16/10/2011

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:00:54. > :01:04.Because the new feel-good factor mean we want more powers devolved

:01:04. > :01:04.

:01:04. > :25:58.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1493 seconds

:25:58. > :26:01.to Wales? We will discuss it with Me up a Welsh view of the eurozone

:26:01. > :26:06.crisis and what new powers for the bus government might have as a

:26:06. > :26:10.result of the Silk Commission. But we have to start with yesterday's

:26:10. > :26:14.event in the Rugby World Cup. After the flight was put up over Number

:26:14. > :26:18.Ten Downing Street in London, and with thousands watching it in the

:26:18. > :26:23.Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, it was a game of ups and downs but

:26:23. > :26:27.sadly the results going fronts's whereby one point. After the match,

:26:27. > :26:35.in a still noisy Millennium Stadium, the First Minister Carwyn Jones

:26:35. > :26:45.gave our reporter his reaction to the game. The game was ruined

:26:45. > :26:46.

:26:46. > :26:51.really by what I thought was a harsh sending off for Sam Warburton.

:26:52. > :26:55.From our point of view, we have got to be proud of our players, they

:26:55. > :26:58.came close to winning against typical days and I think their best

:26:58. > :27:02.days are ahead of them. Disappointing but light spilled

:27:02. > :27:06.from this. A your message to the boys who fought bravely? Your

:27:06. > :27:12.nation is behind you, very proud of what to have done, it will be

:27:12. > :27:16.difficult to lift your spirits for next Saturday but we will be behind

:27:16. > :27:20.you again for a start and Cardiff council have just told us they are

:27:20. > :27:24.in discussions with the Welsh Rugby Union and was government about a

:27:24. > :27:30.possibility of a homecoming event. I was government spokesperson say

:27:30. > :27:34.they are currently considering the most appropriate way to recognise

:27:34. > :27:37.the great achievements -- a government spokesperson. Wales will

:27:37. > :27:40.play Australia in the third-place play-off.

:27:40. > :27:46.Hundreds of families in Wales who might have been wrongly charged

:27:46. > :27:50.care home fees for their elderly relatives have been told they could

:27:50. > :27:54.be paid back in three years if they are refunded. There are many had

:27:54. > :27:59.been waiting for several years and are angry that there is a backlog

:27:59. > :28:05.in claims still not cleared. Our reporter has been to meet one

:28:05. > :28:11.family affected in the Rhondda. was starting to get frail on her

:28:11. > :28:20.legs. She was starting to fall about and usually when she fell,

:28:20. > :28:23.she banged her head. She had quite a few nasty falls at home. One have

:28:23. > :28:27.had children decided she needed professional help around the clock

:28:27. > :28:31.and did not realise how expensive it would be. Beryl's sons are

:28:31. > :28:36.completely happy with each care she received here are believed it

:28:36. > :28:43.should have been free. In total, they spent more than �40,000 on

:28:43. > :28:48.costs. Money they had been trying to claim back since 2006. If Beryl

:28:48. > :28:51.had received an assessment by the NHS, her family's lawyer is

:28:51. > :28:55.confident she would have been recommended for ongoing health care.

:28:55. > :29:00.That means her place in the home would have been paid for by the

:29:00. > :29:04.health service. Because this assessment never happened, the

:29:04. > :29:11.local authority means tested her instead and decided that her family

:29:11. > :29:21.had to play. Quite a big surprise because it meant that we had to

:29:21. > :29:22.

:29:22. > :29:25.sell my mother's house to cover the cost. The weights are among

:29:25. > :29:29.hundreds of families waiting to find out if they are entitled to

:29:29. > :29:32.have their money back. We have families to have been waiting a

:29:32. > :29:38.number of years and families that are very upset because nobody told

:29:38. > :29:42.them about the possibility that their relative may have been

:29:42. > :29:48.eligible for health care. Family who believe they have wrongly paid

:29:48. > :29:53.fees can challenge that decision. However, if the costs date back to

:29:53. > :29:58.before April 2003, then the claims should have been made by the end of

:29:58. > :30:02.2009. One authority, Powys Health Board is now responsible for

:30:02. > :30:07.looking into those historical claims for the whole of Wales.

:30:07. > :30:13.Alongside more recent claims, there is a backlog of around 2000 cases.

:30:13. > :30:16.It says it could take a further three years to get through that.

:30:16. > :30:22.The longer these cases take, the more interest is going to have to

:30:22. > :30:25.be paid and it is detrimental to the public purse. I think it is

:30:25. > :30:30.also something that is very important. This is not compensation,

:30:31. > :30:34.this is money that should have never have been paid in the first

:30:34. > :30:40.place. It is been said that the world government has not acted

:30:40. > :30:44.quickly enough. They have failed to take account of the situation which

:30:44. > :30:49.many families find themselves in and they have failed to put in

:30:49. > :30:52.place systems to deal quickly with those claims which are fairly

:30:52. > :30:56.straightforward and also to deal with the more complex cases in good

:30:56. > :31:00.time. I think the Minister needs to get a grip and she needs to sort

:31:00. > :31:04.this out quickly and much more quickly than the three years we are

:31:04. > :31:08.told it will take. The Health Minister turned down our

:31:08. > :31:12.request for an interview put in a statement, the Welsh Government

:31:13. > :31:20.said it recognises the concerns that have been raised. It has Powys

:31:20. > :31:24.Health Board is unsure of providing an equitable review of cases. It

:31:24. > :31:27.said that cases are being dealt with in order of when the

:31:27. > :31:33.application was made and says some payments have already been

:31:33. > :31:39.processed. But for the family and many like them, the uncertainty

:31:39. > :31:45.continues. It is frustrating. We keep on hoping we will have a

:31:45. > :31:49.cheque for Christmas but we don't know which Christmas!

:31:49. > :31:53.Wales might be shivering as it is buffeted by the chill of economic

:31:53. > :31:56.winds but events 1,500 miles away could make the financial

:31:56. > :32:01.temperature here really plunge. The Politics Show has been to Brussels

:32:01. > :32:04.to take the view of Welsh MEPs efforts to stave off the debt

:32:05. > :32:13.crisis in Greece and the possible consequences here at home if the

:32:13. > :32:17.crisis spreads. The �200 billion rescue package for

:32:17. > :32:19.Europe's banks... If men of Europe's biggest banks do not have

:32:19. > :32:22.the reserves of capital to of salt losses.

:32:22. > :32:26.He is not the politicians who will decide this, but the people on the

:32:27. > :32:30.streets. Tall of defaults, a Euro meltdown,

:32:30. > :32:34.bail-out funds running into trillions of euro possibly. It

:32:34. > :32:37.might seem some distance away from the economic problems Wales is

:32:37. > :32:43.currently facing but Wales is highly dependent on trade with

:32:43. > :32:50.eurozone countries. The nation's four MEPs occupy a pretty good

:32:50. > :32:54.vantage to justify a natural situation on the Continent. Debt-

:32:54. > :32:59.laden Greece which has seen so much resistance to austerity programmes

:32:59. > :33:04.is the immediate priority to eurozone leaders. They fear the

:33:04. > :33:09.market could be spooked if I fail to shore up the Greek economy.

:33:09. > :33:15.Conservative MEP case when then is a former investment banker. Greece

:33:15. > :33:19.is only 2.5% of the euro GDP so the entire debt is very small compared

:33:19. > :33:24.to the entire eurozone. We need to keep things in proportion. The

:33:24. > :33:27.reality is, the market to pay for the bonds and by those in the

:33:27. > :33:31.marketplace, those investors are really worried that if they cannot

:33:31. > :33:36.fix Greece, how well they fix the big economies of Italy and Spain if

:33:36. > :33:40.they run into difficulties? fear is that if the confidence in

:33:40. > :33:46.Europe's financial markets is sapped, economies such as Wales are

:33:46. > :33:51.vulnerable. It is a great concern because if problems in the eurozone

:33:51. > :33:55.have an impact on Wales, Welsh businesses rely on 60% of trade

:33:55. > :33:59.with Europe so if the eurozone has problems, then the Welsh economy

:33:59. > :34:04.will do as well. The Welsh economy is dependent on the rest of Europe

:34:04. > :34:10.and we have got a situation now in Wales where we have got 22%

:34:10. > :34:13.unemployment amongst young people. If the situation spirals out of

:34:13. > :34:18.control, then there will be a lot more unemployment and that of

:34:18. > :34:22.course is going to impact. It is critical that the leaders do get

:34:23. > :34:26.this right in the eurozone. others come at it is time to admit

:34:26. > :34:30.that the single currency is a disaster and to stop spending

:34:30. > :34:33.risking and borrowing more to save it. You is not the politicians to

:34:33. > :34:38.decide this, but the people on the streets and the markets. They are

:34:38. > :34:42.throwing money at it. Almost like saying to an alcoholic, we can fix

:34:42. > :34:48.this by giving you more alcohol. This will not work and it is

:34:48. > :34:52.bonkers to think that it will. I think it will fail big time. For

:34:52. > :34:55.people in the UK, they will be effective. An alternative is for

:34:55. > :34:59.eurozone leaders to allow Greece to default on much of its debts in an

:35:00. > :35:03.orderly manner. European banks would then need cash injections to

:35:03. > :35:10.prevent banking system seizing up as investors in Greece might lose

:35:10. > :35:15.as much as four fifths of their investment. It will go up from the

:35:15. > :35:19.20% to, I suspect, 60 or 80% in the future. But get Greece to a

:35:19. > :35:24.sustainable level of debt but that means the banks to own that debt

:35:24. > :35:27.will take heavy losses so we need to capitalise the banks up again to

:35:27. > :35:31.make sure that an orderly deport of Greece does not have a catastrophic

:35:31. > :35:35.effect which would be far worse than the Lehman Brothers collapse

:35:35. > :35:40.of 2008. They have realised they need to deal with the Greek

:35:40. > :35:44.situation, put in place a stability mechanism of such a large extent

:35:44. > :35:48.that they can deal with any issues that might arise in the future.

:35:48. > :35:52.They also realise that we need greater economic governments across

:35:52. > :35:56.Europe to make sure this does not happen again. What we are looking

:35:56. > :35:59.at the moment our proposals on growth because a lack of growth in

:35:59. > :36:08.the eurozone is another crisis we are facing. The eurozone is not

:36:08. > :36:11.known for decisive nest -- the EU is not known for decisiveness. The

:36:11. > :36:16.outcome could be very bleak. Should the Welsh Government take

:36:16. > :36:20.more responsibility for raising the money it spends and should further

:36:20. > :36:24.powers be devolved to Wales? Two questions for those appointed to

:36:24. > :36:32.the Silk Commission. The Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan named Paul

:36:32. > :36:35.Silk as chair of the commission. He will be joined by representatives

:36:35. > :36:40.of the four main parties and two independent members. With the

:36:40. > :36:46.economy struggling and fears about jobs, our political editor asked

:36:46. > :36:50.Paul Silk whether some people will whether ask why they are tinkering

:36:50. > :36:55.with the constitution? That is probably not a question for me.

:36:55. > :37:00.There have been asked to do a particular job -- I have been asked

:37:00. > :37:03.to. We will do that to the best of our ability. But does not mean that

:37:03. > :37:07.one is not aware of the context in which people in Wales see

:37:07. > :37:10.themselves. Of course, colleagues who are members of the commission

:37:10. > :37:16.and come from political parties will be much more aware of that

:37:16. > :37:20.perhaps than I hum. And my to speak to True Wales? I would be

:37:20. > :37:28.absolutely happy to speak to anybody who has a voice inside

:37:28. > :37:31.Wales, True Wales certainly does and proper, authentic agenda that

:37:31. > :37:35.they want to pursue, yes, of course we should speak to them for stopped

:37:35. > :37:41.during the in the studio from True Wales is Rachel Banner along with

:37:41. > :37:46.Cathy Owens, one of the leading campaigners for Yes For Wales.

:37:46. > :37:55.Paul Silk was quite non-committal about his answer, why it more

:37:55. > :37:59.constitutional navel-gazing? reason I help win the Yes campaign

:37:59. > :38:03.was to provide a legislative programme as well as the programme

:38:03. > :38:07.in government and I am looking to them to focus on delivering for the

:38:07. > :38:10.people of Wales, to really make a difference to people's lives and

:38:10. > :38:14.for people here in Cardiff Bay to scrutinise the world's governments

:38:14. > :38:17.to make sure they do that. That is perfectly reasonable at the same

:38:17. > :38:22.time to have some sensible, clever people looking at how the balance

:38:22. > :38:24.of power is shifting in the UK. It is happening anyway. It might be

:38:25. > :38:28.taken out of our control so let's make sure we can get the best

:38:28. > :38:35.advantage of it for the people of Wales. In the March referendum,

:38:35. > :38:39.every local authority apart from one voted in favour of more powers

:38:39. > :38:47.for the Assembly. There is an appetite for devolution in Wales.

:38:47. > :38:52.We were told during the referendum campaign... We will come back to

:38:52. > :38:56.that. Statistics now show that there were more people in favour of

:38:56. > :39:01.devolution in Wales in this referendum compared to the last one.

:39:01. > :39:05.That is not in doubt, is it? That is true to say but also it is

:39:05. > :39:12.important to tell the truth during referendum campaigns and that did

:39:12. > :39:16.not happen, the public was misled about the tax issue. There are

:39:16. > :39:20.strong arguments but we never had a chance for that debate during the

:39:20. > :39:25.campaign and there need to be questions asked about why tax was

:39:25. > :39:27.put on the ballot paper, why it was denied that tax powers were given

:39:27. > :39:33.on the yes but given the coalition government in Westminster had

:39:33. > :39:36.already said there would be a commission on tax in the event of

:39:36. > :39:41.yes vote. Why is it that politicians were denying that?

:39:41. > :39:44.don't think there was a grand deception. There was an explicit

:39:44. > :39:50.promise in the campaign ahead of the March referendum that this

:39:50. > :39:54.would not lead to tax bearing powers. There will be a higher

:39:55. > :39:58.degree from the Rachel Banner campaign. Hang on, it was clear

:39:58. > :40:05.what we were fighting for and it was not to do with tax raising

:40:05. > :40:07.powers. The but it was sad that -- it was said at the time... By we

:40:08. > :40:12.knew what we were fighting for, it was about the legislative programme.

:40:12. > :40:16.Now it is clear we what the politicians to focus on that and

:40:16. > :40:21.make changes that help the people of Wales. At the same time, it was

:40:21. > :40:28.very clear that there was going to be a change. We were not

:40:28. > :40:33.campaigning to set the balance of power forever. And the coalition

:40:33. > :40:37.said they would talk about different fiscal powers. You have

:40:37. > :40:43.to be... We would rather be talking about that than not talking about

:40:43. > :40:46.it. We have to be having serious responsibilities. Can I ask you

:40:46. > :40:53.about something you said in the campaign in March, you said

:40:53. > :40:57.politicians asking... Why should people have any confidence in a

:40:57. > :41:03.government with a current educational spending record? How

:41:03. > :41:06.can our country's economic flourish and so on because we have got

:41:06. > :41:09.under-investment in schools and universities? Surely if you're of

:41:09. > :41:19.the opinion that Wales is underfunded, you would like to see

:41:19. > :41:25.a mechanism where more money can be raised? What the yes campaign told

:41:25. > :41:32.us or politicians told us, we would get the �300 million payment in the

:41:32. > :41:36.result of yes vote. We are not seeing that Barnet deficit dealt

:41:36. > :41:41.with. We knew it would not be forthcoming that what we are seeing

:41:41. > :41:48.is the prospect of higher taxes. We are heading towards a moment of

:41:48. > :41:51.severe economic crisis and we are be expected to pay more taxes. How

:41:51. > :41:55.will the Government raised all that money from the people of Wales? We

:41:55. > :41:58.are already hard pressed. Have they gone about this the wrong way?

:41:58. > :42:03.Should the Barnett formula be looked at first before tinkering

:42:03. > :42:09.with taxation, borrowing powers, further devolution? I think this is

:42:09. > :42:13.all about focusing on the process, really. I think there's so much

:42:13. > :42:17.more that politicians here can be focusing on. Let's make sure that

:42:17. > :42:22.they are focused on delivering change. We are in a difficult

:42:22. > :42:26.economic position. We have got some problems and in some areas we are

:42:26. > :42:30.doing very well. Let's focus on that. That does not mean that we

:42:30. > :42:33.cannot also have conversations. Yes, we need to deal with the Barnett

:42:33. > :42:37.formula and those are ongoing with the Treasury as I understand. It

:42:37. > :42:39.would be good if we could get some fairer funding settlements for

:42:39. > :42:46.Wales but I don't think we should sake let's not talk about other

:42:46. > :42:49.things because, these decisions would be taken out of our hands.

:42:49. > :42:53.The reading between the lines of what you are saying, you don't

:42:53. > :42:58.think this commission is important? It might be taken over by events.

:42:58. > :43:02.It is important we are having these discussions at senior levels and

:43:03. > :43:07.there are some important people doing this. Sue Essex is brilliant,

:43:07. > :43:10.but at the same time the Welsh Government here and those who

:43:10. > :43:14.scrutinise it should be focusing on delivering for the people of Wales

:43:14. > :43:18.and I think they are an I am quite pleased to see the legislative

:43:18. > :43:24.programme alongside a government programme that is designed to

:43:24. > :43:28.deliver jobs, better services for Wales because that is what they are

:43:28. > :43:34.interested in. You have been critical of the bus government and

:43:34. > :43:38.the welcome back Assembly Members, -- the Welsh Government. Do you

:43:38. > :43:45.think better outcomes for the people of Wales, if they have got

:43:45. > :43:49.�50 million to spend, things might not be as good as when they have to

:43:49. > :43:56.account for the money they spend -- 15 million? I think it will be hard

:43:56. > :44:02.to raise that money from the people of Wales. What I would like to

:44:02. > :44:08.see... It will be a degree of that money. We get �9 billion more from

:44:08. > :44:13.the UK Treasury than we pay in. We can use that money and I think the

:44:13. > :44:17.Assembly could be doing far more to improve economic development in

:44:17. > :44:24.Wales to insure certain things improve. Tax powers are not the

:44:24. > :44:29.answer to that for. We are only a few months into the new settlement

:44:29. > :44:32.granted in the referendum, should that not be given time to bed in

:44:32. > :44:36.before we think about more devolution? Are you suggesting we

:44:36. > :44:40.should not discuss these things? We have the Welsh Government here that

:44:40. > :44:50.have the tools we have given it in terms of images dizzied programme

:44:50. > :44:51.

:44:51. > :44:56.alongside the Government programme. -- in terms of the legislative

:44:57. > :45:02.programme. Fiscal policy is very important. This is a serious issue

:45:02. > :45:05.about the truth. That referendum was fought partly on the tax issue,

:45:05. > :45:09.separate legal jurisdiction is on its way as well. Politicians during

:45:09. > :45:14.that time, they promised that these things would not happen. We had it

:45:14. > :45:20.over and over again, these denials. There is an issue with our

:45:20. > :45:23.democracy. Can I ask a quick question. Paul Silk said there

:45:23. > :45:31.would be a voice for True Wales, will you engage? We certainly

:45:31. > :45:33.wealth. Lot of people can engage with this process because it