:00:00. > :00:07.She's been Prime Minister since July, and there has been,
:00:08. > :00:14.in effect, one single message - I'm Theresa, trust me.
:00:15. > :00:17.She's gone to the country asking for her own mandate,
:00:18. > :00:37.and there is just such a lot we still don't know.
:00:38. > :00:39.This morning, in her first major television interview
:00:40. > :00:42.of the campaign, the Conservative leader Theresa May.
:00:43. > :00:47.The words 'strong and stable' won't I'm sure pass her lips once(!).
:00:48. > :00:50.And it's been a bruising first campaigning week for Tim Farron,
:00:51. > :00:55.In theory, he should be able to scoop up many of the 48%
:00:56. > :01:09.And paper reviewers crossing the spectrum -
:01:10. > :01:11.from Fraser Nelson, editor of The Spectator, to
:01:12. > :01:16.And neatly sandwiched between, the Johnson who's jumped,
:01:17. > :01:22.Rachel Johnson on why she's joined the Lib Dems.
:01:23. > :01:25.Plus, Damian Lewis has been telling me how an ex-president
:01:26. > :01:30.gave him advice on playing a bad-boy billionaire.
:01:31. > :01:45.Barack Obama did say to me a few months ago, he said...
:01:46. > :01:47.He said, I'm loving Billions, I love your character in it!
:01:48. > :01:49.I love Bobby, the only problem is, hedge fund
:01:50. > :01:54.But first, over to the newsroom and Katherine Downes.
:01:55. > :01:57.Labour and the Conservatives will today focus their general
:01:58. > :01:59.election campaigns on proposals to improve workers' rights.
:02:00. > :02:02.Theresa May says the Conservative manifesto will include a commitment
:02:03. > :02:04.to give the pensions regulator new powers to protect
:02:05. > :02:09.workers' pensions and fine unscrupulous bosses.
:02:10. > :02:12.And the Prime Minister will join Andrew later in this programme
:02:13. > :02:16.This week marks ten years since the disappearance
:02:17. > :02:18.of Madeleine McCann during a family holiday in Portugal.
:02:19. > :02:21.Her parents have spoken to the BBC for a new programme focusing
:02:22. > :02:24.on the current state of the investigation.
:02:25. > :02:26.Gerry McCann talked about the impact of her disappearance
:02:27. > :02:29.on her siblings, and the abuse the family had received
:02:30. > :02:39.People are writing things that are simply just untrue.
:02:40. > :02:44.Both of us realise that we've owed it to the twins to make sure
:02:45. > :02:48.that their lives are as fulfilling as they deserve.
:02:49. > :02:50.And you can see the full interview on Panorama
:02:51. > :02:56.Pope Francis has called for the United Nations to do
:02:57. > :02:58.more to ease tensions between the United States
:02:59. > :03:00.and North Korea. Speaking to reporters on the Papal
:03:01. > :03:04.plane, he warned that the crisis over North Korea's missile programme
:03:05. > :03:06.risked causing a devastating war in which "a good part
:03:07. > :03:13.Donald Trump is marking his 100th day in office with a rally
:03:14. > :03:16.in the state of Pennsylvania. The President told supporters he had
:03:17. > :03:19.been "very productive", listing achievements such
:03:20. > :03:22.as revoking business and environmental regulations.
:03:23. > :03:25.He repeatedly criticised the news media, and promised
:03:26. > :03:30.there were "great battles" ahead in his presidency.
:03:31. > :03:33.And the British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua is celebrating
:03:34. > :03:35.after winning a thrilling title fight against the former
:03:36. > :03:37.champion Wladimir Klitschko. The fight, in front of a crowd
:03:38. > :03:42.of 90,000 at Wembley Stadium, was stopped in the 11th round.
:03:43. > :03:47.27-year-old Joshua now holds the IBF, WBA and IBO
:03:48. > :04:08.There are indeed is Anthony Johnson on the front of the Observer,
:04:09. > :04:13.alongside a story picked up by almost everybody after the EU
:04:14. > :04:16.summit, EU threatens Theresa May on trade talks and citizens rights,
:04:17. > :04:20.things we will talk about later in the programme of course. The Mail on
:04:21. > :04:25.Sunday, Theresa May has given an interview, which we will be talking
:04:26. > :04:30.about shortly, I will wage war on pensions cowboys. She is talking
:04:31. > :04:35.about people like Philip Green. The story of Madeleine McCann is an
:04:36. > :04:38.almost every front page. The Sunday Times, Theresa May is living in
:04:39. > :04:45.another galaxy says Jean-Claude Junker after an apparently difficult
:04:46. > :04:50.meeting with Theresa May. We will be talking more about that. Donald
:04:51. > :04:57.Trump after his 100 Days. On the Sunday Telegraph, Theresa May
:04:58. > :05:02.rejects Brussels' demands. Lots to talk about. Welcome to you all.
:05:03. > :05:06.Rachel, we will be talking about you in many ways later on. That start
:05:07. > :05:12.with the sun, the story you have chosen. This is the sun's report of
:05:13. > :05:19.yesterday's very rapid Brussels summit in which they decided in four
:05:20. > :05:23.days to adopt their negotiating position, saddling the rights of EU
:05:24. > :05:29.citizens, make sure there is no hard border in Ireland -- settling the
:05:30. > :05:36.rights. And make sure you pay the divorce will. Pay up first before we
:05:37. > :05:41.start to think about free trade. David Davis is admitting that this
:05:42. > :05:44.is going to become a you know, a confrontational and extremely
:05:45. > :05:48.difficult negotiations stopped law again, it underlined a deceitful
:05:49. > :05:52.premise to this whole general election. Theresa May argued that
:05:53. > :05:57.the more seats she gets the stronger the mandate to the EU, the EU
:05:58. > :06:02.doesn't care how many seats they have all votes she gets. There is a
:06:03. > :06:03.sense of denial, which the Conservative government is
:06:04. > :06:06.promoting, which is that we are going to have strengthened
:06:07. > :06:11.negotiating hand when we are up against the EU states. You know, why
:06:12. > :06:15.would they care about the election? Fraser, do you think the number of
:06:16. > :06:21.seats Theresa May wins will have an effect on the go shisha and Wes
:06:22. > :06:28.Brown anybody who negotiates abroad, the you are asking what mandate they
:06:29. > :06:33.have. Now she has no mandate, she doesn't, but loyalty of her own
:06:34. > :06:37.Cabinet. Say she comes back with a landslide on a personal manifesto
:06:38. > :06:41.dictated by her own chief of staff, she would go to Brussels and
:06:42. > :06:46.somebody who is a very resting in Europe, a Prime Minister who is able
:06:47. > :06:49.to come back and collect as many working-class vote is middle-class
:06:50. > :06:56.vote -- a very rare thing in Europe. It would help. If you give Greece as
:06:57. > :07:03.an example, they had an overwhelming majority to reject the EU deal, the
:07:04. > :07:10.EU went, why do we care? Can I pick up one thing with Fraser? Presumably
:07:11. > :07:14.the reason she wants a strong mandate is that whatever the deal
:07:15. > :07:18.is, a bad deal, good Deal or no Deal, it will be voted through the
:07:19. > :07:22.Commons without too much stress and opposition, is that the entire point
:07:23. > :07:25.of having a mandate to this was wiped out like to follow that up to
:07:26. > :07:32.five May. The money issue is the first issue that is coming up, it
:07:33. > :07:36.does look as though Theresa May is going to have to agree some kind of
:07:37. > :07:40.financial settlement early in the process. At the moment I would think
:07:41. > :07:45.that kind of settlement would not get through the Conservative Party
:07:46. > :07:49.in the House of Commons. The Foreign Secretary is against anything like
:07:50. > :07:53.this happening. Theresa May herself has the dismissed it as a
:07:54. > :07:57.negotiating position. We are in talks about talks right now. They
:07:58. > :08:00.said until we talk about the divorce bill we are not going to talk about
:08:01. > :08:04.trade. That is not Britain's understanding of how the talks
:08:05. > :08:07.should be carried out. How much leveraged us Britain have to tell
:08:08. > :08:10.the rest of the EU how the negotiations are going to take
:08:11. > :08:15.place? The one weapon Theresa May has is, will she walk away if she
:08:16. > :08:19.doesn't get what she wants. She used to say that no deal was better than
:08:20. > :08:23.a bad deal. She has stopped saying that without. We will find out
:08:24. > :08:29.shortly. That question is one that the Mail on Sunday put to her. Good
:08:30. > :08:32.luck with your interview, because the Mail have got nothing! It is
:08:33. > :08:36.insulting to call the general election and have nothing of any
:08:37. > :08:39.substance to say on any domestic issue. It is quite interesting, she
:08:40. > :08:45.talks about going to church, very nice. No hard Brexit or soft Brexit,
:08:46. > :08:49.cliches. The problem is twofold, you are going to end up with a
:08:50. > :08:57.situation, basically that Lyndon Crosby has implanted implant into
:08:58. > :09:01.Tory MPs' brings... What she will do is she will avoid saying of anything
:09:02. > :09:05.of substance and stick to lines that she will repeat over and over again.
:09:06. > :09:09.The other point is, why would anybody trust a single word that she
:09:10. > :09:13.says? She came into your studio over and over again saying that there
:09:14. > :09:18.would be no snap election, there was. The Purlis she gave for giving
:09:19. > :09:21.one was that she was being obstructed in terms of Brexit in the
:09:22. > :09:26.Houses of Parliament -- the premise. That is a straightforward untrue.
:09:27. > :09:32.National Insurance, do you remember that, in manifesto commitment. You
:09:33. > :09:38.can't trust... Whatever policies, it you can't trust a word that she
:09:39. > :09:43.says. Her approval rating is off the scale. Never has any Prime Minister
:09:44. > :09:46.began being so liked in the country. People in Westminster might say, we
:09:47. > :09:51.can't believe she promised you wouldn't do something and then she
:09:52. > :09:55.did it, this is exactly true, she calculated she would get away with
:09:56. > :09:59.it and she did. People think Jeremy Corbyn is such a bad alternative
:10:00. > :10:02.that she can do whatever she wants, so far she is right. Lots of people
:10:03. > :10:06.are changing their mind are moving all over the place. Rachel Johnson,
:10:07. > :10:10.you wrote in the Mail on Sunday about your decision to leave the
:10:11. > :10:16.Conservatives and moved to the Lib Dems. That caused a bit of trouble
:10:17. > :10:22.in the family, I would imagine? Well,... What did the Big Brother
:10:23. > :10:29.state? The large brother! That has got to remain a private
:10:30. > :10:36.conversation. I have been completely consistent in my position on Europe.
:10:37. > :10:41.I think this is a single issue election. On that single issue, this
:10:42. > :10:47.is a protest vote that I'm making. I want to use whatever platform I have
:10:48. > :10:50.is a freelance columnist and occasional appear on television and
:10:51. > :10:55.draw attention to the fact that we could be going over the cliff on the
:10:56. > :11:00.hard Brexit. And only one party out of all of our parties is offering
:11:01. > :11:05.the voters a second look at the deal, whether it is a bad deal or a
:11:06. > :11:10.good deal or a Theresa May Brexit. I think that is incredibly important.
:11:11. > :11:15.As things stand, with a Tory election landslide, there is not
:11:16. > :11:19.going to be another look. The Commons has evoked, but no veto over
:11:20. > :11:23.the eventual deal. But if it goes to a second referendum, the country has
:11:24. > :11:27.another go. I think that's crucially important. Have you actually joined
:11:28. > :11:31.the party? I have actually joined the party. You can't stand as a
:11:32. > :11:35.candidate because you have join too late. One paper thinks they might
:11:36. > :11:41.want you at the London mayoral candidate, a second Johnson London
:11:42. > :11:45.Mayor. I think that was my own paper making mischief to embarrass me, but
:11:46. > :11:51.I don't know. She's not ruling it out, we can all see that! Why don't
:11:52. > :11:54.you stand in Uxbridge?! There is a very, very good candidate in
:11:55. > :11:59.Uxbridge who had a stonking majority when he was re-elected in 2015. You
:12:00. > :12:04.said in your piece, Rachel, that'll brother Boris has offered a false
:12:05. > :12:08.bill of sale on Brexit. I agree with that, and I said that to him. The
:12:09. > :12:14.offer on the table, everything on the table before June the 23rd is
:12:15. > :12:18.now off the table. Money back to the NHS to control of immigration, which
:12:19. > :12:22.David Davis has said we need to have immigration, to the Single Market.
:12:23. > :12:25.Business desperately needs us to stay in the Single Market, and we
:12:26. > :12:30.are going to have to leave the Single Market. It is lose- lose. Can
:12:31. > :12:34.I turn to the next big battle ground we haven't talked about, which is of
:12:35. > :12:38.course Scotland. And Ruth Davidson has a big splash there. Fraser
:12:39. > :12:42.Nelson, I think I read in your organ last week that Theresa May is now
:12:43. > :12:45.very, very close to Ruth Davidson. They have each other on speed dial
:12:46. > :12:51.and they are talking all the time, is that right? Ruth Davidson is
:12:52. > :12:54.achieving miracles for the Conservatives in Scotland. In a poll
:12:55. > :12:56.a few days ago, a third of Scots intend to vote Tory in the next
:12:57. > :13:01.election, I never thought I would see that again. It has been 25 years
:13:02. > :13:04.since the Tories had more than one seat in Scotland, now the polls
:13:05. > :13:09.suggest they might get as many as 12 seats. Even my family's seat of
:13:10. > :13:13.Murray up in the north-east where Angus Robertson, the SNP leader in
:13:14. > :13:18.Westminster, that is now the top Tory target. You know, something is
:13:19. > :13:22.going... What is happening in Scotland of course is the idea of
:13:23. > :13:25.another referendum is filling unionists with dismay. But Jeremy
:13:26. > :13:29.Corbyn is a bit ambivalent about this, as he is ambivalent about
:13:30. > :13:33.Brexit. Ruth Davidson, somebody who only joined the Tories a few years
:13:34. > :13:38.ago has soft, is able to say, look, if you don't want this referendum
:13:39. > :13:41.only one party can stand up to at -- she has said. This has given them a
:13:42. > :13:45.platform that I never thought they would have. Interesting in Scotland.
:13:46. > :13:48.One danger is that we talked endlessly about process and polls
:13:49. > :13:52.and who is go to do was all about me, and we don't talk about the
:13:53. > :13:59.policies. You have chosen a spread on Labour policies in Talking about
:14:00. > :14:05.substance in an election, honestly? Thug this is about workers' rights
:14:06. > :14:09.-- this is about workers' rights. We have gone through the longest fall
:14:10. > :14:14.in living standards since the Napoleonic Wars. That reduces the
:14:15. > :14:17.burden on the taxpayer, lessening in work benefits. But workers would
:14:18. > :14:21.have the same rights from day one, critically. As we know when it comes
:14:22. > :14:24.to immigration, one of the big concerns we have is undercutting.
:14:25. > :14:30.Labour are proposing measures to stop that from happening. What
:14:31. > :14:33.Labour have to do, there are two extremes, no substance, sticking to
:14:34. > :14:37.a message over and over, lots of ideas without a clear message.
:14:38. > :14:42.Labour has to have clear, sharp messages that can cut through. You
:14:43. > :14:46.were somewhat criticism of Jeremy Corbyn in the past. What do you make
:14:47. > :14:51.of his performance in the first week so far? What is interesting, Theresa
:14:52. > :14:55.May has avoided the general public. You have had stage-managed rallies.
:14:56. > :14:58.It will be interesting to see if it cuts through, actually having a
:14:59. > :15:02.grassroots campaign when you go around the country. You don't tell
:15:03. > :15:06.all the workers you have to go home and then parachute in party
:15:07. > :15:09.activists. It is a grassroots, natural campaign. As we know,
:15:10. > :15:13.whatever you think about Jeremy Corbyn, he relishes campaigning and
:15:14. > :15:19.getting outburst by the entire mainstream media have no, no, you
:15:20. > :15:22.are rubbish to Jeremy Corbyn, is there a chance that they are wrong
:15:23. > :15:26.and this is a man who can turn things around? Absolutely. I think
:15:27. > :15:29.it is amazing how ever body think this election is so in the bag when
:15:30. > :15:32.you think that all of the elections previously over the last three
:15:33. > :15:36.years, we have had nothing apart from people like me being
:15:37. > :15:38.confounded. I would be surprised if there are no surprises in this
:15:39. > :15:45.election. I don't think Jeremy Corbyn will win, but the Tory
:15:46. > :15:47.majority might not be in the 150 scale that some people are talking
:15:48. > :15:49.about. It might be a lot more modest. The question is, what
:15:50. > :15:53.happens to Labour after this? It could well be that Jeremy Corbyn
:15:54. > :15:58.written soulful slots of the more moderate Labour MPs and has got an
:15:59. > :16:01.even stronger hold -- rids himself. But so much is in play, who knows?
:16:02. > :16:07.Even a Lib Dem revival can't ruled out.
:16:08. > :16:18.Let's end by talking about politics elsewhere. Trump's 100 days. I'm
:16:19. > :16:24.relieved, but it's been a chaotic 100 days. He said in an interview
:16:25. > :16:27.last week that it is harder than he expected. Who would have thought
:16:28. > :16:31.being a reality television star would be not as hard as being the
:16:32. > :16:35.president of the United States. We are seeing sharp vacillations, I
:16:36. > :16:41.think what's disturbing at the moment is he's returning to be white
:16:42. > :16:44.nationalism, Stephen Bannon is being rehabilitated, he's now angrily
:16:45. > :16:51.yesterday talking about the need to build the wall. Do we think the wall
:16:52. > :16:55.will ever be built now? Because if he doesn't that his single biggest
:16:56. > :17:01.campaign promise broken. I think what he will do in the next
:17:02. > :17:05.congressional elections is der the Democrats to vote against. The idea
:17:06. > :17:10.Mexico is ever going to pay for this wall, I mean we will see. There's
:17:11. > :17:15.this brinkmanship over North Korea... Sorry, I will stop there. I
:17:16. > :17:20.know you are going out to campaign, will you be knocking on doors and
:17:21. > :17:29.talking to people, saying, I'm Rachel Johnson, vote Lib Dem? I'm
:17:30. > :17:39.very tempted because we are Remain constituency. I'm open to
:17:40. > :17:43.suggestions but I have to be careful. Phone in your suggestions,
:17:44. > :17:44.polite suggestions only. Thank you for that.
:17:45. > :17:49.Bright and cold - I guess you could say strong and stable
:17:50. > :17:51.conditions with no sign of spring chaos.
:17:52. > :17:53.But will next week bring good meteorological news
:17:54. > :18:06.As we had through the next week, the weather is looking fairly dry and
:18:07. > :18:11.settled but we have some rain in the forecast for the bank holiday
:18:12. > :18:14.weekend. We are not all going to see it. As we had through the rest of
:18:15. > :18:18.today is turning quite breezy wherever you are in the UK and there
:18:19. > :18:28.will be some rain arriving in the south-west. We've already seen that
:18:29. > :18:34.rain working in, into the afternoon. Towards the north-east of that, most
:18:35. > :18:39.places fine and dry with temperatures up to 17 degrees. Quite
:18:40. > :18:43.a brisk south-easterly wind blowing. That's the scene as we head into the
:18:44. > :18:47.evening and overnight. Clear and breezy in the north, whereas across
:18:48. > :18:54.the southern half of the country low pressure is still dominating,
:18:55. > :18:58.showers, cloud, and fresher further north. Through the bank holiday
:18:59. > :19:06.Monday, a call, easterly breeze alone across the north and Northern
:19:07. > :19:09.Ireland. Through much of the weekend, a largely dry theme
:19:10. > :19:11.continues with the best of the sunshine for western areas and
:19:12. > :19:18.cooler conditions across the east. This election was supposed to be
:19:19. > :19:23.the Lib Dems' great opportunity to rise from the dead and speak
:19:24. > :19:26.for the millions who voted Instead, and rather bizzarrley,
:19:27. > :19:29.Tim Farron's opening days were side-tracked by a row over
:19:30. > :19:32.whether or not, as a committed Christian, he believed
:19:33. > :19:42.gay sex was a sin. Before we turn to that issue,
:19:43. > :19:45.there's a slight air of unreality hanging over your campaign at the
:19:46. > :19:49.moment because you have said I want to be Leader of the Opposition and
:19:50. > :19:52.you have said this is a chance for British people to change the course
:19:53. > :19:58.of the country with regard to Brexit. Given the number of MPs you
:19:59. > :20:04.have got, that's going to bit, isn't it? We can hopefully affect the
:20:05. > :20:07.result of the general election coming, and let's not pretend the
:20:08. > :20:12.Prime Minister has chosen this election for any other reason than a
:20:13. > :20:17.cold, calculated desire to do what's right for the Conservative Party and
:20:18. > :20:21.not the country so she expects some kind of coronation. Jeremy Corbyn
:20:22. > :20:26.and the Labour Party or obsessed with fighting among themselves.
:20:27. > :20:31.There is a vacancy for Leader of the Opposition, and I say that as this
:20:32. > :20:34.is a historic moment for Britain, whether we choose to go over the
:20:35. > :20:40.cliff edge of a hard Brexit or not, the Liberal Democrats are saying we
:20:41. > :20:43.will be the strong opposition that Britain desperately needs. I want to
:20:44. > :20:48.come onto the reality of how many seats you might get, but you've had
:20:49. > :20:54.a very difficult first week over the gay sex issue and wasn't the big
:20:55. > :21:07.problem with this the very voters you need to win over, the young
:21:08. > :21:11.voters... You cannot choose what people ask you, but I choose to say
:21:12. > :21:14.to British people this is the biggest choice we face in a
:21:15. > :21:18.generation, we have this enormous issue about whether we leave the
:21:19. > :21:23.single market, whether we go for a hard Brexit, whether we are forced
:21:24. > :21:29.to accept a deal, and yet we have a Labour Party that is held Theresa
:21:30. > :21:35.May's hand as they jump off a cliff edge towards a hard Brexit. For
:21:36. > :21:48.people who voted Remain, and also for people who voted Leave, we are
:21:49. > :21:54.offering you a chance. These were the same voters who remember the
:21:55. > :22:01.tuition fees and they are still angry about that. I was one of the
:22:02. > :22:03.people who voted against the tuition fees, but we are looking at
:22:04. > :22:12.something that will cast Britain's future for 20, 30, 40 years. They
:22:13. > :22:17.are the ones living with the consequences of a deal we don't know
:22:18. > :22:22.the outcome of yet. So on tuition fees are you going to change the
:22:23. > :22:29.policy? We want it to be a fairer system. We believe what you earn
:22:30. > :22:34.afterwards should reflect what you pay. The real issue is how do you
:22:35. > :22:38.produce and provide for young people a future that is brighter than the
:22:39. > :22:41.one we will currently get? At the moment the Prime Minister has chosen
:22:42. > :22:45.to have a general election on her terms because she assumed an
:22:46. > :22:49.enormous majority and around the country there are very few people
:22:50. > :22:54.who expect anything other than Theresa May to be in ten, Downing
:22:55. > :22:58.Street on the 9th of June and the question is will she be properly
:22:59. > :23:03.opposed? You have said also you wouldn't do a coalition deal either
:23:04. > :23:06.with Theresa May or with Jeremy Corbyn. If you want to affect the
:23:07. > :23:10.way the Government behaves after this election when it comes to
:23:11. > :23:18.Brexit you want maximum leverage. You seem to be saying I will throw
:23:19. > :23:23.away any possible leave I have. The most important thing for leader is
:23:24. > :23:27.clarity. The Prime Minister is heading for a colossal coronation on
:23:28. > :23:34.the 8th of June. Clarity point number two, let's not pretend there
:23:35. > :23:41.will be a hung parliament... A colossal coronation? That is how it
:23:42. > :23:45.looks to me. We are determined to turn the coronation she expects into
:23:46. > :23:49.a contest that Britain desperately needs. The second reason we have
:23:50. > :23:53.been clear we won't be having a coalition with Labour or the
:23:54. > :23:58.tourists is because I want people to know that when they vote for us they
:23:59. > :24:03.are voting for our planned to invest in social care, in education, and
:24:04. > :24:08.make sure Britain does not had off the cliff edge of a hard Brexit. You
:24:09. > :24:13.sound to me that at the beginning of this campaign you have in effect
:24:14. > :24:19.given up. It is all Theresa May's, we might as well walk away. Jeremy
:24:20. > :24:22.Corbyn appears to be fighting the next leadership election, the Labour
:24:23. > :24:26.Party are fighting among themselves and have given up the job of
:24:27. > :24:29.opposing the Government. Britain desperately needs a strong
:24:30. > :24:32.opposition for the sake of democracy. You don't need to agree
:24:33. > :24:36.with me on everything to agree with me that Britain needs a strong
:24:37. > :24:43.opposition and the Liberal Democrats are determined to provide it. Then
:24:44. > :24:48.you need to go from eight seats to 130 seats, it would be the biggest
:24:49. > :24:52.change in the Liberal Democrats' fortunes in memory of any kind,
:24:53. > :24:58.historians will be struggling to find any parallel. A lot of people
:24:59. > :25:02.what you say will say this is a complete fantasy. Tim Farron might
:25:03. > :25:07.want to believe it briefly, but nobody else will. I think I'm
:25:08. > :25:10.probably one of the most self-aware politicians, I'm aware of what you
:25:11. > :25:15.say but I'm also aware that the week ago the two main parties in France
:25:16. > :25:20.came third and fifth. These are times when politics in the Western
:25:21. > :25:23.Hemisphere at least has never been more unpredictable. It's also an
:25:24. > :25:29.election Theresa May has chosen not to get on Monday, she doesn't need a
:25:30. > :25:33.mandate, but it is an election nonetheless that could change the
:25:34. > :25:36.course of British political history. If you cannot be ambitious at this
:25:37. > :25:42.point to allow those millions of people who are appalled by the
:25:43. > :25:47.direction the Prime Minister is taking us in, if you want to prevent
:25:48. > :25:52.the calamity of the hard Brexit you have one option, it is the Liberal
:25:53. > :25:55.Democrats. And to get to those seats you need lots of Metropolitan and
:25:56. > :26:01.University towns, all of those seeds that voted Remain last time but also
:26:02. > :26:06.a lot of seats in the south-west, which is the part of the country
:26:07. > :26:09.that voted for Brexit. I remember an old liberal tradition when old
:26:10. > :26:13.liberals in the south-west where Eurosceptic, right of centre, and
:26:14. > :26:20.that tradition has more or less died in your party. You will remember I
:26:21. > :26:24.resigned from the Liberal Democrats front bench ten years ago because I
:26:25. > :26:30.am a bit of a Eurosceptic, I challenge people in power, the EU,
:26:31. > :26:33.government, councils, but I believe Britain is better off in the
:26:34. > :26:36.European Union and what the south-west is famous for is wanting
:26:37. > :26:39.to be self-governing, to be independent, to be different from
:26:40. > :26:44.those in Westminster who tell them what to do. The worst thing for the
:26:45. > :26:47.west Country is to be a blanket of loop where the Tories take them for
:26:48. > :26:52.granted. People around the country are beginning to realise the
:26:53. > :26:55.Conservative majority is not in question but a Conservative
:26:56. > :27:00.landslide will means they take you for granted wherever you live. We
:27:01. > :27:04.reached today you have been talking to Tony Blair, can you tell us
:27:05. > :27:07.anything about the conversation, whether there is some prospect of a
:27:08. > :27:13.major realignment after this election? Several months ago I met
:27:14. > :27:17.with Tony Blair at his request, it was only courteous to do so. I have
:27:18. > :27:23.many on the record disagreements with Tony Blair, not least over the
:27:24. > :27:28.illegal war in Iraq but I do admire him for his ability to put together
:27:29. > :27:33.a small seat coalition that was able to win the general election and
:27:34. > :27:39.defeat the Conservatives in 1997. I admire progressives who can win
:27:40. > :27:45.elections because if you cannot win, you cannot change people's lives.
:27:46. > :27:50.Can I come back to my original question, which is do you see
:27:51. > :27:54.therefore beyond this election some major realignment in British
:27:55. > :27:58.politics? I'm focusing on this election. Let's remember where the
:27:59. > :28:03.progressive forces are at the moment. Everybody knows the SNP can
:28:04. > :28:09.only gain one seat from the Tories, that is what they have
:28:10. > :28:12.mathematically available to them unless there is an aggressive
:28:13. > :28:18.foreign policy from Nicola Sturgeon. Everybody except Labour are going
:28:19. > :28:22.backwards, so the only fight through which Theresa May is vulnerable and
:28:23. > :28:24.where progressives have any chance of defeating Conservatives is the
:28:25. > :28:29.Liberal Democrats. In the west Country, in the north-west and in
:28:30. > :28:32.London, if you want a strong opposition the Liberal Democrats are
:28:33. > :28:38.now your only choice. A pity you couldn't find a seat for Rachel
:28:39. > :28:43.Johnson. She's a fantastic addition to the team, we picked the right
:28:44. > :28:48.sibling. Would you like to see her standing as London mayor for the
:28:49. > :28:51.Liberal Democrat cause? That is an election for three years down the
:28:52. > :28:55.road and we will worry about that after the one we are fighting. Thank
:28:56. > :28:57.you for talking to us. Now, coming up later this morning,
:28:58. > :28:59.Andrew Neil will be talking to the former leader
:29:00. > :29:02.of the Scottish National Party, Alex Salmond, and to the current
:29:03. > :29:04.leader of Plaid Cymru, That's the Sunday Politics,
:29:05. > :29:07.at 11am here on BBC One. Damian Lewis excels at playing
:29:08. > :29:10.the most alpha of males. From Henry VIII in Wolf Hall
:29:11. > :29:12.to Brodie in Homeland, Lewis has often shown us masculinity
:29:13. > :29:15.at its most bruising. His return to the London stage,
:29:16. > :29:17.however, will leave quite a few of his fans with their jaws
:29:18. > :29:21.on the floor. In Edward Albee's absurdist play,
:29:22. > :29:23.The Goat, Lewis plays an architect who falls in love with,
:29:24. > :29:27.yes, a goat. But first we discussed his latest TV
:29:28. > :29:33.hit, Billions, in which he portrays a ruthless hedge-fund bruiser
:29:34. > :29:40.from the Bronx. You are all playing it safe
:29:41. > :29:43.for the quarters so you have a shot Looking to mitigate your downsides
:29:44. > :29:51.and protect your bonuses. The only currency that this firm
:29:52. > :29:55.has, that any firm has these days, You break that, you
:29:56. > :30:04.break the whole thing. As somebody who really enjoys
:30:05. > :30:07.Billions, I think the criticism of Billions is that,
:30:08. > :30:11.if this is a satire of the rich and powerful and morally bad these
:30:12. > :30:14.days, it doesn't work I'm going to drop a name
:30:15. > :30:23.here and I'm going to The President of the United States,
:30:24. > :30:27.Barack Obama, did say to me a few months ago,
:30:28. > :30:30.he said, "I'm loving Billions, I love your character
:30:31. > :30:35.in it, I love Bobby. The only problem is hedge fund
:30:36. > :30:39.managers aren't that cool." He has a swagger, they don't all,
:30:40. > :30:45.they absolutely don't. There's a sense of them digging
:30:46. > :30:49.their heels in and being the kid in the corner of the playground,
:30:50. > :30:51.shouting, "But I'm right, They do bat against the tide,
:30:52. > :30:56.and that's perhaps the one...slightly romantic thing
:30:57. > :31:01.you can say about them. And what happens after that is then
:31:02. > :31:17.up for discussion, we don't have I don't think this series
:31:18. > :31:20.will last through seasons three, four and five,
:31:21. > :31:22.without the core rotting. So Edward Albee, recently deceased,
:31:23. > :31:33.great American playwright, but this is one of his
:31:34. > :31:36.oddeset plays, The Goat. Just tell us about
:31:37. > :31:38.the basis of the play. Well, the play just in its purest
:31:39. > :31:41.form is about a man who has And we find him at a moment
:31:42. > :31:47.when I think he is seeking His wife is heartbroken
:31:48. > :31:56.by the infidelity first, and we have an exploration of love
:31:57. > :31:59.and infidelity and the different And then on the other
:32:00. > :32:07.level, there is his need What's so wonderful and brilliant
:32:08. > :32:14.about the play is that you're asked as an audience member to engage
:32:15. > :32:17.fully in the idea that he has had Because I thought afterwards,
:32:18. > :32:24.this is clearly an adultery play. Albee has written
:32:25. > :32:26.another adultery play. There are so many adultery plays,
:32:27. > :32:29.and what he's done is made it interesting by twisting it
:32:30. > :32:35.and making the other woman a goat. That's fair enough up to a point,
:32:36. > :32:38.except the whole premise of the play is that this is real,
:32:39. > :32:41.this is a real affair, Yes, I think it becomes a somewhat
:32:42. > :32:45.absurdist affair at times, mind-bending at times,
:32:46. > :32:48.because the clarity and sincerity with which he's had this affair
:32:49. > :32:56.is real, and the most genuine way in which that can be performed by me
:32:57. > :33:01.and then subsequently the horror and the heartbreak on the other side
:33:02. > :33:04.of the argument from his wife, his son and his best friend
:33:05. > :33:07.is what makes it such I noticed people coming out
:33:08. > :33:15.of this play afterwards Albee is going through a kind
:33:16. > :33:22.of revival, there's another Albee play up the road
:33:23. > :33:25.going on at the moment. I wonder whether this
:33:26. > :33:27.play would have been put In other words, this sense
:33:28. > :33:32.in the West End there has to be a really big top A-star actor
:33:33. > :33:37.or actress to bring in the punters. I'm not quite sure the entire
:33:38. > :33:40.audience knew what they were getting "Let's go and look at Damian Lewis
:33:41. > :33:45.in the West End, that will be fun." I don't know, well flattery
:33:46. > :33:48.will get you everywhere. The thing to say about the West End
:33:49. > :33:51.is its tremendous fun Plays with people much
:33:52. > :34:00.more famous than me, that people are coming
:34:01. > :34:06.for the first time. It feels a bit like part-concert,
:34:07. > :34:09.part happening, where they will just be in the same space as someone
:34:10. > :34:12.that they adore, and what can then happen can be remarkable
:34:13. > :34:14.and exciting and challenging, as people, certainly
:34:15. > :34:16.in a play like The Goat, people have a real experience
:34:17. > :34:21.of theatre for the first time, and I think they go
:34:22. > :34:23.away hopefully thinking, "Oh, my God, that theatre was rather
:34:24. > :34:26.an amazing evening," beyond just It's been fantastic talking
:34:27. > :34:29.to you, thanks so much. And you can catch The Goat by Edward
:34:30. > :34:35.Albee at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London's West End
:34:36. > :34:39.until the 24th of June. Now a look at what's coming up
:34:40. > :34:49.straight after this programme. Joined us from 10am when we will be
:34:50. > :34:54.debating if it is right to refuse operations on the NHS to obese
:34:55. > :34:59.people and smokers. With food banks busier than ever, is welfare reform
:35:00. > :35:03.working? And last, actions versus worship. Is what you do or important
:35:04. > :35:05.than what you believe? Siovas at 10am on BBC One.
:35:06. > :35:07.And now I'm joined live in the studio by the Prime
:35:08. > :35:15.Good morning. Can we agree that the one thing that voters deserve and
:35:16. > :35:19.what you yourself have said is going to be a very important election is
:35:20. > :35:23.no sound bites? Well, it is absolutely crucial, because this is
:35:24. > :35:27.I think the most important election that this country has faced in my
:35:28. > :35:31.lifetime. When people look at this election and when they hear what the
:35:32. > :35:34.politicians are saying, they think about the national interest. That
:35:35. > :35:40.should be what drives people when they go to vote. No slogans? We can
:35:41. > :35:44.agree... Come on, Andrew! You know that we will all be talking as we go
:35:45. > :35:48.through this election, everybody will be talking about what they
:35:49. > :35:52.think is important. I will be talking about... Strong and stable
:35:53. > :35:57.leadership! There is a re-dot-mac reason for talking about strong and
:35:58. > :36:01.stable leadership, it is because this is the most important election
:36:02. > :36:04.in my lifetime, it is about the future of the country on the
:36:05. > :36:10.national interest. People can listen to that kind of thing and think it
:36:11. > :36:13.is a bit robotic. No, when I talk about leadership, when I talk about
:36:14. > :36:18.the strength of the Government for the future, I do it for a reason.
:36:19. > :36:22.The reason is this - we are facing a moment of change in this country. We
:36:23. > :36:26.are facing a moment when we have the opportunity to take this country
:36:27. > :36:30.forward, to make it an even better place to live for people, their
:36:31. > :36:34.futures, a more secure future for people. But part of that, part of
:36:35. > :36:41.doing that, is about getting the Brexit negotiations right. And it is
:36:42. > :36:44.important when we go into those negotiations, and we've already seen
:36:45. > :36:46.some of the comments coming out of Brussels, which show that at times
:36:47. > :36:49.these negotiations are going to be tough. In order to make sure that we
:36:50. > :36:53.get the right result, the best deal for this country, the deal that's
:36:54. > :36:55.going to work for people across the hall of this country, we need to
:36:56. > :36:58.ensure that we have got a strong hand in this ago she should. And
:36:59. > :37:03.that is what I'm talking about when I say to people, I want people to go
:37:04. > :37:07.out and vote, I would everybody to go out and vote on June the 8th
:37:08. > :37:10.because this is such an important election. Of course, I ask them to
:37:11. > :37:14.vote from me, but I want to make sure that everybody goes and cost
:37:15. > :37:17.their vote. I want to, to the Brexit issue in a moment. The other thing
:37:18. > :37:21.is that you are standing for the first time, asking for your own
:37:22. > :37:25.mandate in your own name. One of the questions people are asking, is this
:37:26. > :37:30.going to be continuity David Cameron and George Osborne, or is the
:37:31. > :37:34.Conservative Party taking a subtly different direction under Theresa
:37:35. > :37:37.May? I served in David Cameron's cabinet, and as Home Secretary for
:37:38. > :37:41.six years, I was very proud to serve with David. If you look at what he
:37:42. > :37:46.did in..., he took a country from the brink of bankruptcy to a point
:37:47. > :37:50.where we had growth, and when we see the deficit coming down by two
:37:51. > :37:55.thirds. And it is because of the decisions that government talk. We
:37:56. > :37:58.now see, for example, 1.8 million more children in good or outstanding
:37:59. > :38:05.schools. Of course I am my own person... What is the difference?
:38:06. > :38:08.The issues that I think we need to address in this country, first of
:38:09. > :38:12.all of course the circumstances have changed. We do need to deliver an
:38:13. > :38:16.Brexit, that is what people have asked us to do and that is what I'm
:38:17. > :38:19.determined to do and get the best deal for this country. But also I
:38:20. > :38:24.think that there are issues, long-term issues, that we need to
:38:25. > :38:27.address. Long-term issues about the impact of the ageing population for
:38:28. > :38:34.example. Long-term issues about what sort of economy we want to be in the
:38:35. > :38:36.future. Meanwhile we have in this country a huge number of working
:38:37. > :38:41.people, particularly public sector workers, who now have had seven
:38:42. > :38:45.years of below inflation pay increases, a really tough freeze on
:38:46. > :38:49.their pay. That can't go on in the next few years, or is it vote Tory
:38:50. > :38:53.and get more public sector pay freezes? We have had to take some
:38:54. > :38:57.tough decisions about the public sector, public spending. We did that
:38:58. > :39:01.because of the state of the economy that we were left by the Labour
:39:02. > :39:05.Party when we came in in 2010. Now we need to look to the future. And
:39:06. > :39:08.we need to address the longer term issues that the country, the
:39:09. > :39:13.longer-term challenges the country is facing. We need to ensure that we
:39:14. > :39:17.are getting decisions in the public sector right, but also that we have
:39:18. > :39:21.a strong economy. Because you are talking about pay and the public
:39:22. > :39:25.sector, and you can only ensure that we're putting the money that we need
:39:26. > :39:28.into the public sector if you've got a strong economy to pay for it. You
:39:29. > :39:31.will only get that with strong government, you will only get that
:39:32. > :39:35.with a government that understands the importance of growth in the
:39:36. > :39:39.economy, and ensuring that Government is doing what it needs to
:39:40. > :39:43.encourage that growth. Let's pluck out a specific example. Lots of lots
:39:44. > :39:47.of young people do a job that I and you perhaps wouldn't do, they decide
:39:48. > :39:51.to become nurses and give something back. According to the Royal College
:39:52. > :39:55.of Nursing, they have had a 14% pay cut since 2010. We get stories from
:39:56. > :39:58.the RCM of lots of ordinary nurses by the end of the week having to use
:39:59. > :40:06.food banks because they can't afford to pay for food. That is not the
:40:07. > :40:08.kind of country that you want to run, is it? I want a country that
:40:09. > :40:11.works for everyone, not just the pill is about privileged few. It is
:40:12. > :40:14.not working for these people. Look at what is happening in relation to
:40:15. > :40:20.pay within the National Health Service, when you look at basic pay
:40:21. > :40:24.together progression pay, they have an annual increase of around an
:40:25. > :40:32.average 3% rather than just the 1% basic pay. But I come back to the
:40:33. > :40:36.key question, which is, we have, and if you look at the National Health
:40:37. > :40:39.Service and funding in the NHS, we are putting ?10 billion extra into
:40:40. > :40:44.its top I'm sorry, Prime Minister, we have nurses going to food banks
:40:45. > :40:47.at the moment, that must be wrong. There are many complex reasons why
:40:48. > :40:51.people go to feed banks. And I want to develop an economy where, yes, we
:40:52. > :40:55.have a stronger economy so that we can pay for the public services that
:40:56. > :40:59.people need, but also we have an economy where we are creating secure
:41:00. > :41:03.jobs and well-paid jobs and higher paid jobs for people. You what only
:41:04. > :41:07.going to do that... They haven't got enough money to eat at the moment.
:41:08. > :41:11.You were only going to be able to do this if you have a Government that
:41:12. > :41:14.understands the importance of that strength in the economy. If you look
:41:15. > :41:17.at the proposals that the Labour Party are coming forward with, they
:41:18. > :41:23.all nonsensical proposals which simply don't add up. They would
:41:24. > :41:26.actually lead to less money being available for the NHS, less money
:41:27. > :41:30.being available for public sector pay and higher taxes on people is to
:41:31. > :41:34.bike under the Conservatives, under your Government, the record number
:41:35. > :41:40.of food parcels last year has been handed out. 1.2 million food parcels
:41:41. > :41:43.in this country. You said on the number ten doorstep that you would
:41:44. > :41:47.be up there for the ordinary working people. Those are people who are
:41:48. > :41:50.really, really suffering. I have asked you, and your Government, if
:41:51. > :41:55.people vote Conservative again, is that going to carry on? Your answer
:41:56. > :42:00.seems to be guest. I haven't said that, Andrew. What I said, if I am
:42:01. > :42:03.elected as Prime Minister, if a Conservative government is elected,
:42:04. > :42:12.what we will be doing is working to create a strong economy in this
:42:13. > :42:15.country, and economy which ensures that we are creating secure and
:42:16. > :42:17.higher paid jobs for people. I want people to have security for their
:42:18. > :42:20.future. But to do that, we need to get the Brexit negotiations right.
:42:21. > :42:22.We need to ensure that we are to helping our economy. That is why I
:42:23. > :42:26.have introduced in modern industrial strategy. It is about firms growing
:42:27. > :42:30.and prospering, also about making sure that prosperity and growth is a
:42:31. > :42:34.Rumpole of the country, and not just confined to certain parts of the
:42:35. > :42:37.country -- is about the whole of the country. Working families, there are
:42:38. > :42:45.lots of benefit cuts in the pipeline. If they were introduced 3
:42:46. > :42:47.million families, 3 million households in this country would be
:42:48. > :42:51.an average ?2500 worse off. Again, if they vote Conservative that is
:42:52. > :42:53.what is going to happen. We have made changes to welfare as a
:42:54. > :42:57.Conservative government. And there is a reason for doing that, which is
:42:58. > :43:01.we want to ensure that of course there is a welfare system that gives
:43:02. > :43:06.people support when they need that support. But I also want to see a
:43:07. > :43:09.welfare assistant that is helping to encourage and see people getting
:43:10. > :43:13.into the workplace -- a welfare system. Work is the best route out
:43:14. > :43:18.of poverty. But these are working family. As we do that we need to
:43:19. > :43:22.ensure that we are being fed working families, to the taxpayers who are
:43:23. > :43:26.actually paying for those benefits so poor that we are being fair. We
:43:27. > :43:28.have made a number of changes to the benefit system so that there are
:43:29. > :43:33.more incentives in the benefit system for people to get into work,
:43:34. > :43:36.but, yes, if we are talking about working families, what is important
:43:37. > :43:42.is ensuring that we have the economy that is developing those higher paid
:43:43. > :43:46.jobs, and also that we provide people with the skills to take those
:43:47. > :43:50.jobs, and that's where what we are doing for example for young people
:43:51. > :43:54.on practical skills is so important. Looking at what is happening in the
:43:55. > :43:57.real economy, this sounds very much like continuity of austerities your
:43:58. > :44:01.message. Do you ever pause and wonder whether you have got it
:44:02. > :44:05.wrong? What I want to do is ensure that as we look at the circumstances
:44:06. > :44:08.we are in at the moment, because things have changed and life will be
:44:09. > :44:12.different in the future, we won't be in the European Union any longer. We
:44:13. > :44:17.need to get the Brexit negotiations right. I want a strong hand in those
:44:18. > :44:21.negotiations if I am Prime Minister. That we give you another example.
:44:22. > :44:26.Can I just finished this point? It's about those Brexit negotiations, but
:44:27. > :44:34.it is also about enthusiastically embracing the opportunities that
:44:35. > :44:36.Brexit will give us as a country. An opportunity to develop our economy,
:44:37. > :44:39.develop those higher paid jobs and to develop the school that people
:44:40. > :44:41.need to take those jobs. Would that include an opportunity to properly
:44:42. > :44:46.fund schools? In England, primary schools are facing a ?3 billion cut
:44:47. > :44:50.by 2020. Lots of parents watching this programme are well aware that
:44:51. > :44:53.parents are having to come in and fill in for classes where there
:44:54. > :44:58.aren't enough teachers to be provided for, there are full sales
:44:59. > :45:02.for books. Education in England in particular is badly underfunded --
:45:03. > :45:05.there or a false ills. Is there any prospect of change if people vote
:45:06. > :45:09.for Theresa May as Prime Minister? Let's look at what is happening in
:45:10. > :45:14.education. We said we will protect the course cause budget, and we have
:45:15. > :45:19.done that. In fact, the level of funding going into schools is at
:45:20. > :45:23.record levels -- Bacall schools budget. It is something like four to
:45:24. > :45:28.?1 billion this year. What we are also looking at. As the number of
:45:29. > :45:35.pupils increases, the money of going into schools increases. But funding
:45:36. > :45:38.is falling? We have protected the call schools budget. We're also
:45:39. > :45:42.looking at introducing a greater degree of fairness in the way in
:45:43. > :45:45.which schools are funded. Everybody across the political spectrum has
:45:46. > :45:51.accepted that the current way that we allocate funding to schools is
:45:52. > :45:55.unfair. We want to bring in a much fairer system of funding for
:45:56. > :45:58.schools. We have made some proposals and consulted on them, and obviously
:45:59. > :46:04.we will be responding with our final proposals in due course.
:46:05. > :46:11.Mainstream schools have to make ?3 million in efficiency savings by
:46:12. > :46:17.2019/20 against the background of growing pupil numbers under real
:46:18. > :46:20.term reduction in funding per pupil, says the national audit the scum and
:46:21. > :46:26.I say to you again you need rethink this. We need to have a fair funding
:46:27. > :46:31.system that is ensuring the way money is allocated to schools is
:46:32. > :46:35.fair and fair across the country. One of the reasons the Conservatives
:46:36. > :46:41.have had to oversee ceremony cuts in so many areas is that under the last
:46:42. > :46:46.government you made it clear -- you made a clear promise to never raise
:46:47. > :46:51.income tax, VAT or national insurance. Are you going to repeat
:46:52. > :46:56.that? We have no plans to increase the level of tax but I'm also clear,
:46:57. > :47:04.I don't want to make specific proposals on taxes unless I'm sure I
:47:05. > :47:08.can deliver on those. It would be my intention as Conservative Prime
:47:09. > :47:12.Minister to reduce the taxes on working families, and if you've got
:47:13. > :47:17.strong and stable leadership that's what you can do. You would accept
:47:18. > :47:21.that tax lock was going too far? Your Chancellor thinks it tied his
:47:22. > :47:27.hands too tightly. When people come to look at this decision on June the
:47:28. > :47:31.8th, they will have a choice between the Conservative Party that has
:47:32. > :47:39.always been a low tax party, that over the last few years has taken 4
:47:40. > :47:44.million people out of paying contacts, and a Labour Party that is
:47:45. > :47:49.about paying higher taxes for the future. The Conservative Party whose
:47:50. > :48:00.intention is to reduce the taxes or Labour Party that wants to increase
:48:01. > :48:05.the tax. Have you come to proposals to help on social care? If we look
:48:06. > :48:10.at this issue on social care, there are short-term measures to take and
:48:11. > :48:14.we have taken that. In the Budget with but ?2 billion extra into
:48:15. > :48:18.social care, in the medium term we need to make sure good practice is
:48:19. > :48:21.spread across the country. If you look at the late discharges from
:48:22. > :48:29.hospital which is why hospitals interact with local authorities... I
:48:30. > :48:37.sat there are three stages on this. The short, and longer term we need
:48:38. > :48:42.to have a sustainable solution for social care. And yes, we have been
:48:43. > :48:48.working on that sustainable solution, and these issues, an issue
:48:49. > :48:54.like the impact of our ageing population is about the long-term
:48:55. > :48:58.issue that I want to address for the future. If you want to know what's
:48:59. > :49:02.in our manifesto you will have to wait until the manifesto was
:49:03. > :49:07.published. Is the triple lock on pensions still safe? Under a
:49:08. > :49:12.Conservative government the state pension will still go up every year
:49:13. > :49:16.of the next Parliament. Exactly how we calculate that increase will be
:49:17. > :49:21.for the manifesto, and you will have to wait for that to see what's in
:49:22. > :49:24.it, but what we see already is that because of the actions taken under
:49:25. > :49:32.Conservatives in Government on the basic state pension, pensioners are
:49:33. > :49:38.?1250 a year better off and under a Conservative government the state
:49:39. > :49:43.pension will continue to rise each year. What about the pension funds
:49:44. > :49:49.which are collapsing, that will change, will it? Yes because this is
:49:50. > :49:52.one of the injustices, we have seen examples, a limited number, where
:49:53. > :49:55.workers have been really worried about the future of their pensions
:49:56. > :50:00.because of the actions that have been taken so we would bring in new
:50:01. > :50:03.rules and new powers for the pensions regulator so that in
:50:04. > :50:06.certain circumstances where companies were being taken over,
:50:07. > :50:10.there would be new powers for the regulator to make sure the issue
:50:11. > :50:14.around people's future pensions was being addressed so they had
:50:15. > :50:20.reassurance for the future of their pensions. Would a future Sir Philip
:50:21. > :50:24.Green be prosecuted and possibly jailed for what he did? We would
:50:25. > :50:28.also be introducing greater powers to take action against individuals
:50:29. > :50:31.if what they were doing was about effectively trying to destroy
:50:32. > :50:39.people's pensions for the future. Let's talk about Brexit. You said
:50:40. > :50:45.that no deal was better than a bad deal in your Lancaster house speech,
:50:46. > :50:48.do you stand by that? Yes, I do, but I also think it's important that we
:50:49. > :50:52.go in there with the strength of hand in negotiations to get a good
:50:53. > :50:57.deal for the British people. That's what I want to do and that's why I
:50:58. > :51:02.say every vote for me and my team on June the 8th will strengthen my hand
:51:03. > :51:14.in those negotiations. You have now had a private conversation with Mr
:51:15. > :51:17.Juncker and the rest of the team and it doesn't seem to have gone
:51:18. > :51:20.terribly well because Jean-Claude Juncker said to Angela Merkel after
:51:21. > :51:23.meeting you," it went very badly, she is in a different galaxy, based
:51:24. > :51:25.on that meeting no deal is much more likely than finding an agreement".
:51:26. > :51:29.Wasn't that bad? I am not in a different galaxy but I think what
:51:30. > :51:33.this shows, and other comments from European leaders show, is that there
:51:34. > :51:36.will be times when these negotiations will be tough and
:51:37. > :51:40.that's why you need strong and stable leadership in order to
:51:41. > :51:45.conduct those negotiations and get the best deal for Britain. I'm
:51:46. > :51:50.confident you can get a deal. The trade Commission has been very clear
:51:51. > :51:54.she thinks we will get a trade deal. We have also seen the 27 standing
:51:55. > :51:57.shoulder to shoulder on the question of wanting a deal on money before
:51:58. > :52:02.they will even talk about trade and other issues and they made that very
:52:03. > :52:08.clear this weekend. The Luxembourg Prime Minister is talking about
:52:09. > :52:12.between 40 and ?60 billion worth of deal to be sorted out. If you win
:52:13. > :52:16.this election and get a big majority, can I put it to you the
:52:17. > :52:21.first thing you will do is go over there and sign the cheque. They do
:52:22. > :52:24.want to start discussions about money. I'm very clear that at the
:52:25. > :52:29.end of the negotiations we need to be clear not just about the Brexit
:52:30. > :52:35.negotiation, how we withdraw, but also how our future relationship
:52:36. > :52:40.will be. These negotiations will be tough. Are you prepared to agree on
:52:41. > :52:49.the money before you agree on everything else? I want to agree on
:52:50. > :52:54.a trade deal and a withdrawal. What they say you must agree on that
:52:55. > :52:57.first. If you look at what is being set in the guidelines, they say they
:52:58. > :53:01.want to start the discussions on a number of issues. There are things
:53:02. > :53:06.we absolutely agree on should be early in those discussions. The
:53:07. > :53:11.position of EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens living in those 27
:53:12. > :53:15.European countries. We absolutely agree that should be early in the
:53:16. > :53:19.discussions. They also agree we should be discussing the development
:53:20. > :53:24.of a special partnership for the future so there is much which we
:53:25. > :53:28.agree on. It is critical to this issue and to the election campaign,
:53:29. > :53:34.you are saying you will not agree to pay a large bill to the EU until the
:53:35. > :53:39.entire negotiations are finished, yes or no? And the EU itself has
:53:40. > :53:43.also said nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. You mentioned
:53:44. > :53:49.EU citizens, now if I was somebody watching this programme and perhaps
:53:50. > :53:52.I was married to a French or German citizen, very worried about their
:53:53. > :53:57.status in the future. Jeremy Corbyn has said if I've become Prime
:53:58. > :54:03.Minister on day one I guarantee their status, why can't you do the
:54:04. > :54:07.same? I believe it is important I have a care for UK citizens
:54:08. > :54:12.currently living in the 27 countries, remaining countries of
:54:13. > :54:17.the European Union. That's why I say this is about reciprocity, it's
:54:18. > :54:21.about us... I want to be able to guarantee new citizens living here
:54:22. > :54:24.their rights and status but I think it's important we ensure UK citizens
:54:25. > :54:30.living in Europe have their rights and status guaranteed as well. There
:54:31. > :54:37.is goodwill there. Sorry, this is an important point. If you look at my
:54:38. > :54:42.Article 50 letter, I was very clear I believe the rights of use sits and
:54:43. > :54:47.is here and UK citizens in Europe should be an early discussion, an
:54:48. > :54:51.early agreement for us and if you look at the guidelines that exactly
:54:52. > :54:57.what the EU 27 have agreed as well. There is goodwill there, I believe
:54:58. > :55:01.we can give that reassurance to people at an early stage. Do you
:55:02. > :55:08.believe people in houses worth more than ?5 million are paying their
:55:09. > :55:12.fair share of taxes? Should we ask them to pay more? The top 1% of
:55:13. > :55:19.people paying tax are actually paying a higher burden, a higher
:55:20. > :55:23.share of tax under us, a Conservative government, than they
:55:24. > :55:28.did under any year of a Labour government. But going ahead? It's
:55:29. > :55:38.rightly make sure the tax system is balanced. I think you can see... Let
:55:39. > :55:43.look and see what we have done... We haven't got time for history I'm
:55:44. > :55:51.afraid. I think our record is important. We have taken formerly of
:55:52. > :55:55.people out of paying income tax, and 30 million people have seen attacks
:55:56. > :55:59.cut. I have been talking to Tim Farron about his attitude to gay
:56:00. > :56:06.sex, you are also a Christian, do you believe gay sex is a sin? No.
:56:07. > :56:09.And do you believe what happened to Tim Farron there is a judgment of
:56:10. > :56:14.the aggressive mood being imposed on Christians in this country that
:56:15. > :56:19.other people don't have to face? I believe anybody who is putting
:56:20. > :56:23.themselves for election, who was asked in the public to trust them,
:56:24. > :56:26.is bound to get a whole range of questions from a whole range of
:56:27. > :56:32.different groups. Some people think the reason you called this election
:56:33. > :56:35.is that 30 Conservative candidates and/ or Asians are under
:56:36. > :56:38.investigation from the Crown Prosecution Service and could be
:56:39. > :56:44.facing charges soon, was that issue discussed at all... That is not the
:56:45. > :56:48.reason this election has been called. Let's be clear, in relation
:56:49. > :56:53.to that issue local spending was properly declared. The Conservative
:56:54. > :56:58.Party did make an administrative error on its national spending, as
:56:59. > :57:02.did other parties. We have paid our fine and I would expect of the
:57:03. > :57:08.parties to do the same. This CBS action, should they be able to
:57:09. > :57:12.stand? The CPS will make independent decisions on whether it takes action
:57:13. > :57:15.on individuals. What I am clear about is that this election is about
:57:16. > :57:21.the national interest, it's about the future of our country and that's
:57:22. > :57:30.why I say to people I want to see everybody voting. And you have
:57:31. > :57:33.raised the question of Jeremy Corbyn. Can I put it to you that
:57:34. > :57:36.when it came to one of the most important votes we have had in
:57:37. > :57:39.recent times on the Iraq war, whatever you think of him he was on
:57:40. > :57:42.the right side looking at history, and you were on the long side, you
:57:43. > :57:44.voted for the Iraq war that had so many disastrous consequences, and he
:57:45. > :57:48.did the unpopular thing and stood against it, on that at least he was
:57:49. > :57:52.right and you were wrong. If we look at the choice in this election, the
:57:53. > :57:57.choice people will be making is who do they want to see as Prime
:57:58. > :58:01.Minister? Who do they want to see leading the Brexit negotiations and
:58:02. > :58:05.defending this country? Jeremy Corbyn has shown he's not prepared
:58:06. > :58:09.to stand up for defence of this country and his economic policies
:58:10. > :58:14.don't stand up. If you knew then what you know now, would you have
:58:15. > :58:19.voted for the Iraq war? That is a hypothetical, you can only vote at
:58:20. > :58:24.any point in time on what you know, and I voted the way I thought was
:58:25. > :58:29.right. But he was right on that and you were wrong, isn't that the
:58:30. > :58:32.truth? I voted for what I believed was right when the vote came to
:58:33. > :58:36.Parliament. If we look ahead there will be tough decisions to be taken,
:58:37. > :58:41.I think it's important we have a Prime Minister willing to defend
:58:42. > :58:43.this country, stand up for the defence of this country, Jeremy
:58:44. > :58:48.Corbyn has shown he's not willing to do that with economic policies that
:58:49. > :58:49.will take this country forward. Thank you, Prime Minister, you
:58:50. > :58:51.covered a lot. And that's all we have
:58:52. > :58:53.time for this morning. We'll be back same time next week
:58:54. > :58:56.with more on the election, as well as one of our most beloved
:58:57. > :59:00.actresses, Imelda Staunton.