22:07. > :22:11.to watch because this is an inverted version of what happened to Labour
:22:12. > :22:20.in the 80s. He once Nigel Farage to be the Deputy Prime Minister. For
:22:21. > :22:25.goodness sake! Marine Le Pen did well in the European elections but
:22:26. > :22:31.do you think this is a starter? Is it possible here in England? This is
:22:32. > :22:43.a 90 minute on the right. You have the Conservative Party and the
:22:44. > :22:48.Conservative Party circa 1980. In Scotland there is a generalised
:22:49. > :22:53.revolt against politics, isn't there? I think that is true, and
:22:54. > :22:57.there are many other countries under the world with a whole series of
:22:58. > :23:02.issues under that, but in terms of thinking UKIP are the answer to this
:23:03. > :23:06.when they are so obviously a version of conservatism that many
:23:07. > :23:12.Conservatives find attractive, but for us on the left... Turning to
:23:13. > :23:18.another story of meltdown, the US open. I am a major tennis fan and I
:23:19. > :23:22.watch this and I love it. It was a bloodbath yesterday at the
:23:23. > :23:28.semifinals. The number one seed and the number two seed... I've don't
:23:29. > :23:33.think they have the sports page here but Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer
:23:34. > :23:38.were wiped out of the US Open finals and they were saying it is a seismic
:23:39. > :23:45.shift. We have a Japanese for the first time who has made it so far in
:23:46. > :23:53.a grand slam tournaments, and Marin Cilic. Alan, you have a new book
:23:54. > :23:59.out, you did very well with your first book which was easy to read
:24:00. > :24:05.and enjoyable. The second book is about your early years as a postman,
:24:06. > :24:10.a social history. Again and again you had male authority figures who
:24:11. > :24:15.fought in the war and they kind of pinned the union together and the
:24:16. > :24:20.postal service together. Those people now are by and large gum. It
:24:21. > :24:26.is very interesting that what you regard as your youth is regarded as
:24:27. > :24:31.others to be social history! When I started work, virtually all of these
:24:32. > :24:36.guys had had some experience. They were coming into their 40s, they had
:24:37. > :24:46.fought in the war and had these terrible traumas and adventures when
:24:47. > :24:49.they were teenagers. They were sitting in the canteen together
:24:50. > :24:54.depending on what regiment they were in. And a lot of the discipline of
:24:55. > :25:00.the trade unions came from those people who had the discipline of the
:25:01. > :25:05.trenches. Exactly. Irrespective of their political views. When we were
:25:06. > :25:10.on a seven-week all-out strike in the post office, the guy running
:25:11. > :25:17.back and forward was an ex-serviceman, and he was applauding
:25:18. > :25:21.Dickie Lawler. I said, I thought ex-servicemen... He said, we are
:25:22. > :25:27.going to fight here and we have got to win it. Almost everything they
:25:28. > :25:34.looked at was in that context, but what a generation. Their parents had
:25:35. > :25:40.been through the First World War. It had dominated their whole lives and
:25:41. > :25:45.they came out of that. It has been very well received. Is there going
:25:46. > :25:51.to be a further sequel? Are we therefore seeing arrival of Alan
:25:52. > :25:57.Johnson the writer and disappearance of the politician? No, I am going to
:25:58. > :26:02.dedicate my time to Hull as a backbench MP. In my spare time I
:26:03. > :26:10.will do some writing. If I ever become as good as you... So sweet! I
:26:11. > :26:15.hate to interrupt this lovefest! The weather has been pretty fine and dry
:26:16. > :26:21.for much of lately, I'm not sure if that qualifies yet as an Indian
:26:22. > :26:32.summer, let's find out from Chris. If the warmth lasts, we will have a
:26:33. > :26:37.think of that. In the south, some mist and fog patches to start the
:26:38. > :26:44.day. That cloud will tend to thin and break up throughout the day. In
:26:45. > :26:49.Scotland there is an area of low pressure, bringing a cool breeze and
:26:50. > :26:56.temperatures suppressed at just 12 or 13 degrees. Looking at the
:26:57. > :27:00.weather for the night-time, rain will become increasingly showery
:27:01. > :27:04.across north-east Scotland. Clear skies elsewhere, temperatures in the
:27:05. > :27:09.towns and cities not especially low but in the countryside it is a
:27:10. > :27:14.different story. We could get a touch of grass frost in places. A
:27:15. > :27:19.cold start to Monday, but with high pressure with us it will be another
:27:20. > :27:23.fine and dry day. Similar temperatures with quite a bit of
:27:24. > :27:29.cloud for the north of Scotland, it will remain on the cool side here.
:27:30. > :27:34.The high pressure will stay with us for much of the weekend but the
:27:35. > :27:42.amount of cloud we see day by day will vary.
:27:43. > :27:48.Ian McEwan has been at the forefront of modern British fiction, some of
:27:49. > :27:52.his most popular work include books like Enduring Love and Atonement.
:27:53. > :27:56.His latest book, The Children Act, is gripping and highly topical with
:27:57. > :28:20.so much in the news recently about the treatment of young people. Very
:28:21. > :28:26.often I find in your books that you are choosing people who you move
:28:27. > :28:31.around with socially as your central characters, they are novels about
:28:32. > :28:37.the establishment innocents? These are people that work, I love people
:28:38. > :28:43.'s expertise so I sat for a long time with a neurosurgeon, I spent
:28:44. > :28:49.time with physicists, I like people 's work. This granular nature of
:28:50. > :28:53.what they do. Yes, and the new vocabularies you discover. And of
:28:54. > :28:58.course the children's courts have now been opened to the press but you
:28:59. > :29:01.went through the judgements and they are almost like novels in their own
:29:02. > :29:10.right? They can be like short novels, at their best. Some of them
:29:11. > :29:18.have great compassion, rationality... If only they were all
:29:19. > :29:22.like that. You have chosen, central to it, a Jehovah's Witness family
:29:23. > :29:28.and a blood transfusion argument. You make the boy who doesn't want
:29:29. > :29:31.the blood transfusion very charismatic, but beyond that some
:29:32. > :29:35.people would say this is an easy target, an extremist religious
:29:36. > :29:42.position which well-meaning agnostics find very easy to attack.
:29:43. > :29:44.It is not really a target. It is a story which repeats itself
:29:45. > :29:49.constantly in the courts now, especially in the family division,
:29:50. > :29:54.where the secular imagination of the court runs up against sincerely held
:29:55. > :30:00.religious belief. The judges are not wanting to make this decision but
:30:01. > :30:04.they are forced to make the decision as judicial reasonable parents and
:30:05. > :30:08.generally they come out on the side of what is rational and
:30:09. > :30:12.compassionate rather than what is theologically correct. But it is an
:30:13. > :30:31.interesting divide. I'm not targeting Jehovah's Witnesses.
:30:32. > :30:38.The act itself is humane, it is brilliant, but between the writing
:30:39. > :30:44.of it and its enactment, there is a very big shadow. With Rotherham, we
:30:45. > :30:47.must feel we have hugely systematically lets down children.
:30:48. > :30:51.It also cuts the other way, families, often poor families, find
:30:52. > :30:57.that overweening local authorities snatch away their children, bring in
:30:58. > :31:00.experts to give good reason to judges, parents themselves cannot
:31:01. > :31:05.call on experts, they are not allowed. Strangely, that is against
:31:06. > :31:10.the spirit of the law! It is the enactment of this that we have got
:31:11. > :31:13.to attend to. Finally, this is a rooted official book, short novel
:31:14. > :31:21.rather than a novella 60,000 words... I find that entirely
:31:22. > :31:24.entrancing. Convenient! But it is not being listed for the big
:31:25. > :31:30.literary prizes, is that because literary prizes judges now want a
:31:31. > :31:33.big fat blockbuster? Time to campaign about the Booker prize is
:31:34. > :31:39.when you are on the list, not when you are not on it! -- the time to
:31:40. > :31:47.complain. In terms of the condition of fiction, we are seeing a revival
:31:48. > :31:51.of books about current life. Lonely figure at times when you write about
:31:52. > :31:55.Iraq war and the protests against it but now we are seen more books
:31:56. > :31:59.dealing with the here and now, and the conditions of being alive in the
:32:00. > :32:03.21st-century. It is one of the duties of the novelist to take the
:32:04. > :32:08.pulse of the times, conditions of modernity, of cities, what it is to
:32:09. > :32:12.be at the beginning of the 21st-century, dark and turbulent
:32:13. > :32:17.time. I cannot remember a darker new cycle in summer. Ghastly, terrible.
:32:18. > :32:21.It has been difficult. We do not know where it is heading. Novelists
:32:22. > :32:26.do well to try to take the temperature of that. Do you know
:32:27. > :32:31.where you are heading? Have you got another book on the go? If I knew I
:32:32. > :32:38.would not tell you but I do not, I am in that mulching phase... It is
:32:39. > :32:44.wonderful! I'm very good at not writing, I can sit around reading
:32:45. > :32:47.and talking and travelling. I will allow you to go away and mulch away
:32:48. > :32:52.from the camera! The Scottish yes campaign now ahead?
:32:53. > :32:54.Meltdown for the UK? A European crisis for the Tory
:32:55. > :32:57.party, and the small matter of making war on the Islamic state,
:32:58. > :33:00.with the costs of that. I'm joined by the Chancellor
:33:01. > :33:02.George Osborne, and I think it's possible we'll find
:33:03. > :33:10.something to talk about. You were the architects, partly, of
:33:11. > :33:14.the strategy of saying that you cannot have the pound sterling for
:33:15. > :33:18.the Scots, but that has horribly backfired. I do not accept that
:33:19. > :33:22.assessment, this country faces a big choice.
:33:23. > :33:27.Scotland faces a big choice. If people were in any doubt that they
:33:28. > :33:32.can stay at home, that they do not need to vote no at the polls, they
:33:33. > :33:37.will no longer be in any doubt. They should not be in any doubt about the
:33:38. > :33:41.consequences of the decision, one of which was that Scotland would not be
:33:42. > :33:45.sharing the pound as an independent country with the rest of the United
:33:46. > :33:48.Kingdom if the separatists win the vote. People in Scotland do not
:33:49. > :33:51.believe that, they think if there is a yes vote, there is going to be
:33:52. > :33:57.sensible negotiations, that you will sit down with Alex Salmond and you
:33:58. > :34:00.will discuss the future fiscal and financial arrangements and because
:34:01. > :34:04.sharing the pound is good for British industry, south and north of
:34:05. > :34:10.the border, and is common sense, eventually, that will happen. That
:34:11. > :34:14.is just not true. The truth is that sharing the pound would not be good
:34:15. > :34:19.for Scotland, it would not be good for the rest of the United Kingdom.
:34:20. > :34:25.We share it now. We are part of one country with one central bank and
:34:26. > :34:30.one integrated and United economy. If you vote no, if you vote to leave
:34:31. > :34:34.the United Kingdom, you are leaving those arrangements. It is a bit like
:34:35. > :34:38.a couple getting divorced and yet saying that you will keep the joint
:34:39. > :34:42.mortgage and the current accounts... That is not what happens in divorce
:34:43. > :34:47.and in separation. It brings us back to this point: This is a very big
:34:48. > :34:52.decision for Scotland. The people of Scotland need to be in possession of
:34:53. > :34:55.all of the facts. On the currency, you have personalised it to me, and
:34:56. > :35:00.as Chancellor I have been straight with people about the choices they
:35:01. > :35:05.face. What I have said has been echoed by the Labour Party, by
:35:06. > :35:10.economists, by central bankers... This is the view of many people,
:35:11. > :35:15.that a currency union is not going to happen, and it will not happen.
:35:16. > :35:21.If Alex Salmond wins the vote and comes to you and says, we should
:35:22. > :35:25.talk, you will say, no talk, no discussion? Every possible
:35:26. > :35:28.combination of government at Westminster that you can imagine has
:35:29. > :35:31.made it clear that there is not going to be a currency union, it is
:35:32. > :35:36.really for Alex Salmond in the next ten days to explain what currency
:35:37. > :35:42.Scotland would use if separated from the rest of the United Kingdom. He
:35:43. > :35:45.says that the pound belongs to us as much as George Osborne or anyone
:35:46. > :35:48.else in England, it is a joint currency, we have joint
:35:49. > :35:52.arrangements, there is no reason why we would not continue with this, we
:35:53. > :35:55.could have a voice at the Bank of England. He says that will keep
:35:56. > :35:59.business and prosperity flowing across-the-board which is what
:36:00. > :36:01.everyone wants. It is not a common-sense arrangement, it would
:36:02. > :36:04.not be good for the people of Scotland, they would have voted to
:36:05. > :36:09.be independent, voted to separate the rest of the UK. Putting all of
:36:10. > :36:12.the economic decisions in the hands of their neighbouring country. It
:36:13. > :36:16.would not be good for the rest of the UK because we would be standing
:36:17. > :36:21.behind, for example, the banks and the financial system and the economy
:36:22. > :36:23.of another country. We did not join the euro because we did not want to
:36:24. > :36:30.be part of these currency arrangements. Alex Salmond is not
:36:31. > :36:34.really telling people the straight truth about what currency Scotland
:36:35. > :36:40.will be using if Scotland separates from the rest of the UK. He has
:36:41. > :36:45.conceded... The very fact that he says, "look, I accept there is plan
:36:46. > :36:51.A, that is not going to work, there is three plan Bs..." That is someone
:36:52. > :36:55.who does not have a plan. There are fundamental issues, if Scotland were
:36:56. > :37:00.two separate, but that is a pretty fundamental one! What is going to be
:37:01. > :37:03.the nuts that but my wallet or purse! The coins in my pocket! If
:37:04. > :37:08.this country is independent or separate from the rest of the UK,
:37:09. > :37:13.what will they be? This is not simply peak from Westminster, that
:37:14. > :37:20.we are going to punish them. That is what it sounds like. I am an
:37:21. > :37:23.Englishman, I want Scotland to stay in the United Kingdom. I think the
:37:24. > :37:29.arrangement we have at the moment works well but can be improved upon.
:37:30. > :37:33.-- pique. The arrangement with the pound sterling works well, we have
:37:34. > :37:38.arrangements that can work, and I am the one, and Labour politicians, and
:37:39. > :37:43.independent columnists, they are all of the people say it is not going to
:37:44. > :37:47.work if you think can share the pound after separation. No ifs and
:37:48. > :37:51.no buts, with independence, no pound sterling. We will not share the
:37:52. > :37:56.pound if Scotland separates from the rest of the UK. Moving onto another
:37:57. > :38:01.story related to that, the suggestion there is going to be
:38:02. > :38:05.all-party talks if there is no vote. On new arrangements Scotland,
:38:06. > :38:14.further devolution, fiscal devolution. Subtly different views
:38:15. > :38:19.from subtly different parties, on what would happen with de novo. Will
:38:20. > :38:24.be such a proposal on the table before the referendum takes place at
:38:25. > :38:29.Orange from the decisions that affect Scotland, that has been clear
:38:30. > :38:33.from both sides of this debate in Scotland, and we have proposed to
:38:34. > :38:37.deliver on that. In the next few days you will see a plan of action
:38:38. > :38:41.to give more powers to Scotland, more tax powers, more spending
:38:42. > :38:45.powers, more plans and powers over the welfare state. That is going to
:38:46. > :38:50.be put into effect, the timetable for delivering that will be put into
:38:51. > :38:55.effect the moment there is a no vote in the referendum, a clock will be
:38:56. > :38:59.taking, for delivering those powers. Then Scotland will have the best of
:39:00. > :39:02.both worlds, it will avoid the risk of separation but they will have
:39:03. > :39:06.more control over their own destiny, that is where many Scots want to be.
:39:07. > :39:11.Has this been agreed by all of the main Westminster parties? We have
:39:12. > :39:15.been discussing with the Liberal Democrats with the other parties,
:39:16. > :39:18.with the Labour Party, we are working on that plan of action.
:39:19. > :39:22.People should know that if they vote no, they are voting for and more
:39:23. > :39:30.devolution, more powers to Scotland, without the risks of separation.
:39:31. > :39:35.Tax-raising powers? Going as far as fiscal autonomy? Much greater fiscal
:39:36. > :39:40.autonomy, who will wait for the proposal, but much greater power to
:39:41. > :39:43.control tax rates, more control over public expenditure and welfare
:39:44. > :39:49.rights. A host of other changes, all of which I think satisfy a Scottish
:39:50. > :39:53.demand that decisions that affect Scotland are taken in Scotland
:39:54. > :39:57.without the risks of separation. I think that is the best of both
:39:58. > :40:01.worlds. Alex Salmond scored a blow when he attacked Alistair Darling
:40:02. > :40:09.for the lack of job-creating powers for the Scottish Parliament, will
:40:10. > :40:18.that also be discuss? Things like tax rate certainly have an effect on
:40:19. > :40:21.attracting jobs. The economy is growing, I would like to see it grow
:40:22. > :40:25.further, I want to see that the Scottish people make their own
:40:26. > :40:30.decisions. If after all of this, is there going to be a yes vote, is
:40:31. > :40:34.there going to be major resignations? This is not about
:40:35. > :40:37.individuals, it is important we confront this. People need to know
:40:38. > :40:42.that when they vote they are not voting about a single politician or
:40:43. > :40:45.policy, this is not a protest vote, this is a once-in-a-lifetime vote,
:40:46. > :40:51.this is not about the next five-year is, we are talking about the next
:40:52. > :40:55.300 years. Could not be a bigger decision. -- this is not about the
:40:56. > :41:00.next five-years. We want Scotland to stay. Many people feel that this
:41:01. > :41:03.would be such a big moment that it will destroy the UK Government as
:41:04. > :41:10.well. We are campaigning for a no vote, I do believe that we will see
:41:11. > :41:14.a no vote. This is not about the future of the British government in
:41:15. > :41:20.Westminster, it is not about me, David Cameron... People need to
:41:21. > :41:23.understand. This is not a protest vote, Alex Salmond does not want to
:41:24. > :41:26.talk about the big economic questions, you want to turn this
:41:27. > :41:32.into a protest vote about Westminster. It is not that, it is a
:41:33. > :41:36.Juan Zuniga lifetime vote about the future of Scotland. It would be a
:41:37. > :41:39.huge triumph for Alex Salmond if he can pull this off, he has always
:41:40. > :41:45.said he can do it, a lot of people in Westminster have been sceptical.
:41:46. > :41:48.Part of the reason is that the prounion campaign has been negative,
:41:49. > :41:52.has been so much energy and enthusiasm on the yes side, mainly
:41:53. > :41:56.because they want a slightly more socially just Scotland than they can
:41:57. > :42:02.get at the moment. I dispute that, because I see in the better together
:42:03. > :42:08.campaign a very positive vision of Scotland within the United Kingdom,
:42:09. > :42:11.getting the best of both words. -- world's. I think that people
:42:12. > :42:15.understand, perhaps these opinion polls will focus peoples attention
:42:16. > :42:21.on the real choice they have got to make on the 18th. -- Better
:42:22. > :42:25.Together. If you vote yes, you are voting to separate Scotland from the
:42:26. > :42:28.rest the United Kingdom, the way to keep Scotland in the United Kingdom
:42:29. > :42:34.with more powers for Scotland is to vote no. This is an existential
:42:35. > :42:38.threats to the British state, as we talked about earlier, the other one,
:42:39. > :42:42.Isis, we have heard a big NATO summit in Wales, as a result are we
:42:43. > :42:46.in effect at war with Islamic State? Could this go on, as macro barracks
:42:47. > :42:53.has said, more than three years into the future? -- Barack Obama. We have
:42:54. > :42:56.got to defeat this terrorist organisation, it is a direct threat
:42:57. > :43:01.to the security people living in Britain as well as an enormous
:43:02. > :43:07.threat instability to people living in the West. There are already air
:43:08. > :43:11.strikes. That is a locally led operation by the Iraqi people, by
:43:12. > :43:15.other countries in the neighbourhoods. This is very
:43:16. > :43:20.different from ten years or so ago, with the Iraq war. By Western
:43:21. > :43:24.invasion. This is an operation by the Iraqi government, which by the
:43:25. > :43:27.way needs to be more representative. It is in operation from people in
:43:28. > :43:33.the Middle East to destroy this threat, which we will assist in any
:43:34. > :43:38.way that we can. And in a way that helps them with their calls. And it
:43:39. > :43:44.could involve military assistance from the air? Air strikes, which
:43:45. > :43:48.would not need Parliament to be recalled? On the question of air
:43:49. > :43:52.strikes, we are not yet at that stage, we have not ruled things out
:43:53. > :43:58.but we are not at that stage today. We need to work out what we can do
:43:59. > :44:02.as a country to best help defeat this threats to our security and to
:44:03. > :44:07.the security of the world. We are already supporting the Kurdish
:44:08. > :44:12.people in their struggle against these barbaric terrorists. Come on
:44:13. > :44:15.the role of Parliament, what's David Cameron has said, and I'm a member
:44:16. > :44:19.of Parliament myself, and what I think is the correct position, is
:44:20. > :44:23.this: If there needs to be an immediate emergency operation,
:44:24. > :44:29.because there is an immediate crisis on the ground, humanitarian crisis,
:44:30. > :44:32.and it is not possible to go to Parliament, the government reserves
:44:33. > :44:36.the right to take action. That has been the position of previous
:44:37. > :44:41.governments. Any longer campaign, anything that requires a sustained
:44:42. > :44:43.effort, of course we will go to Parliament and of course we will go
:44:44. > :44:48.to Parliament after taking any action if it had to be done in a
:44:49. > :44:51.matter of hours. Given what we have seen over the last few weeks, can
:44:52. > :44:55.there be compromise, and there be any kind of deal, anything short of
:44:56. > :45:01.total victory when it comes to Islamic State? Does not look like
:45:02. > :45:05.you can deal with people who are so barbaric that they rates women, that
:45:06. > :45:25.they chop off the heads of the people they capture... -- that they
:45:26. > :45:42.section women. -- sexually assault winning. -- women.
:45:43. > :45:52.Next year we will be spending below the 2% NATO figure, surely that has
:45:53. > :45:56.to be revised upwards and quickly? I don't accept that assessment. I
:45:57. > :46:02.think we continue to meet the 2% NATO commitment, but the big point
:46:03. > :46:05.is that Britain will always put its national security first. As
:46:06. > :46:10.Chancellor I will always do that and I would argue that economic security
:46:11. > :46:17.is the flip side the coin for the security. If you don't have order in
:46:18. > :46:21.your public finances, stability in your financial system, you cannot
:46:22. > :46:29.properly defend yourself. Because we have a long-term economic plan,
:46:30. > :46:35.because we are putting the country on to a more secure footing, we can
:46:36. > :46:39.afford what it takes to defeat threats to our security. One of your
:46:40. > :46:45.important jobs from time to time is to make a strategic change of
:46:46. > :46:49.direction, is this time to put more money into defences? We still run
:46:50. > :46:54.one of the largest defence budgets in the world, we have invested a
:46:55. > :47:02.huge amount in new equipment, the latest fighter jets today. According
:47:03. > :47:06.to the Sunday Times the entire army could be fitted into the Wembley
:47:07. > :47:09.stadium. We have one of the most deployable armies in the world and
:47:10. > :47:14.there will be a second major aircraft carrier for the Royal
:47:15. > :47:20.Navy, our soldiers will have the latest new vehicles, our air force
:47:21. > :47:25.will continue to have investment. Of course, when we get to a big defence
:47:26. > :47:30.review next year, we will have to make judgements about the country's
:47:31. > :47:34.future but you are not in a position to make those decisions if your
:47:35. > :47:39.economy is falling apart, you don't have an economic plan... But
:47:40. > :47:44.whatever happens to the rest of the public finances, we will not fall
:47:45. > :47:51.below the 2% NATO requirement in the future? We have committed to it and
:47:52. > :47:56.we are meeting the 2% requirement. I thought for the next financial year
:47:57. > :48:02.we were down to 1.8%. I don't accept that. We are meeting the requirement
:48:03. > :48:06.and will continue to do that. If Scotland voted yes, is there the
:48:07. > :48:23.money to relocate the entire Trident fleet somewhere in England? I don't
:48:24. > :48:25.want to get into what happens in the terrible situation where Scotland
:48:26. > :48:27.decides it wants to separate from the rest of the UK. There will be
:48:28. > :48:30.plenty of disruption if that happens and I don't think it will be good
:48:31. > :48:41.for the UK or Scotland. Another crisis at home precipitated by the
:48:42. > :48:48.by-election and it has been suggested that you should bring
:48:49. > :49:02.Nigel Farage in with a parked. I don't agree with that, there will be
:49:03. > :49:12.no pact. The way to deliver what we need is to have a Conservative
:49:13. > :49:19.government. I think we have really clear choice in the general
:49:20. > :49:25.election. As this election starts to loom, people can see a big choice. I
:49:26. > :49:29.have an advantage over you which is that you have a biographer and this
:49:30. > :49:33.says that your position on Europe has hardened and you know longer
:49:34. > :49:39.think the British axis would be unthinkable. You are thinking about
:49:40. > :49:43.that, for large economy, it is becoming harder and harder because
:49:44. > :49:50.the big decisions are taken by the Eurozone countries and not by us
:49:51. > :49:53.which is making you think an exit is not impossible. The first part of
:49:54. > :49:58.what you said is an accurate representation of what I think.
:49:59. > :50:02.Britain faces a challenge with an organisation where a lot of
:50:03. > :50:07.decisions are being centralised in the Eurozone. That's why I want to
:50:08. > :50:10.change our relationship with the European Union. We want to
:50:11. > :50:15.renegotiate our membership so that Britain gets a fair say and
:50:16. > :50:20.crucially that the whole of Europe grows and creates jobs. While we are
:50:21. > :50:23.having this conversation about the future of Britain's relationship
:50:24. > :50:28.with Europe, currently on the continent of Europe people are out
:50:29. > :50:35.of work, even the German economy is shrinking. That is what Europe needs
:50:36. > :50:39.to do collectively, change the way the European Union operates but the
:50:40. > :50:43.only way you can have that is by having a Conservative government.
:50:44. > :50:49.The only way you can have that is if the European Union think it is a
:50:50. > :50:53.possibility to leave Britain out of the negotiations if they fail. Boris
:50:54. > :50:59.has said Britain could thrive outside of the EU, do you agree? I
:51:00. > :51:06.want it to thrive inside, but it would have to be reformed. What I am
:51:07. > :51:09.campaigning for his fourth Briton to be in a changed European Union that
:51:10. > :51:12.sort of the EU, do you agree? I want it to thrive inside, but it would
:51:13. > :51:15.have to be reformed. What I am campaigning for his fourth Briton to
:51:16. > :51:20.be in a changed European Union that satisfies the wishes of the British
:51:21. > :51:25.people. If you don't get that renegotiation, could we thrive
:51:26. > :51:33.outside? I don't expect us to fail. The Polish Prime Minister said, I
:51:34. > :51:38.have got three priorities, and one of those is making sure he deals
:51:39. > :51:42.with Britain's concerns. That is an example of how David Cameron has put
:51:43. > :51:48.these concerns at the heart of the European agenda. Would you have
:51:49. > :51:54.liked to see Boris Johnson take on Mr Carswell in the by-election? No,
:51:55. > :52:00.I think it is great he is returning, he is an incredible asset
:52:01. > :52:04.to our party. When you are going to fight in a general election, in a
:52:05. > :52:09.cup final you want your best team on the pitch. I have just been working
:52:10. > :52:15.with him this weekend on making sure we freeze rail fares so that they
:52:16. > :52:18.only go up with inflation. That is coming into effect from the middle
:52:19. > :52:22.of January and it is a great example of how, if you take difficult
:52:23. > :52:32.economic decisions, you can help taxpayers. The Foreign Secretary
:52:33. > :52:37.sitting there a couple of weeks ago, said given our relationship with the
:52:38. > :52:45.EU now, if there was no change, he would come out. We are going to
:52:46. > :52:49.reform our European Union, and you are going to get that with a
:52:50. > :52:55.Conservative government. There has been a lot of criticism about the
:52:56. > :53:01.MPs' 10% pay rise, what is your view on that? I find myself in rare
:53:02. > :53:10.agreement with Francis. I don't think it is a good time that MPs
:53:11. > :53:14.would received such a big increase, but there will be a report after the
:53:15. > :53:19.election that is when we will have to tackle this issue. We have a
:53:20. > :53:27.recovery going on but for many it is a grim recovery, their wages are not
:53:28. > :53:42.rising. What can you to answer Frances O'Grady's points? The people
:53:43. > :53:46.in a country are only as rich as the country and if your economy is
:53:47. > :53:50.shrinking and failing, people get poorer, and as your economy starts
:53:51. > :53:58.to grow, the people in that country star to get richer. You say no one
:53:59. > :54:01.is benefiting from the recession, indeed you started the programme by
:54:02. > :54:08.saying unless you own a house in London and so on, but there are 1.8
:54:09. > :54:14.million people in jobs who didn't have those jobs beforehand. That is
:54:15. > :54:16.real economic security for families, real progress in our economic
:54:17. > :54:20.situation. For now, thank you. Now over to Riz
:54:21. > :54:30.for the news headlines. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has
:54:31. > :54:39.repeated his warning that no MP in London would agree to sharing the
:54:40. > :54:49.pound if there is a yes vote in the Scottish referendum. Renewed
:54:50. > :54:53.fighting in eastern Ukraine has called into question the cease-fire
:54:54. > :54:57.agreed on Friday. Separatist rebels backed by Russia seem to have
:54:58. > :55:02.resumed their battle to drive Ukrainian troops out of Mariupol. It
:55:03. > :55:07.is not clear whether the shelling is a temporary break in the truce or
:55:08. > :55:13.indicate the end of a peace plan. That is all from me. The next news
:55:14. > :55:19.is at midday. The Chancellor is still with me, as is Alan Johnson.
:55:20. > :55:23.Alan was talking about the problems over passports for returning
:55:24. > :55:28.jihadist. What is the latest legal advice you are getting about whether
:55:29. > :55:32.it is possible to strip people who don't have joint citizenship of
:55:33. > :55:38.British citizenship in these circumstances? The legal advice is
:55:39. > :55:44.that this is doable. We need to plug the hole in our armoury. There are
:55:45. > :55:49.chinks in it, one of them is these chinks, people who say they want to
:55:50. > :55:57.do harm to us and have a British passport. The legal advice I have
:55:58. > :56:10.received is that it is doable. Defeat over bedroom tax was a big
:56:11. > :56:14.deal for the Coalition, wasn't it? I don't think it is right for Britain
:56:15. > :56:21.to spend more on welfare, I would rather spend on our infrastructure
:56:22. > :56:28.and lowering taxes so this is one of the issues where we probably won't
:56:29. > :56:33.agree. The question is whether the Coalition is over the bedroom tax is
:56:34. > :56:36.over. The Coalition will be over when there is a general election,
:56:37. > :56:42.then there will be a clear choice, people will focus on whether they
:56:43. > :56:45.want a majority Labour or Conservative government. I think
:56:46. > :56:54.that will be the choice and I am confident we can win that. Do either
:56:55. > :56:58.of you think that with a yes vote in Scotland a Parliamentary election
:56:59. > :57:02.could be delayed? I don't want to speculate on the outcome of a yes
:57:03. > :57:08.vote. That doesn't mean I agree with the premise of your question at
:57:09. > :57:16.all, but if you get into the consequences you are just reminded
:57:17. > :57:23.of how big a decision Mrs. Our message to Scottish people is that
:57:24. > :57:29.we want you to stay. We are on the same side with that, and also with
:57:30. > :57:42.the saying no to a 10% pay rise for MPs. There is the beginnings of
:57:43. > :57:48.soft, gentle rapprochement like two spiny and each is trying to make
:57:49. > :57:53.love! It was a Lib Dem who was pushing the private member's bill,
:57:54. > :57:57.but I think where George and I might agree on this, I find it incredible
:57:58. > :58:01.that the Lib Dems who sit in the Government and endorsed the policy,
:58:02. > :58:06.then come marching through the lobbies to oppose it, which is
:58:07. > :58:10.essentially what happened, I mean if you are in a coalition government
:58:11. > :58:18.doing these things, you go out and defend them. I agree on that. Stop
:58:19. > :58:24.agreeing! There is an outbreak of agreement from two west London boys,
:58:25. > :58:27.although we did have a different upbringing as Alan's brilliant book
:58:28. > :58:31.shows! That's all we have time
:58:32. > :58:33.for this morning. Next Sunday we'll be back
:58:34. > :58:37.at our usual time of nine o'clock, but a different location - with
:58:38. > :58:40.only days to go before the Scottish referendum, the show will be in
:58:41. > :58:43.Edinburgh, where I'll be joined by the First Minister, Alex Salmond,
:58:44. > :58:45.leading the campaign And of course we'll hear
:58:46. > :58:48.the case for the union too. So, political passion,
:58:49. > :58:51.and one of the greatest names Do join me for all that,
:58:52. > :58:59.but for now, a very good morning.