Browse content similar to 02/10/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Welcome to the Politics Show in Manchester where the Conservatives | :00:05. | :00:08. | |
are gathering, troubled by the compromises of coalition and a | :00:08. | :00:14. | |
gloomy economic outlook. We'll ask Party Chairman Baroness Warsi how | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
she responds to those Tories, and there are lot of them here in | :00:18. | :00:21. | |
Manchester, who think the price of coalition has been, well, a bit on | :00:21. | :00:27. | |
the high side. And as George Osborne prepares for his big speech, | :00:27. | :00:30. | |
we ask Tory backbenchers and businesses large and small how we | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
can go for growth? And we'll have details of an exclusive survey of | :00:33. | :00:41. | |
activists on what they want to hear from the Chancellor tomorrow. | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
will be asking the Transport Minister how the capital can avoid | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
gridlock during next year's Olympics. Plus Middle England is up | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
in arms about new plan threatening the green belt. Could they affect | :00:53. | :01:03. | |
:01:03. | :01:10. | ||
But first the news with Chris Good afternoon. David Cameron has | :01:10. | :01:12. | |
again defended the government's strategy for delivering economic | :01:12. | :01:15. | |
growth. He insisted the Conservatives understood how rising | :01:15. | :01:18. | |
prices were making life difficult for many people. And he said being | :01:18. | :01:24. | |
in coalition was helpful at a time of economic difficulty. From the | :01:24. | :01:30. | |
party's conference in Manchester, Ben Wright sent this report. | :01:30. | :01:34. | |
His government under pressure to get the economy growing. This | :01:34. | :01:38. | |
morning he insisted he had a plan for firing up the engine of the | :01:38. | :01:42. | |
British economy. He said he knew people were under pressure but | :01:42. | :01:48. | |
dismissed calls for extra spending. Those people who argue a few more | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
billion now would make all the difference, I would say, over the | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
next four years, we will be spending three trillion pounds, | :01:55. | :02:01. | |
into the economy. Is it really a good risk to spend a few more | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
billion now and potentially put at risk of low interest rates which | :02:05. | :02:09. | |
are so keyed to the economic revival? Housebuilding is a key | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
part of the growth plan and wants to accelerate the council house | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
right-to-buy scheme and build a new house for everyone which is sold. | :02:18. | :02:23. | |
Brownfield sites will be sold for development. The biggest crisis is | :02:23. | :02:28. | |
the eurozone. The Prime Minister said it had to be tackled. What I | :02:28. | :02:31. | |
would relish right now is for European leaders to roll up their | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
sleeves, get the single market working, get the economies trading, | :02:36. | :02:41. | |
working and growing. People up and down Britain on not thinking, if | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
only we could have a treaty change in Europe. They are thinking, get | :02:45. | :02:50. | |
jobs going. That's what my conference and leadership is about. | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
He conceded there were tensions within the coalition. He said it | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
was the right government for the time. One of the benefits of | :02:58. | :03:02. | |
coalition is you put aside some of your immediate interests to achieve | :03:02. | :03:06. | |
long-term good and ask the country to try and come behind what the | :03:06. | :03:13. | |
Government is doing at a difficult time. The fact two parties are | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
making difficult decisions. party faithful are cross about the | :03:17. | :03:20. | |
compromises of coalition and sharing power with the Liberal | :03:21. | :03:24. | |
Democrats. The Tories will use his conference to show voters they | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
understand times are tough and they will try to convince critics I have | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
a credible plan for the economy. George Osborne as likely to | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
announce more growth measures tomorrow but there will be no | :03:35. | :03:41. | |
deviation from his plan to do with the deficit. That deal with the | :03:41. | :03:43. | |
deficit. A leading charity says there has | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
been a surge in the number of people who can't afford basic foods. | :03:47. | :03:49. | |
FareShare, which distributes surplus food from supermarkets and | :03:49. | :03:51. | |
manufacturers, says it's facing an unprecedented demand from families | :03:51. | :03:58. | |
struggling to cope with rising prices. Andy Moore has the details. | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
The charity FareShare takes surplus food from the retail industry and | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
gives it to the charities that needed to like homeless hostels, | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
day centres and women's refuges. It's not giving it individual food | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
parcels but is responsible for providing millions of meals a year | :04:14. | :04:19. | |
to those who need them and that demand is increasing. Their food | :04:19. | :04:26. | |
reaches 35,000 people every day from 29,500 a year ago. Almost two | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
I took three of their clients have gone without a proper meal for a | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
police today in the last year and yet they are disputing only 1% of | :04:34. | :04:41. | |
Britain's food surplus. The vast majority is going to waste. That's | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
why the charity is calling on the food industry to do more to help. | :04:45. | :04:48. | |
It says it is immoral that people are going to bed hungry when | :04:48. | :04:53. | |
thousands of tons of food a day is just being thrown away. The number | :04:53. | :04:58. | |
of charities FareShare helps is growing all the time, up from 600 | :04:58. | :05:03. | |
to 700 this year. Those charities are facing an increasing demand for | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
basic food needs and, at the same time, a reduction in their funding. | :05:08. | :05:10. | |
Red Cross officials in Libya say the humanitarian situation | :05:10. | :05:15. | |
situation in Colonel Gaddafi's home-town of Sirte has become dire. | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
Sirte is under siege from forces loyal to the National Transitional | :05:18. | :05:21. | |
Council. A medical team that reached a hospital there yesterday | :05:21. | :05:27. | |
said there was almost no medicine, food or water. | :05:27. | :05:30. | |
700 demonstrators have been arrested in New York as they tried | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
to block the Brooklyn Bridge as part of a protest against Wall | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
Street. The activists halted traffic for several hours. They | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
were part of a larger group crossing the bridge from Manhattan, | :05:39. | :05:44. | |
where they have been camped out near Wall Street for two weeks. | :05:44. | :05:53. | |
Welcome to Manchester and the Conservative party conference, | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
where there is a slight retro feel. Economic troubles, arguments over | :05:56. | :05:59. | |
Europe and, this morning, a Tory Prime Minister offering council | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
house residents the right to buy. So who better to go back to the | :06:03. | :06:06. | |
future this morning than two veterans of political punditry? | :06:06. | :06:08. | |
Polly Toynbee of the Guardian. And Benedict Brogan of the Daily | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
Telegraph. Maybe you're both too young to be called veterans. The | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
interesting thing we saw this morning was the David Cameron | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
interview with the Sunday Times where he seemed to be apologising | :06:20. | :06:27. | |
to women. Has he got women troubles? Yes, profound ones. I'm | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
not sure they made sexist jokes in the Commons. The trouble is it | :06:32. | :06:37. | |
reflects what's happening. Women and children have been hit hardest | :06:37. | :06:42. | |
by a cut after cut after cut, particularly childcare credits, | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
paying more for child care. 600 women a week are now leaving their | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
jobs because they can't afford child care. The costs have gone up | :06:51. | :07:00. | |
and I think these are Exocet right into the heart of how women feel | :07:00. | :07:06. | |
they are suffering the most. Do you think there is polling in the toe | :07:06. | :07:08. | |
ring -- and the Tory party that suggests they have a problem with | :07:08. | :07:14. | |
women voters? Conservatives rely on them but Number Ten has found | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
lately focus groups are telling them that women are going off the | :07:18. | :07:22. | |
Conservatives and David Cameron, so expect to see a lot to soften the | :07:22. | :07:29. | |
image and message. He's also got a problem with Margaret Thatcher, her | :07:29. | :07:33. | |
shadow looming over him in his party. People which he was more | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
conservative inside the coalition. That is the other woman problem he | :07:37. | :07:43. | |
has got. Is there a dissatisfaction, do you think, amongst the grass | :07:43. | :07:46. | |
roots here, that what they are getting is too much of the | :07:46. | :07:51. | |
coalition view that not enough of the Conservative you? There is the | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
basic Conservative complaint which has that they wished this was a | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
more conservative government and they will wish they had the | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
majority in could do more and they say though Lib Dem tail is wagging | :08:02. | :08:07. | |
the Conservative dog. David Cameron will say that this is pushing | :08:07. | :08:14. | |
through Conservative policies. But that perception persists here. | :08:14. | :08:17. | |
There are 120 Euro rebels for instance whereas when John Major | :08:17. | :08:23. | |
talked about his baskets, they run a 22. The new intake appears to be | :08:23. | :08:31. | |
on the right side of the party. you think that will cause him | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
problems this week? I think so. I think there is a sense that the | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
party is going in the wrong direction, they want to push it in | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
another direction. Much resentment of the Lib Dems to fight tooth and | :08:43. | :08:49. | |
claw in each consistency. I think Polly is wrong on the Europe | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
question. William Hague and David Cameron in the interviews this | :08:54. | :08:57. | |
morning appeared to be relaxed about the fact there would be a | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
boat in the Commons on the EU, and a lot of their MPs are causing | :09:00. | :09:05. | |
trouble in Europe. The pressure is on but in the end, it won't lead to | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
the kind of trouble John Major had. Both of you, for the moment, thank | :09:09. | :09:12. | |
you very much. Now David Cameron's had a pretty good year. He's got | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
more councillors than he had 12 months ago. He won a thumping | :09:15. | :09:19. | |
victory in the AV referendum. And was mobbed as a liberator on the | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
streets of Benghazi. But, despite all that, his party is not an | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
entirely happy one. For many, the price in Tory policies and Tory | :09:25. | :09:27. | |
principles of coalition has been too high and the economy remains | :09:27. | :09:30. | |
nothing to celebrate. In a moment we'll speak to Tory Chairman | :09:30. | :09:40. | |
:09:40. | :09:46. | ||
Baroness Warsi. But first a guide football, raving and music. Will | :09:46. | :09:53. | |
the Tory grassroots be mad for it? Well, they are certainly happy | :09:53. | :10:00. | |
about Ed Miliband's rocky week in Liverpool. But the Lib Dem | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
coalition is wearing thin for many. They said the Lib Dems are bad too | :10:05. | :10:08. | |
much influence over Europe, health and taxation. As if that wasn't | :10:08. | :10:14. | |
enough, they had to put up with this. We fought against the bankers, | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
the populism of Tories after the riots. What I will not do is | :10:19. | :10:25. | |
provide cover for the ideological descendants of those who once sent | :10:25. | :10:31. | |
children up chimneys. And let that be a warning to the Conservative | :10:31. | :10:38. | |
right. We need no tea-party tendencies in Britain. And no | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
dealing with a depth it has helped the coalition so far. The economy | :10:42. | :10:47. | |
could yet tear them apart again as Tory frustration grows that the | :10:47. | :10:54. | |
Government are not cutting business taxes and tackling the duration -- | :10:54. | :11:04. | |
:11:04. | :11:13. | ||
tackling regulation. With me now is Baroness Warsi. Welcome. Would you | :11:13. | :11:19. | |
say you're happy party at the moment? Yes, it's more united than | :11:19. | :11:24. | |
it's been for a long time. We have a broad range of views. They have | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
to make sure that not only do we present a vision of what the party | :11:28. | :11:32. | |
stands for but the party internally as a debate. For the first time | :11:32. | :11:37. | |
after many years, we are having an open Conservative Policy Forum | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
debate where no questions are off the agenda. Isn't there a | :11:41. | :11:49. | |
fundamental dissatisfaction, at the link up Lib Dems on influencing the | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
coalition? Some people would say we're not doing enough, some people | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
who would say we are going to find that the broad basis of what the | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
Conservative Party is about. But I'm very clear what we're doing in | :12:01. | :12:06. | |
government. We are acting in the national interest, making tough | :12:06. | :12:10. | |
decisions and we are making them based upon manifesto commitment | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
that we fought for before the general election. The Human Rights | :12:14. | :12:19. | |
Act. Theresa May says to scuppered. Nick Clegg assets to keep it. | :12:19. | :12:25. | |
is a commission and then we will have a debate. If you're suggesting | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
something as serious at the Human Rights Act should be something we | :12:28. | :12:34. | |
should discuss and move on, it's wrong. Theresa May sounds like she | :12:34. | :12:37. | |
has done just that. That's why we need a commission because we have | :12:37. | :12:42. | |
different people with different views, which need to be fed in. | :12:42. | :12:47. | |
you putting Theresa May in a box? I'm not doing anything of the sort. | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
We have some fantastically established and learned brains who | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
are going to discuss and debate this. Its white a country should | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
feel that decisions it needs to take in the interest of its | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
security should be able to make those decisions without feeling | :13:03. | :13:10. | |
that they are being dealt with on high by somebody else. Another aim, | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
you said you would repatriate powers from the European Union. Can | :13:14. | :13:19. | |
you name one you have a repatriated? We said any further | :13:19. | :13:23. | |
powers which go to Europe will be subjected to a referendum and we | :13:23. | :13:28. | |
would use opportunities to try to win those powers back. Any yet? | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
This will be part of a process. That is what the Conservative view | :13:32. | :13:38. | |
is. We feel too many powers have been given to Europe. Everyone | :13:38. | :13:43. | |
would say three cheers to that, but what have you won back? One thing | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
we have been discussing, for example, is when the Prime Minister | :13:46. | :13:49. | |
went to Europe and said that it can't be the case that when a | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
country at home it is making cuts in its budget, Europe continues to | :13:53. | :13:58. | |
say, increase our budget. It was right for the Prime Minister. The | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
first time for a British prime minister to go out there and say | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
that. We had Labour members of the European Parliament voting against | :14:07. | :14:13. | |
Alan national interests. Planning on the green belt. Are you in tune | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
there? We are Clare with a green agenda. It's something which has | :14:17. | :14:23. | |
been part of what we believe in as Conservatives -- clear. Are you in | :14:23. | :14:27. | |
tune with your grass roots? Yes, if you look at the announcement made | :14:27. | :14:32. | |
yesterday, about housing being built on brownfield sites, empty | :14:32. | :14:40. | |
offices, on the Government... could quote you endless letters | :14:40. | :14:49. | |
about it pulls up. I would still struggle to come up with something | :14:49. | :14:53. | |
as utterly biased and facile as the National Policy Network, this | :14:53. | :15:00. | |
letter says. Our children will cursors it our countryside is | :15:00. | :15:06. | |
spoiled for short-term advantage. - - curse us. It goes on. | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
completely agree, we should preserve the countryside for our | :15:09. | :15:14. | |
children. But what we do need it is a reform in the planning system. We | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
can't carry on in a system which takes years to get off the ground, | :15:17. | :15:23. | |
to have an infrastructure project, which creates a situation under the | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
last government, where we did not build houses, people could not get | :15:27. | :15:30. | |
onto the housing ladder and its white the Government invests in | :15:31. | :15:34. | |
housebuilding. Why do you think you're grassroots are so | :15:34. | :15:39. | |
dissatisfied? I don't think they are. There are people in the party | :15:39. | :15:44. | |
who have different views. I welcome that pulls up a robust party which | :15:44. | :15:48. | |
engages with itself than challenges itself, is a good thing. I can tell | :15:48. | :15:54. | |
you, as party chairman, and I go out and speak to people, and I | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
campaign up and down the country, I know there is one thing this party | :15:57. | :16:02. | |
is united about, that whatever they think in relation to their own | :16:02. | :16:07. | |
political views, they feel about a secondary to what is in the | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
interests of the country. And making sure that is what we might, | :16:10. | :16:20. | |
by doing the right thing by the A survey on Conservative Home van | :16:20. | :16:28. | |
TUPE at least popular minister in the Cabinet. -- Found You the least | :16:28. | :16:33. | |
popular minister in the Cabinet. Why is that? This is not me, it is | :16:33. | :16:38. | |
about us as a party saying that these are difficult times. Of | :16:38. | :16:43. | |
course, in the country, there are families facing hard choices, and | :16:43. | :16:46. | |
we shouldn't do... Is that because they have not seen you fighting the | :16:46. | :16:52. | |
good fight? During the phone hacking scandal, we never saw you | :16:52. | :16:55. | |
defending the government? During the riots, after the riots, we did | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
that see you. You have been slightly invisible, other people | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
have been the voice of the Conservative Party. My job is very | :17:02. | :17:07. | |
simple. It is to make sure we steer a steady ship and win elections. | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
What are the two big collections over the last 12 months? The AV | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
referendum, the mother of all elections, we cut the mother of all | :17:15. | :17:20. | |
results. The local elections, where every pundit and every commentator | :17:20. | :17:25. | |
said we would lose 1,000 seats, but we gained seats. We gained | :17:25. | :17:29. | |
councillors, we won across the country, and that is what I was | :17:29. | :17:33. | |
doing, going out, campaigning, working with activists and making | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
sure we are putting Conservative principles on the doorstep. That is | :17:36. | :17:43. | |
my job. Ben. Your job is to sell the new, compassionate Conservative | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
Party, yet when you hear Francis Maude describing the National Trust | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
in a way that he did, does it make your job more difficult? It is the | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
job of every one officers Conservatives to go out and sell | :17:57. | :18:01. | |
the Conservative message. It is important that we are frank and | :18:01. | :18:07. | |
honest about we feel these things are. Francis Maude has a view, and | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
he will express it in a way that he wants to. My job is to make sure | :18:11. | :18:16. | |
that I lead a united party, that I lead a strong party and we strongly | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
Gazza and fight elections. Why do we fight elections? Not just | :18:20. | :18:25. | |
because we want to win, but if we believe in the party that we are | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
today, we can only put those principles into action if we are | :18:28. | :18:33. | |
winning. You sound as if you are from another planet. People are | :18:33. | :18:38. | |
really suffering, they are losing jobs, they are losing money, | :18:38. | :18:43. | |
households are cut by about 7% in real spending power, inflation is | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
soaring, people are anxious and worried. Women have turned against | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
the Conservatives because it is they and children who have been hit | :18:50. | :18:54. | |
over and over again, and it is sound complacent, and I worry that | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
this conference just does not get it about how great the crisis is | :18:58. | :19:03. | |
and that the economic policy is not working. The deficit is rising, not | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
falling, due to George Osborne's policies. People are worried, they | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
are making difficult choices, but if you ask each and every one of | :19:10. | :19:13. | |
those people that you're making these difficult choices, if you had | :19:13. | :19:17. | |
a choice, would you go for the good life now, or would you actually | :19:17. | :19:22. | |
have a stable and secular, prosperous future for your | :19:22. | :19:27. | |
children? You do not deal with a deficit, Polly, by saying, let's | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
borrow a bit more money that we do not have had spent a bit more money. | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
That is living on a different planet. We are going to talk about | :19:34. | :19:37. | |
the economic aspect of this, because it seems the government | :19:37. | :19:41. | |
does not have a coherent and credible plan for growth. Not my | :19:41. | :19:47. | |
words, not Ed Balls's, but those of the Treasury of the Select | :19:47. | :19:49. | |
Committee, Andrew Tyrie. The government says they have a plan | :19:49. | :19:54. | |
and they will explain more this week, but options can look limited. | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
So what can George Osborne of a conference tomorrow? Here is Max | :19:57. | :20:03. | |
Cotton that some ideas for the Chancellor. | :20:03. | :20:11. | |
You recognise the name of this country, this is the essay. It | :20:11. | :20:14. | |
stands for Birmingham Small Arms, and they used to make rather a bid | :20:14. | :20:18. | |
for motorbikes, but today they manufacture specialist machine | :20:18. | :20:23. | |
tools. -- beautiful motorbikes. A company that many thought of as | :20:23. | :20:26. | |
AdWords to the wall in the 1980s now apparently hold the key to our | :20:26. | :20:34. | |
economic recovery. -- that many of us thought had gone to the war. | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
There is an emphasis on building binges like this in the | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
manufacturing sector. But growth is slowing down, not speeding up, and | :20:42. | :20:46. | |
his is the biggest headache the government has got. The growth plan | :20:46. | :20:49. | |
was written down in March, and in March we had a reasonable degree of | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
confidence that growth in the economy, in 2011 and 2012, would be | :20:53. | :20:56. | |
stronger than it now turns out to be given the worldwide slowdown. So | :20:56. | :21:00. | |
we do not want government to change the plan, we want government to | :21:00. | :21:09. | |
accelerate the plan. The CBI wants plan any, but plus, which means it | :21:09. | :21:14. | |
will deliver more in the short term. Growth is going to come from | :21:14. | :21:20. | |
companies like this, small and medium-sized enterprises make up | :21:20. | :21:24. | |
80% of Britain's private sector. Now, the government are trying to | :21:24. | :21:29. | |
stimulate growth. They provide tax breaks, they produce business rates | :21:29. | :21:32. | |
-- reduce business rates and cut Corporation Tax. They have | :21:32. | :21:35. | |
increased funding for things like apprenticeships. But for many | :21:35. | :21:40. | |
companies like this, it is still not quite enough. Here they have a | :21:40. | :21:45. | |
chronic skills shortage, and they also spend a huge amount of time | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
and money complying with government regulation. We have got the skills | :21:49. | :21:55. | |
in this country, and we must continue to generate them. Steve is | :21:56. | :22:01. | |
managing director of BSA Machine Tools. If you take a ten-man band, | :22:01. | :22:07. | |
the SNA, we are talking skill base, if you, for example, with parental | :22:07. | :22:11. | |
leave, suddenly had one of the individuals, an engineer turning up | :22:11. | :22:15. | |
wanting to take three months off, that could actually put that | :22:15. | :22:21. | |
company down. Now, that is not the intention, so we do have to look at | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
what regulation is doing. Red tape is something that the government is | :22:26. | :22:34. | |
committed to reducing, but apparently it is not happening fast | :22:34. | :22:39. | |
enough. The government has 80 policy, that for every new | :22:39. | :22:44. | |
regulation that is introduced, one must be taken off the books. -- a | :22:44. | :22:49. | |
key policy. They are taking them off by the end of the parliament, | :22:49. | :22:53. | |
but that is three years away. At the moment, the economy has more | :22:53. | :22:57. | |
regulation than at the start of this government. There are | :22:57. | :23:00. | |
Conservatives who are getting fidgety about his lack of progress. | :23:00. | :23:04. | |
This is Bridgwater in the West Country. It has a manufacturing | :23:04. | :23:10. | |
base, too, and it as a right-of- centre Tory MP blames the Liberal | :23:10. | :23:16. | |
Democrat for holding back his party's efforts to stimulate growth. | :23:16. | :23:19. | |
You do not actually have a Conservative government. We have a | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
coalition government, and that has been my frustration from day one. | :23:24. | :23:29. | |
Liberals are big government, big bureaucracy, they love paperwork, | :23:29. | :23:32. | |
whereas the Conservatives are the opposite, small government, lean | :23:32. | :23:36. | |
government, less regulation. I think that is exactly where we have | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
this dichotomy, and this battle will continue as long as the | :23:41. | :23:44. | |
coalition does. But according to this former Conservative trade | :23:44. | :23:49. | |
minister, when it comes to tackling regulation, it is not just the Lib | :23:49. | :23:52. | |
Dems that are the problem. regulation, everybody agrees that | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
it has risen massively and that there is too much of it. A lot of | :23:56. | :24:00. | |
it is now a EU driven. We are constrained by the EU, particularly | :24:00. | :24:03. | |
if the government is not prepared to stand up to the EU and say, we | :24:03. | :24:09. | |
need to reduce this. But you can take a regulation like money- | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
laundering, EU and global, and say that we will do it in a more | :24:13. | :24:16. | |
sensible way. These concerns are shared by the Tory rank and file. A | :24:16. | :24:21. | |
survey of party members conducted for the Politics Show asked what | :24:21. | :24:23. | |
measures the Chancellor should announce this week to boost | :24:23. | :24:29. | |
economic growth. They favour three policies. At number three, cut | :24:29. | :24:37. | |
business taxes. No. Two, opt-out of EU regulations. Number one, cut red | :24:37. | :24:45. | |
tape. BSA Machine Tools in the West Midlands needs a flow of credit, | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
like every other company, but banks, as we all know, still have that | :24:49. | :24:54. | |
have firmly turned off. This company effectively borrowed from | :24:54. | :25:01. | |
its staff and its customers to stay competitive last year. I think we | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
do need to stimulate growth more, and number one for me would be to | :25:05. | :25:07. | |
create three new banks out of the assets and liabilities in UK | :25:08. | :25:11. | |
banking that the state already owns, raised serious sums of money from | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
the private sector so that he would have a war-chest of money available | :25:15. | :25:18. | |
to lend for people who wanted to back these and projects and | :25:18. | :25:24. | |
businesses that needed money to expand. -- back decent projects. | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
The Chancellor stands up tomorrow at the Conservative conference. | :25:28. | :25:31. | |
British business and party activists are waiting for something | :25:31. | :25:37. | |
new and radical to stimulate growth. Over to you, George. | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
That was Max Cotton reporting. Can you name me one good economic | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
indicator at the moment? Yes, that we have got the second strongest | :25:47. | :25:51. | |
growth rate in the G7. It is not a great growth rate, but it is still | :25:51. | :25:56. | |
the second strongest. It is being downgraded. That is actually the | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
picture that we need to look at. Look, of course things are | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
difficult in this country, if you look at what is happening around | :26:02. | :26:06. | |
the world, if you look at the US market, which is completely | :26:06. | :26:10. | |
stagnating, the crisis in the eurozone, we have got headwinds at | :26:10. | :26:13. | |
tail winds being thrown at his country, but what we do have in | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
this country is a sense of a safe haven, a stability that has been | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
created because of the plan that the government has in place. You do | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
not have a coherent and credible plan for the economic growth rate | :26:25. | :26:30. | |
of the UK economy, Quote unquote, Andrew Tyrie, treasury secretary | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
chairman. Andrew has got great experience on some of these matters, | :26:34. | :26:39. | |
and it is right that he raises some of these issues, but I disagree | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
because I think first of all having a plan to deal with the deficit is | :26:43. | :26:46. | |
essential to get the stability, and then we have to have a clear growth | :26:46. | :26:50. | |
plan, and from what we have already announced, whether support for the | :26:50. | :26:56. | |
regional growth runs... He says the plan is incoherent and inconsistent. | :26:56. | :27:00. | |
Let me tell you what we are doing. We have a clear privatisation of | :27:00. | :27:03. | |
capital projects, so right here in Manchester we have made sure we are | :27:03. | :27:07. | |
putting money into the Piccadilly to Oxford line that will create | :27:07. | :27:11. | |
jobs, that will create enterprise in the local area. The local | :27:11. | :27:15. | |
enterprise partnerships, the money going in to businesses, if you | :27:15. | :27:20. | |
start a business in the regions, we will not charge in national | :27:20. | :27:24. | |
insurance for the first number of employees to take on. It is about | :27:24. | :27:27. | |
investing in scale, putting in more apprenticeships, going out and say | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
we are open for business. Time after time, you are seen as | :27:30. | :27:34. | |
governments try to do all it can to unblock that potential assets, | :27:34. | :27:39. | |
let's try and help growth. promised the bonfire of red tape, | :27:39. | :27:43. | |
and people are still seeing regulation. In that survey, that | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
poll, people feel that you have not done that, that there is still too | :27:47. | :27:50. | |
much regulation and that you should be cutting even more force that we | :27:51. | :27:58. | |
should be. There are two types of regulation. Effectively, you have | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
got two bits of regulation. You have got regulation that is | :28:02. | :28:05. | |
British-made, what we pass in Parliament and put on our | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
businesses. The advent of regulation that comes out of Europe, | :28:08. | :28:12. | |
and that is much harder to control because of the agreements we have | :28:12. | :28:18. | |
entered into. -- you have then got regulation. What we have managed to | :28:18. | :28:23. | |
achieve as a government is that the regulation that is put on by us as | :28:23. | :28:26. | |
a country has slowed down and actually plateau it. We have got a | :28:26. | :28:30. | |
very clear policy in government. What David Cameron has said to | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
ministers, if you want regulation, you must tender one up. It is one | :28:35. | :28:40. | |
in, one out. For the first time, we are beginning to put a brake on the | :28:40. | :28:43. | |
amount of regulation and red tape that surrounds businesses. | :28:43. | :28:46. | |
other thing people say is that not just cutting red tape, you should | :28:46. | :28:49. | |
be cutting spending even more than you are doing it you want to | :28:49. | :28:55. | |
regenerate. Do you think George Osborne is going far enough? Some | :28:55. | :28:58. | |
give of think we are cutting too far, some say we have not cut far | :28:58. | :29:02. | |
enough. It is a plan that has got international credibility, and we | :29:02. | :29:06. | |
are sticking to it. One other question I want to ask you, Ed | :29:06. | :29:10. | |
Miliband got into a spot of bother when he was asked the other day | :29:11. | :29:13. | |
whether he could name the candidates for the Labour | :29:13. | :29:17. | |
leadership. Can you name the candidates for the Tory leadership? | :29:17. | :29:26. | |
Yes, I can! Do you want them? OK,, we have got Murdo Fraser, Carla | :29:27. | :29:30. | |
Jackson, we have got Ruth Davidson, who was fantastic in Glasgow, I | :29:30. | :29:34. | |
have campaigned with or, and we have got Margaret, our 4th | :29:34. | :29:40. | |
candidate, who has just declared. Full marks on that one! There are | :29:40. | :29:44. | |
people applauding in the background, the Tory faithful. We are a party | :29:44. | :29:48. | |
for all the nation, including the Scottish party, and so I should | :29:48. | :29:52. | |
know what is happening, and so should he. On the Liberal Democrats, | :29:52. | :29:55. | |
the insults that were held in York general direction, the descendants | :29:55. | :29:59. | |
of people who send people up chimneys, the Tea Party movement, | :29:59. | :30:04. | |
what did you make of that? thought you go and talk about the | :30:04. | :30:10. | |
insults in the AV referendum. can add that to the pile. It was | :30:10. | :30:12. | |
the Liberal Party conference, and they had to play to their party. | :30:12. | :30:17. | |
You know, you saw Labour claimed to their party last week. This week it | :30:17. | :30:21. | |
will be different, we will be saying to the country, these are | :30:21. | :30:24. | |
serious times, we are showing you some clear leadership, and we are | :30:24. | :30:28. | |
building for a better future. That means putting party politics aside. | :30:29. | :30:33. | |
It is how we started out this Government. Do you like the Liberal | :30:33. | :30:37. | |
Democrats? I love working with them, I have made some great friends. Do | :30:37. | :30:42. | |
I agree with their policies? No, I don't. I am chairman of the | :30:42. | :30:45. | |
Conservative Party, and however much I have enjoyed working with | :30:45. | :30:49. | |
them, and I am proud of the coalition we are in, but at the | :30:49. | :30:52. | |
next general election I will be making sure that we are fighting | :30:52. | :31:02. | |
for a Conservative majority How can you do that you can't talk | :31:02. | :31:08. | |
about tax cuts? The Conservative Party is not just about tax cuts. | :31:08. | :31:11. | |
The compassionate Conservative Party I have been involved in talks | :31:11. | :31:15. | |
about making sure those who have the broad shoulders to bear the | :31:15. | :31:19. | |
greatest burden. It's about saying kids from deprived backgrounds | :31:19. | :31:22. | |
should have the biggest support when they start out in life. It's | :31:22. | :31:25. | |
about giving a sense of opportunity for every child, whatever | :31:26. | :31:31. | |
background, we are not a party obsessed with taxation. Of course | :31:31. | :31:35. | |
we support Business and a low-tax economy always helps enterprise, | :31:35. | :31:39. | |
but there are serious issues for us to do it as a country, and you're | :31:39. | :31:43. | |
getting to grips with those for I think a lot of people listening to | :31:43. | :31:47. | |
you today will say they don't seem to get it. Everything is fine, | :31:47. | :31:52. | |
steady-as-she-goes, but it's not working. The deficit is rising, not | :31:52. | :31:57. | |
falling. If you could say it is very tough now but the deficit is | :31:57. | :32:01. | |
falling, we've had a big devaluation, a balance of trade, | :32:02. | :32:07. | |
there are no economic indicators which show that things are going | :32:07. | :32:12. | |
right. A lot of people listening to you today, with all due respect, | :32:12. | :32:16. | |
will be thinking, if the only answer that they have to this debt | :32:16. | :32:20. | |
crisis is to say let's borrow a bit more and get into a bit more of a | :32:20. | :32:26. | |
mess, they will say thank God the Government has changed. That's not | :32:26. | :32:29. | |
what Matt Roberts said. Thank God the Government has changed and for | :32:29. | :32:35. | |
the future of our country and our children, but they are taking | :32:35. | :32:45. | |
:32:45. | :32:47. | ||
control for a better future. Thank you very much for that. So, we've | :32:47. | :32:49. | |
heard today about plans to reinvigorate the right to buy in | :32:49. | :32:53. | |
part to help boost the economy. Labour opposed it in the 80s. Will | :32:53. | :32:56. | |
they back it today? We're joined now from Southampton by the Shadow | :32:56. | :32:58. | |
Business Secretary John Denham. Welcome to you. Do you support the | :32:58. | :33:02. | |
plans? Well, we did keep the right to buy in place when we were in | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
government but we kept a balance so the discount wasn't so high that we | :33:06. | :33:09. | |
lost too many homes that we couldn't replace and the critical | :33:09. | :33:13. | |
questions here are going to be whether, if you change the system, | :33:13. | :33:17. | |
we actually increase the number of homes for people who otherwise | :33:17. | :33:21. | |
won't have anywhere else to live, and I am sceptical about what I | :33:21. | :33:26. | |
hear so far. A bigger priority for me would be to put up the tax on | :33:26. | :33:30. | |
bank bonuses and put that money into building social housing which | :33:30. | :33:34. | |
is needed today for people who can't get anywhere to live and | :33:34. | :33:41. | |
would help to create jobs and boost the economy. What about the policy | :33:41. | :33:45. | |
that you will not be able to take an unfair dismissal case against an | :33:45. | :33:51. | |
employer if you haven't worked for them for two years? At the moment, | :33:51. | :33:57. | |
it is for one year. I think, I don't see the pressing need to make | :33:57. | :34:01. | |
life worse for people who work in that way but let me tell you this, | :34:01. | :34:06. | |
the Government to sell things that will make 3,000 cases different in | :34:06. | :34:11. | |
a whole year. If anybody wants to tell me or you that growth in this | :34:11. | :34:15. | |
country is being held back massively by 3,000 a tribunal cases, | :34:15. | :34:20. | |
I think they are wrong. Secondly, there are huge frustrations a month | :34:20. | :34:30. | |
employees about the way tribunal's work. Let me just introduce... You | :34:30. | :34:34. | |
said you don't see a pressing need for this to change. Is under | :34:34. | :34:38. | |
government seeing the pressing need of employers? -- isn't the | :34:38. | :34:43. | |
Government's seeing the pressing need of employers? Yes, each yeah | :34:43. | :34:47. | |
cases in tribunals cost employers a lot of money when there's no | :34:47. | :34:52. | |
grounding -- each year. We have to sort out the weather tribunal | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
system operates, make sure people can't make cases last for ages and | :34:57. | :35:02. | |
ages and ages, and make sure tribunals are not dropped because | :35:02. | :35:08. | |
listings have gone wrong. Then we can sort out the legitimate | :35:08. | :35:12. | |
grievances between employees and employers. The Government would | :35:12. | :35:16. | |
argue that what they're trying to do is to change something | :35:16. | :35:19. | |
fundamental on the supply a site. The regulation, cutting corporate | :35:19. | :35:27. | |
tax. Are there any of those that you agree with? Last year planning | :35:27. | :35:33. | |
laws were changed. Today we have 200,000 less planning permissions | :35:33. | :35:37. | |
for homes in this country than a year ago. If they had not done that, | :35:37. | :35:42. | |
they wouldn't have made the situation work. For all the bluster | :35:42. | :35:47. | |
we have had to about planning, it's now in chaos, and they are locked | :35:47. | :35:53. | |
into an increasingly abusive debate with a National Trust about | :35:53. | :35:58. | |
building on good countryside when a year ago, they had 200,000 more | :35:58. | :36:05. | |
planning applications on brownfield sites. Nothing they can do well | :36:05. | :36:09. | |
change the deficit. They are cutting the deficit to fast and | :36:09. | :36:13. | |
it's harming economic growth which is why we had the lowest of any G7 | :36:13. | :36:20. | |
country last year, apart from Japan. Get that right, cut to VAT, put a | :36:20. | :36:24. | |
tax on bank bonuses, encourage businesses to cut national | :36:24. | :36:31. | |
insurance, and we will get back on track. Thank you very much. In a | :36:31. | :36:33. | |
moment I'll be talking to three Conservative MPs about their hopes | :36:33. | :36:43. | |
:36:43. | :36:46. | ||
for the week ahead. But first it's We are in Manchester for the | :36:46. | :36:49. | |
Conservative Party conference and we start today wandering about the | :36:49. | :36:55. | |
Olympics next year and how London's transport system and day-to-day | :36:55. | :36:59. | |
business will cope with the influx of millions of visitors. It is | :36:59. | :37:01. | |
worrying Transport bosses themselves which is why they are | :37:01. | :37:10. | |
raising awareness to get people to There are now less than 300 days to | :37:10. | :37:13. | |
go until the Olympics begins for that when they do, the capital | :37:13. | :37:19. | |
could prove to be absolutely manic. Organisers say they're expecting | :37:19. | :37:22. | |
5.3 million extra visitors in London during the Games. They won't | :37:23. | :37:27. | |
all be here at the same time for that us roughly equivalent to the | :37:27. | :37:31. | |
capital's population doubling for the if you thought this was a busy | :37:31. | :37:34. | |
city, difficult to get around, during the Games, Transport bosses | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
think they will need is to make 30% fewer journeys in central London | :37:39. | :37:43. | |
and we normally would, because at certain points in certain places, | :37:43. | :37:46. | |
it's going to be even more pronounced balls of Canary Wharf | :37:46. | :37:52. | |
will need to see a 60% reduction in abnormal trouble. London Bridge can | :37:52. | :37:56. | |
be busy at the best of time. Transport for London say during the | :37:56. | :38:01. | |
Games, there could be accused of three hours just to get into the | :38:01. | :38:06. | |
station. Transport for London are so concerned about pinch points, | :38:06. | :38:12. | |
they want a loan but organisers to sell fewer tickets to the | :38:12. | :38:17. | |
equestrian events at Greenwich. The Olympic route network, 109 miles of | :38:17. | :38:21. | |
road to get people to and from the game's quicker. Traffic lights will | :38:21. | :38:26. | |
stay on green for longer and turning them on and off will be | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
restricted but on other roads things will not move so smoothly. | :38:30. | :38:36. | |
Official documents marked out the disruption TfL are expecting. Some | :38:36. | :38:41. | |
journeys are expected to double on some routes for for so, will London | :38:41. | :38:44. | |
grind to a halt? Not if they plan ahead according to Transport for | :38:44. | :38:49. | |
London. We are confident we will achieve the reductions we need in | :38:50. | :38:53. | |
transport demand this summer. We have a programme working for | :38:54. | :38:58. | |
businesses across London to encourage them to speak to us so we | :38:58. | :39:02. | |
can give advice on what they can do differently. Is it getting through | :39:02. | :39:06. | |
to businesses? We decided to conduct a straw poll in London | :39:06. | :39:13. | |
Bridge? Of the 25 we spoke to, none said they had any contact with | :39:13. | :39:20. | |
anybody. We've had no Correspondent at all. Eight at a 25 businesses | :39:20. | :39:24. | |
thought they would change their working practices because of | :39:24. | :39:28. | |
trouble -- trouble at the game's up I am quite quickly, because we are | :39:29. | :39:36. | |
small, we can manage with what ever comes at short notice. London's | :39:36. | :39:40. | |
local authorities say they yet to be convinced that the targets can | :39:41. | :39:48. | |
be met. You can say the 60% figure is realistic and we need to see it | :39:48. | :39:56. | |
written down plan. Or you could say this is a bit like Josef Stalin's | :39:56. | :40:00. | |
Planner, which may or may not happen. It's a very ambitious | :40:00. | :40:06. | |
target. We need to test that. If that's the case, what are the steps | :40:06. | :40:11. | |
we need to take to achieve that reduction? Organisers will be | :40:11. | :40:15. | |
hoping the message does get through that we are going to have to travel | :40:15. | :40:20. | |
differently. I'm joined by a transport minister | :40:20. | :40:26. | |
and MP for Chipping Barnet. Art TfL right to be worried about how | :40:26. | :40:30. | |
London is going to come through this? They are absolutely focused | :40:30. | :40:34. | |
on keeping London moving during what is going to be the biggest | :40:34. | :40:39. | |
event ever hosted in this country. It's going to be fabulous for the | :40:39. | :40:43. | |
capital, for the economy, leave a lasting benefit for the transport | :40:43. | :40:47. | |
system, but it will mean it disruption and pressure on the | :40:47. | :40:51. | |
transport system, which is why the mayor is working hard to engage | :40:51. | :40:55. | |
with businesses, to help people to minimise the disruption they are | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
going to experience during the Games. Is this a bit late? Are you | :40:59. | :41:04. | |
worried about the timescale? Our straw poll, 25 businesses in London | :41:04. | :41:11. | |
Bridge, one of the busy hubs, don't know of any kind of plans and what | :41:11. | :41:17. | |
they're supposed to do during the Games? Employers with staff between | :41:17. | :41:22. | |
them of around half a million, are already actively engaging with a | :41:22. | :41:26. | |
TfL on this programme. Yes, there is more to do, in particular the | :41:26. | :41:31. | |
pokers is going to be on smaller businesses and engaging with the | :41:31. | :41:35. | |
general public -- focus. A lot of work has been done. There is a | :41:35. | :41:41. | |
positive response from the businesses. TfL and the mayor will | :41:41. | :41:45. | |
give more information. And big transparent about where the hot | :41:45. | :41:51. | |
spots are. It won't be the whole of the capital affected. We need to | :41:51. | :41:55. | |
get over to people like London Bridge and the Bank are going to be | :41:55. | :41:59. | |
extremely busy during the Games. If they can change their routine and | :41:59. | :42:03. | |
avoid those hot spots, it will be good for them and good for the | :42:03. | :42:09. | |
Games and the capital. What would you like to see businesses doing? | :42:09. | :42:14. | |
We are asking businesses to consider what their staff, options | :42:14. | :42:17. | |
of working at home, more flexible working so people are travelling | :42:17. | :42:23. | |
off peak, also recruiting, choosing a different route on their way to | :42:23. | :42:27. | |
work if their normal one clashes with the place which is going to be | :42:27. | :42:32. | |
very crowded as a result of Olympic traffic. Other Olympic cities have | :42:32. | :42:38. | |
managed to do this. A pilot was run over the summer and we were able to | :42:38. | :42:43. | |
carry out the same work as normal and yet, 69% of the journeys by | :42:43. | :42:50. | |
staff, were altered in some way and diverted. Do you accept some | :42:50. | :42:55. | |
businesses will lose money during the Games? I think it a tremendous | :42:55. | :42:57. | |
opportunity for business are to have a boost from this and with | :42:58. | :43:03. | |
careful planning, it's possible. terms of what people are buying? | :43:03. | :43:07. | |
Absolutely. Clearly with the world's eyes on London, there will | :43:08. | :43:13. | |
be tremendous opportunities for people in terms of tourism, hotels, | :43:13. | :43:19. | |
all these sorts of things. chartered surveyors company in | :43:19. | :43:24. | |
bank? If they plan ahead it's perfectly possible for them to | :43:24. | :43:27. | |
carry on their businesses in more or less the same way they always do | :43:27. | :43:32. | |
but it requires thought, and other Olympic cities like Sydney have | :43:32. | :43:37. | |
managed to do it and it has had a long-term effect. A always hear | :43:37. | :43:47. | |
from you guys about the economic costs of strikes on the Tube when | :43:47. | :43:47. | |
people strike. If journeys are much longer and journey times could | :43:47. | :43:52. | |
double, it could lead to more congestion. It could lead to a loss | :43:52. | :43:58. | |
to the economy in London. Overall, London will benefit. Absolutely, | :43:58. | :44:02. | |
but there will be a downward effect on some businesses from greater | :44:02. | :44:08. | |
journey times etc? Remember, the disruption will only be for a few | :44:08. | :44:11. | |
weeks, whereas the legacy and improvements to the Jubilee line, | :44:11. | :44:18. | |
the DLR, the way traffic signals work in London, that will leave a | :44:18. | :44:23. | |
lasting legacy which would boost our economy in the capital. What | :44:23. | :44:27. | |
about Greenwich and equestrian events? TfL are worried they might | :44:28. | :44:31. | |
sell too many tickets and too many people might go to Greenwich for | :44:31. | :44:38. | |
equestrian events. Where do you stand on this? We have got to get | :44:38. | :44:42. | |
the balance right. I know there is ongoing discussions about that and | :44:42. | :44:45. | |
more work to be done but we are determined to get the balance right | :44:45. | :44:49. | |
so we have a successful games. But we also find a way to keep London | :44:49. | :44:53. | |
moving, which is why the process of engagement with businesses is so | :44:53. | :44:58. | |
important in the next few weeks. You think things are on track? Have | :44:59. | :45:02. | |
a businesses responded to these warnings earlier and that all do | :45:02. | :45:07. | |
TfL have a job to get his message out? TfL Dunbar so far but they are | :45:07. | :45:12. | |
well aware more needs to be done. That TfL have done well so far. | :45:12. | :45:16. | |
They need a broader message from the bigger businesses it's focused | :45:16. | :45:20. | |
on, in the early stages, to smaller businesses and of course it's very | :45:20. | :45:25. | |
important to ensure people accept freight in London and colour that | :45:25. | :45:35. | |
:45:35. | :45:36. | ||
their plans so we can keep freight A couple of other things while we | :45:36. | :45:42. | |
have got you, are you doing anything about putting services | :45:42. | :45:47. | |
back into areas like Denmark Hill, south-east London? He was the mayor | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
who took that decision, and we are looking at various options that | :45:51. | :45:54. | |
might involve changes to services elsewhere. Haven't made a decision | :45:54. | :46:00. | |
yet? Those decisions have not yet been made. Turning to motorways, | :46:00. | :46:04. | |
are you someone that routinely or sometimes find yourself driving at | :46:04. | :46:09. | |
80 mph? Well, I tried to stick to the speed limit, I have is a poor | :46:09. | :46:16. | |
start I think we all do, yes. But it is time that we refreshed our | :46:16. | :46:21. | |
thinking on the speed limits. The speed limits were set for the end - | :46:21. | :46:26. | |
- 40 years ago, when technology was very different. Do you feel | :46:26. | :46:30. | |
comfortable at 80 mph? What we are looking at, what we have announced | :46:30. | :46:33. | |
his we think it is high time that we look at the limits on motorways | :46:33. | :46:37. | |
and took a rational judgment on what is an appropriate, modern | :46:37. | :46:42. | |
speed limit. Some figures suggest it would only lead to a 1% increase | :46:42. | :46:48. | |
in deaths. You know how many more injuries and 80 mph speed limit | :46:48. | :46:53. | |
would cause? We have made very clear that we are going to be | :46:53. | :46:59. | |
consulting on this proposal. You do not know yet, then? A There has | :46:59. | :47:02. | |
been analysis of these figures, as the Secretary of State said on | :47:02. | :47:07. | |
Thursday when this was announced. But we will be looking with care at | :47:07. | :47:12. | |
all the arguments. We think there is a case for moving to an 80 mph | :47:12. | :47:17. | |
limit. We think it is perfectly possible to do that. We can still | :47:17. | :47:20. | |
ensure high standards of road safety on our motorways. Car | :47:21. | :47:24. | |
technology is so much more advanced than when the 70 mph limit was | :47:24. | :47:29. | |
first set. The story of the day, was David Cameron right to | :47:29. | :47:34. | |
apologise to women? Did he get that wrong in some of the Commons he has | :47:34. | :47:38. | |
made? Do think he came across as chauvinistic? I know some of those | :47:38. | :47:42. | |
comments were controversial, and he has always been the sort of person, | :47:42. | :47:46. | |
Mickey thinks something has been done wrong in the wrong way, he is | :47:46. | :47:51. | |
only too happy to accept that. -- if he thinks. It is important that | :47:51. | :47:56. | |
as a government, we do all we can to engage with women voters, to | :47:56. | :48:00. | |
ensure that the decisions we take... So was he right to make it clear | :48:00. | :48:03. | |
that some of his comments were ill judged? Did you find them ill- | :48:03. | :48:07. | |
judged at the time? The important thing is to make sure that the | :48:07. | :48:10. | |
tough decisions that we take as a government and have detected deal | :48:10. | :48:16. | |
with the deficit, that we think through their impact on all | :48:16. | :48:19. | |
sections our society. The Prime Minister is determined to do that. | :48:19. | :48:24. | |
He has made it very clear that he believes that the support of women | :48:24. | :48:28. | |
and the concerns of women are very important to the coalition. And I | :48:28. | :48:31. | |
think the debate around what he might or might not have said at | :48:31. | :48:34. | |
Prime Minister's Questions is a bit of a sideshow, really. The | :48:35. | :48:38. | |
important thing is the commission is taking the tough decisions to | :48:38. | :48:42. | |
put the economy back on track. Because it is a sideshow, we will | :48:42. | :48:46. | |
move on. Thank you for coming in. The government proposals to relax | :48:46. | :48:49. | |
planning laws have been causing anxiety in the shires, but what | :48:49. | :48:53. | |
were they mean for the capital? Not known for its green belt but with | :48:53. | :48:56. | |
plenty of green space none the less, we will at one of the ministers | :48:56. | :49:01. | |
involved after this from Jennifer Conway. -- Ask. | :49:01. | :49:05. | |
Across parts of London, you do not have to look very far to see new | :49:05. | :49:10. | |
buildings springing up, but to decide what can be built and where? | :49:10. | :49:14. | |
-- Who decides? In some cases, neighbourhood planning teams | :49:14. | :49:18. | |
influence what happens in their local area. This will become part | :49:18. | :49:21. | |
of the local council's planning policy. In the capital, we have an | :49:21. | :49:26. | |
extra layer with the regional policy, the London plan. The new | :49:26. | :49:30. | |
national planning proposals came out over the summer. Critics are | :49:30. | :49:33. | |
worried that developers are being handed to much freedom to build on | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
London's already scarce green spaces. At the moment there is a | :49:37. | :49:42. | |
very clear brownfield first policy, saying that developers need to look | :49:42. | :49:45. | |
at brownfield sites before they proposed green field development. | :49:45. | :49:49. | |
Now, that has gone in the new framework. Areas like Kings Cross | :49:49. | :49:52. | |
are being developed because of the successes of our current planning | :49:52. | :49:58. | |
rules. In London, there are over 2000 brownfield plots, areas of | :49:58. | :50:02. | |
land that have already been developed before. Building on the | :50:02. | :50:05. | |
site has regenerated previously wasted land such as the Docklands | :50:05. | :50:12. | |
Some say these new planning proposals but economic growth first, | :50:12. | :50:15. | |
and despite streamlining regulations, more development is | :50:15. | :50:19. | |
not a certainty. The question is how much is the planning system the | :50:20. | :50:24. | |
problem, and how much is the lack of money for housebuilders and | :50:24. | :50:29. | |
industries to build? There are huge amounts of land available for | :50:29. | :50:32. | |
housebuilders to start building on straight away, tomorrow, but they | :50:32. | :50:35. | |
are not building because of economic problems and not because | :50:35. | :50:39. | |
of problems with the planning system. With no mention of London's | :50:39. | :50:42. | |
planning policy in a new framework, it remains unclear how these | :50:43. | :50:48. | |
proposals will work in the capital. Jennifer Conway reporting there. It | :50:48. | :50:53. | |
remains unclear, but Grant Shapps, Housing Minister, is with us now, | :50:53. | :50:57. | |
and you may be able to clarify this. Where does London fit in? It has | :50:57. | :51:03. | |
its own London Plan. That is right. It does not get any mention in here, | :51:03. | :51:06. | |
how is it going to affect London? Just to explain to viewers, | :51:06. | :51:10. | |
planning regulations in this country are a nightmare. Anyone who | :51:10. | :51:15. | |
has applied for planning permission will no that it is complex, | :51:15. | :51:20. | |
bureaucratic, full of red tape, time consuming. -- will know. We | :51:20. | :51:23. | |
are boiling it down to a 50 two- page document which actually makes | :51:23. | :51:31. | |
sense, it is no longer contradictory. -- 52-page. It is a | :51:31. | :51:35. | |
framework, rather than... If you have 6,000 pages of planning | :51:35. | :51:38. | |
guidance, of course you are going to go into every nook and cranny. | :51:38. | :51:43. | |
If it is only 52 pages, there are lots of things we do not go into in | :51:43. | :51:47. | |
detail, because we want the local authorities to set the ground rules | :51:47. | :51:52. | |
for London. Boris has been doing that in London with housing. Does | :51:52. | :51:56. | |
the London Plan, as dance, that will remain? It is not having any | :51:56. | :52:02. | |
impact. If anything, it means that the mayor gets more flexibility, | :52:02. | :52:08. | |
the London Plan, working with the virus, gets to be implemented. -- | :52:08. | :52:14. | |
boroughs. The two documents are complementary in that sense. Boris | :52:14. | :52:21. | |
has pledged to get affordable homes built. One year later than he first | :52:21. | :52:27. | |
promised. I disappointed the pledge has lived? You get the blame if he | :52:27. | :52:30. | |
does not hit his target. I do not think anyone would have guessed | :52:30. | :52:33. | |
what was going to happen in the economy, and it has been tougher | :52:33. | :52:37. | |
than anyone possibly could imagine back in the days when the plans | :52:37. | :52:43. | |
were put in place. He tells me that he is likely to get there. I have | :52:43. | :52:48. | |
looked at his numbers, and my view, I will put it on record, is that is | :52:48. | :52:52. | |
probably going to exceed it, but we will see by next year. Getting back | :52:52. | :52:58. | |
to the issue of... If you are saying they complement each other, | :52:58. | :53:01. | |
some of the principles in the London Plan are broadly what you | :53:01. | :53:05. | |
want to see come in nationwide. What we want to see happen is that | :53:06. | :53:10. | |
areas are able to develop policies which work for that area. Now, | :53:10. | :53:15. | |
London is, if you like, a pro- growth area. We have got the city, | :53:15. | :53:19. | |
the incredible engine of the economy. We want London to be able | :53:19. | :53:23. | |
to excel. I want the planning framework to allow London the | :53:23. | :53:29. | |
freedom to do that. We have got lots of green spaces, and we know | :53:29. | :53:32. | |
the playing Fields Association are worried this will enable people to | :53:32. | :53:37. | |
build on playing fields. So a guarantee that there will be no | :53:37. | :53:40. | |
loss of playing fields under a Conservative mayor or a | :53:40. | :53:45. | |
Conservative minister by 2015. be clear about it, the national | :53:45. | :53:50. | |
framework that we are talking about, is 52 page document, does not make | :53:50. | :53:55. | |
this any more likely. In fact, it includes key protections for green | :53:55. | :53:59. | |
space, green belt, as you say, which in outer London may come into | :53:59. | :54:02. | |
effect, but none the less green spaces, playing fields, they are | :54:02. | :54:07. | |
properly protected, as they should be. We are the government who have | :54:07. | :54:09. | |
scrapped the garden grabbing clauses in planning which were | :54:09. | :54:14. | |
causing all those gardens to be built over. We have got rid of that | :54:14. | :54:18. | |
as well. The protection is there. Why does this help or push people | :54:18. | :54:23. | |
to develop more and build more houses in a place like London, | :54:23. | :54:26. | |
where we still have huge areas of brownfield sites and they are not | :54:26. | :54:30. | |
being built and? That is because of lack of government investment, | :54:30. | :54:36. | |
isn't it? First of all, you are right that brownfield sites are | :54:36. | :54:39. | |
used, they should be used first, and were giving flexibility to | :54:39. | :54:43. | |
local authorities. People have said, You are scrapping the targets, but | :54:43. | :54:46. | |
we are giving power to local authorities to raise the targets | :54:46. | :54:50. | |
for building on brownfield first. The Prime Minister has been talking | :54:50. | :54:54. | |
about bringing back the right to buy in a big way. Everybody who | :54:54. | :54:58. | |
buys a house under the new 21st century right to buy, will get that | :54:58. | :55:02. | |
money and will use it to build another affordable home to rent. | :55:02. | :55:07. | |
This is a new policy. You do not think the enthusiasm with which a | :55:07. | :55:10. | |
Conservative government sold houses has been the origin of a problem we | :55:10. | :55:15. | |
have never recovered from? That is why you have to be 37 before you | :55:15. | :55:19. | |
buy a home now. You have to be 30 to remember Thatcher bringing in | :55:19. | :55:24. | |
the right to buy, it is a 30-year- old policy. I would say that it was | :55:25. | :55:28. | |
an incredible policy at giving people the right to roam their own | :55:28. | :55:31. | |
home. It took some of the most hard-working people in the country | :55:31. | :55:36. | |
and gave them a chance. Actually, the money was not recycled into by | :55:36. | :55:40. | |
more affordable homes, and nor was it under the last government either. | :55:40. | :55:45. | |
What we are announcing today is a reinvigorated right to buy with all | :55:45. | :55:49. | |
the money being taken and invested in rebuilding new affordable homes | :55:49. | :55:53. | |
for rent. We know the farce that the planning framework has caused | :55:53. | :55:59. | |
in the shires, at the concerns, Francis Maude describing it as | :55:59. | :56:03. | |
something we cannot repeat, colourful language. Very quickly, | :56:03. | :56:08. | |
what are you telling the people of your constituency, Welwyn and | :56:08. | :56:12. | |
Hatfield, economics must win over the environment? No, my area has | :56:12. | :56:15. | |
been one of the third fastest growing areas in the country for | :56:15. | :56:18. | |
housing, but what we did not like was been told by government, this | :56:18. | :56:22. | |
is the target, these are the number of homes you will build. This new | :56:22. | :56:26. | |
framework is to say, look, local area, you know what is right in | :56:27. | :56:30. | |
judging growth, and we will leave it to you. It has been less | :56:30. | :56:34. | |
controversial end my career as a result. We will see what the people | :56:34. | :56:37. | |
of Welwyn and Hatfield think of it. The consultation ends later this | :56:37. | :56:47. | |
:56:47. | :56:51. | ||
The growth, Europe, planning rules, sexism, human rights, how to make | :56:51. | :56:57. | |
sense of it all. I'm joined by two of the brightest young things from | :56:57. | :57:02. | |
the back benches, and a little older but no less exciting, Brian | :57:02. | :57:09. | |
Binley MP. Hello to you. You are very kind. You have a book coming | :57:09. | :57:13. | |
out, the future of Conservatism. have got 26 people who have | :57:13. | :57:19. | |
contributed to the book, but it is not a broadside, it is a very real | :57:19. | :57:25. | |
support to conservatism. What we all want is a Conservative | :57:25. | :57:29. | |
government next time, and that is what we are looking for. What | :57:29. | :57:33. | |
should the Tories be doing that they are not doing at the moment? | :57:33. | :57:37. | |
We need a proper policy for growth, particularly for the SME sector, | :57:37. | :57:41. | |
and that means banks lending, wore encouragement on the demand side, | :57:41. | :57:46. | |
and there are things we can do. Secondly, we need to give first- | :57:46. | :57:51. | |
time housebuyers a real opportunity. I do not like talk that says that, | :57:51. | :57:55. | |
you know, a property owning democracy should not be part of the | :57:55. | :57:58. | |
game. I was delighted to hear David Cameron talk more about housing. | :57:58. | :58:02. | |
There are lots of things we can do, but we can also make sure the dog | :58:02. | :58:07. | |
is more in control of the tale. other words, the Liberal Democrats | :58:07. | :58:11. | |
are having too much say. I think they are wagging a little bit too | :58:11. | :58:15. | |
hard. I agree with Brian that we have to be focused on winning the | :58:15. | :58:19. | |
election in 2015. To me, the biggest job was dealing with the | :58:19. | :58:22. | |
deficit, and the last government gave us a great style deficit. This | :58:22. | :58:26. | |
government but in a plan which means we borrow at German levels. | :58:26. | :58:30. | |
That was one of the great benefits of a coalition, that we got both | :58:30. | :58:34. | |
parties to focus on that. There are policy disagreements, we are | :58:34. | :58:37. | |
furthest apart on Human Rights and Europe, but I think what we're | :58:37. | :58:41. | |
doing is working on conservative policies for the 2015 manifesto. I | :58:41. | :58:46. | |
think we will hear a lot about growth from the conference, | :58:46. | :58:50. | |
especially from the Chancellor tomorrow, and we have had a | :58:50. | :58:53. | |
dreadful headwind from the global economy, and it is time to get | :58:53. | :58:58. | |
Britain growing again. Look, the coalition is a joint venture. This | :58:58. | :59:02. | |
is not a merger or a takeover. In joint ventures, there is always | :59:02. | :59:07. | |
difficulties, but the main things... Do agree that the tail is wagging | :59:07. | :59:15. | |
the dog? No, I don't. If you think about the coalition agreement, Our | :59:15. | :59:19. | |
red line was deficit-reduction, and the Lib Dems went along with it. | :59:19. | :59:22. | |
The second red line for us was on dealing with tuition fees, very | :59:22. | :59:25. | |
important that we get education right, both for schools and | :59:25. | :59:30. | |
universities. They absolutely supported. There are lots of issues | :59:30. | :59:32. | |
that the Lib Dems have taken flak on that we have actually put | :59:33. | :59:36. | |
forward, but it is a coalition. What we have to remember is that we | :59:36. | :59:40. | |
did not win the election outright. Next time round, we want to win it | :59:40. | :59:44. | |
outright. Don't we see problems when Theresa May says that she | :59:44. | :59:47. | |
wants to get rid of the Human Rights Act and Nick Clegg says it | :59:47. | :59:57. | |
There will be areas where there is a conflict of political objective | :59:57. | :00:01. | |
between the members of the coalition. I understand that. I | :00:01. | :00:05. | |
think it was a price worth paying but, at the end of the day, I | :00:05. | :00:11. | |
believe most people out they genuinely want a government, a | :00:11. | :00:15. | |
Conservative government, which does what it says. I think there is an | :00:15. | :00:18. | |
element of the Liberal Party which is trying to stop us doing what we | :00:18. | :00:24. | |
say, and I want to change that at the next election. Do you think | :00:24. | :00:29. | |
David Cameron should be more robust now? I understand his difficulties, | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
genuinely understand them. Do you think you should be more robust | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
now? I'm coming back to your question but I think there will be | :00:37. | :00:43. | |
time to be more robust. I fear it, but I want to see it in action in | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
terms of legislating in the House. That's why I'm talking about the | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
growth agenda that really works, the housebuilding programme which | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
helps first-time buyers amongst many other things. The reality is, | :00:56. | :01:01. | |
you have hundreds more Conservative MPs than liberals. We have achieved | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
dozens of Conservative policies. I think all of us want this | :01:05. | :01:10. | |
government to last until 2015, so we can get the economy balanced and | :01:10. | :01:15. | |
the coalition ensures we do that. You may see ritual Liberal bashing | :01:15. | :01:19. | |
this week but ultimately, we have to get the coalition working until | :01:19. | :01:26. | |
2015. The attitude of the coalition towards women, and whether you are | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
somehow a sexist against women. David Cameron this morning in into | :01:30. | :01:34. | |
the apologised for that. I think was a feminine thing to do, in | :01:34. | :01:39. | |
contrast to the last government, when the Prime Minister never said | :01:39. | :01:46. | |
sorry for anything, including screwing up the economy. We went to | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
almost 50 a new female Conservative MPs at this election and have been | :01:49. | :01:54. | |
implementing policies. If you look at the policies, the public sector | :01:54. | :01:59. | |
pay freeze, for all but the lowest paid in the public sector, who are | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
usually women working part-time, that was deliberately designed to | :02:02. | :02:08. | |
help working women, so I think we have a communication problem. Where | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
was Yvette Cooper and the Labour Party at the abolition of the 10 p | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
tax rate which damaged women's economic prospects? Let's be proud | :02:17. | :02:22. | |
of what we're doing to help women. What do you want to see come out at | :02:22. | :02:29. | |
the end of this week? I think it's the economy. What I would like to | :02:29. | :02:38. | |
see his, what are the things you're going to do on the Budget, which | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
was delivered for the country, what are we going to do to get growth | :02:41. | :02:46. | |
back in the country. It's about leadership, not just political but | :02:46. | :02:50. | |
the business leadership. We have to go businesses are saying, before we | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
are going to do for our country. Thank you all and enjoy your time | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
in Manchester force of its good to have your Politics Show. And that's | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
it for this week. Thanks for being with us. Pienaar's politics will be | :03:01. | :03:03. | |
live from the conference bar tonight at 7:00pm on Radio Five | :03:03. | :03:06. | |
Live with an exclusive interview with Boris Johnson. And remember | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
the Daily Politics on BBC Two will bring you all the news from here at | :03:10. | :03:12. | |
the conference throughout next week. Until then, as Tory Cabinet | :03:12. | :03:15. | |
ministers and delegates prepare to address the Tory faithful, here's a | :03:15. | :03:24. | |
reminder of how it's done. Half of you won't be heard in 30 or | :03:24. | :03:33. | |
40 years' time -- here. The Lady's not for turning. He got on his bike | :03:33. | :03:41. | |
and looked for work and the captain looking until he found it. -- and | :03:41. | :03:46. |