:00:00. > :00:08.This is a world of hidden mics and two-way mirrors,
:00:09. > :00:24.The House of Lords isn't listening to the British public who gave
:00:25. > :00:27.Theresa May a clear mandate in the referendum for Brexit.
:00:28. > :00:38.We can bug anybody any time, anywhere.
:00:39. > :00:46.Still, there's more growth than we were expecting.
:00:47. > :00:50.Be careful, you're just supposed to listen.
:00:51. > :01:03.The plight of refugees has fallen on deaf ears this week.
:01:04. > :01:05.That's why I've been campaigning to change that.
:01:06. > :01:16.Even telly boxes have ears these days and maybe eyes too.
:01:17. > :01:19.So stop slouching, it's time for This Week, let's
:01:20. > :01:40.There is nothing private about the conversation.
:01:41. > :01:46.Or perhaps you'd like to say "Welcome" to us.
:01:47. > :01:52.Just as well as you can hear and see us.
:01:53. > :01:55.Ever since you bought that Samsung TV that fell off
:01:56. > :01:58.the back of a lorry, very little that you've said or done
:01:59. > :02:08.Earlier today the Producer and I were spying on a front room
:02:09. > :02:11.that gave new meaning to the word "squalid", broken toy train sets
:02:12. > :02:15.piled up in the corner, absurdly coloured shirts strewn
:02:16. > :02:18.on the floor, a bizarre shrine to Maggie Thatcher made out
:02:19. > :02:21.of empty bottles of Blue Nun on the mantlepiece.
:02:22. > :02:25.We soon ascertained it was the abode of a certain M Portillo Esquire,
:02:26. > :02:28.6 The Railway Cuttings, Clapham Junction.
:02:29. > :02:31.Naturally we called the security services -
:02:32. > :02:37.Speaking of the long-arm of the law, how long can it be before
:02:38. > :02:43.Yesterday Philip Hammond promised new laws to clamp down on misleading
:02:44. > :02:46.pledges to consumers, with the real cost and truth hidden
:02:47. > :02:52.Tonight he's on the run from his own legislation, having increased
:02:53. > :02:56.National Insurance Contributions despite a Tory manifesto promise
:02:57. > :03:04.Of course they buried that pledge on the first page of their manifesto
:03:05. > :03:07.in the full knowledge that nobody would ever get that far into it.
:03:08. > :03:11.Sneaky, dishonest and now, probably criminal.
:03:12. > :03:20.Tonight I'm joined by two people whose utterances make a Terms
:03:21. > :03:24.and Conditions audiobook sound interesting but are renowned
:03:25. > :03:27.for having all the insight of an I Speak Your Weight Machine.
:03:28. > :03:30.I speak of course of Michael #choochoo Portillo and Lisa
:03:31. > :03:41.Welcome to you both, your moment of the week, Michael? I think the
:03:42. > :03:52.unveiling today of the war memorial for those who died in the Iraq and
:03:53. > :03:56.Afghan conflicts. There are popular wars, people are unhappy about our
:03:57. > :04:01.participation, and the risk is then that you devalue the service and
:04:02. > :04:12.sacrifice that was made there. For decades we didn't have a memorial
:04:13. > :04:16.because we felt queasy. I thought there was a danger that the men and
:04:17. > :04:20.women who lost their lives would be devalued in the same way and
:04:21. > :04:26.disregarded. I'm glad this memorial's gone up quickly in terms
:04:27. > :04:33.that these things normally happen. It looks stunning too. The people
:04:34. > :04:36.who went there to fight and lost their lives, they didn't declare the
:04:37. > :04:41.war, they were doing what they were told by the Government. Lisa, your
:04:42. > :04:46.moment of the week? I like Michael's a lot, but probably the thing that
:04:47. > :04:48.stands out for me is a real low point, the vote on Monday that was
:04:49. > :04:53.last that would have opened the door for us to do something to help more
:04:54. > :04:58.of the thousands of child refugees that are stranded on their own in
:04:59. > :05:02.Europe at the moment and we only lost by a handful of votes.
:05:03. > :05:06.Campaigners have said it's not over and I think it's probably right that
:05:07. > :05:08.it's not to be honest. Theresa May's in trouble about national insurance,
:05:09. > :05:14.they've got problems with business rates and Brexit. A small majority?
:05:15. > :05:16.Yes. So the fight will go on. We'll come back to that toward the end of
:05:17. > :05:19.the programme. Michael Heseltine has been in touch,
:05:20. > :05:22.after he got fired from five unpaid He'd heard of our unparalleled
:05:23. > :05:26.record in employing politicians long past their sell-by date
:05:27. > :05:28.and concluded this was the natural Now, Hezza has a long
:05:29. > :05:33.and illustrious public career but you can't just barge
:05:34. > :05:36.on to this programme. We had to put his application
:05:37. > :05:39.to the This Week Board of Directors. And I'm sorry to report
:05:40. > :05:41.that it was vetoed by two of our most senior executives,
:05:42. > :05:45.citing security concerns - yes, Molly the Dog and her little
:05:46. > :05:49.step sister, Iris Bailey. Clearly they'd heard what he did
:05:50. > :05:54.to his own mutt a while back. When we told Hezza he'd been turned
:05:55. > :05:58.down, he denied ever Anyway, here's David Starkey
:05:59. > :06:13.with his Take of the Week. On Tuesday, the House of Lords tried
:06:14. > :06:36.to stop the clock on Brexit. We are about to embark
:06:37. > :06:39.on an almighty battle to extricate The last thing we want is a bunch
:06:40. > :06:46.of truculent peers breaking ranks Some Tory Brexiteers want
:06:47. > :07:06.the Prime Minister to call a snap general election,
:07:07. > :07:09.to give her an unimpeachable mandate for her plans for a hard Brexit,
:07:10. > :07:12.thus neatly cutting the ground But they are taking a sledgehammer
:07:13. > :07:18.to crack a bunch of coroneted nuts. For the Prime Minister already has
:07:19. > :07:23.an unimpeachable mandate, And she should use this mandate
:07:24. > :07:32.to threaten, and if need be, to carry out a mass creation
:07:33. > :07:38.of peers who are committed But the Prime Minister shouldn't
:07:39. > :07:46.stop at Article 50 and Brexit. The new peers should also be
:07:47. > :07:53.committed to the long overdue reform of the bloated,
:07:54. > :07:57.anachronistic, expensive and increasingly
:07:58. > :08:08.indefensible upper house. The new House of Lords must be much
:08:09. > :08:12.smaller, largely elected, weighted to the regions
:08:13. > :08:16.and the four nations. And above all, its legislative role
:08:17. > :08:21.and its subordination to the Commons must be put beyond doubt
:08:22. > :08:31.by a written constitution. For our much vaunted unwritten
:08:32. > :08:36.constitution is now, as the antics of the judges
:08:37. > :08:40.and the peers demonstrate, a source of major instability
:08:41. > :08:46.in this time of national crisis. Theresa May has seen
:08:47. > :08:48.off the Etonians. She needs to call time
:08:49. > :08:53.on the House of Lords. And thank you to Howard
:08:54. > :09:05.Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks for the use of their beautiful
:09:06. > :09:19.Kensington Church Street showroom. David Starkey joins us now. Welcome.
:09:20. > :09:23.Thank you. Let me start with you, Michael, it's 2017, why is the
:09:24. > :09:27.second chamber still not elected, partly hereditary and still called
:09:28. > :09:30.the Lords? Because there's never been agreement about what to do
:09:31. > :09:32.about it. I think most people believe that it's not satisfactory.
:09:33. > :09:39.But for example, I'm not particularly keen on seeing an
:09:40. > :09:42.elected House because I think people who're elected fall prey to the
:09:43. > :09:48.whips of the parties and lack the independence of some of our very
:09:49. > :09:54.best peers today, by our best peers, I mean people like the Astronomer
:09:55. > :09:58.Royal, Field Marshals and Admirals of the fleet who'd never stand for
:09:59. > :10:01.election. So it's been the lack of agreement on what to do about this
:10:02. > :10:06.that has brought about the present situation. What I think is
:10:07. > :10:09.unfortunate is, as a nation, we are usually rather good at having
:10:10. > :10:13.unimpeachable processes. We ought to be able to appointed the House of
:10:14. > :10:17.Lords in a way that's absolutely beyond corruption and suspicion.
:10:18. > :10:21.Unfortunately, the House has been corrupted massively by Prime
:10:22. > :10:24.Ministers who've appointed third rate Members of Parliament that they
:10:25. > :10:30.wanted to get rid of at an election so they could put their placement in
:10:31. > :10:34.and of course putting in people who paid lots of money into their
:10:35. > :10:39.parties. Lisa, why haven't we been able to reform it properly? Because
:10:40. > :10:43.we can't agree on what to replace it with, that's rite. Where I don't
:10:44. > :10:47.agree is the House of Lords not being elected. I agreed with a lot
:10:48. > :10:50.about what you said but the problem for me is not that the House of
:10:51. > :10:53.Lords is willing to challenge the Commons, that is incredibly
:10:54. > :10:57.important, we get it wrong in the Commons quite a lot and we should be
:10:58. > :11:01.challenged the point is that they have no basis to do it. No
:11:02. > :11:07.democratic legitimacy? The only thing is to elect them. Tell Michael
:11:08. > :11:10.why he should be elected? Lisa's made the point. We are in a
:11:11. > :11:13.democracy, not that you would know it by the way by the verdict of the
:11:14. > :11:19.Supreme Court. This again is the problem. We are so unclear what the
:11:20. > :11:22.source of sovereignty is. We prattle about the idea of Parliamentary
:11:23. > :11:28.sovereignty. You'll love this, an true, tune who invents Parliamentary
:11:29. > :11:33.sovereignty, Michael probably will, Henry VIII invents the concept of an
:11:34. > :11:37.independent national Parliament distinct from any other form of
:11:38. > :11:41.authority, that's the Pope. There's only one sovereign in Parliament,
:11:42. > :11:45.again Michael will tell us, the enacting clause, be it therefore
:11:46. > :11:49.enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, only the Queen is
:11:50. > :11:56.sovereign in Parliament, the Commons, and the Lords, merely
:11:57. > :12:01.ascent to it. In other words, we have total pantomimes. Our
:12:02. > :12:05.constitution's become a pantomime, it's a Gilbert Sullivan pantomime
:12:06. > :12:10.that doesn't recognise democracy, doesn't look at the sovereign role
:12:11. > :12:18.of the people. It's income patable with a 20th century democracy. I
:12:19. > :12:23.don't know if you have seen the BBC documentary Meet the Lords, when
:12:24. > :12:26.politicians' careers are over, they're over, in other countries.
:12:27. > :12:31.Bill Clinton's career is over, Barack Obama's career is over. When
:12:32. > :12:36.Angela Merkel steps down, her career will be over. But in this country,
:12:37. > :12:39.they get a second chance. I mean, you saw all the faces, half of whom
:12:40. > :12:45.I thought were dead and they are in the House of Lords and it suits
:12:46. > :12:49.them, it's the way of the political establishment providing a lovely
:12:50. > :12:57.retirement home that keeps their importance and gives them ?300 a day
:12:58. > :13:02.as well. There's a lot right in what you say. Another way to put it would
:13:03. > :13:07.be to say that you have a House and, you know, various forms of this in
:13:08. > :13:10.history is where elder statesmen go, you have the value of all the
:13:11. > :13:14.experience. Most are failed politicians. No, some are. Some of
:13:15. > :13:18.them were very successful politicians. I mean, unless you take
:13:19. > :13:22.the view that all careers end in tears, that's true. You can't say
:13:23. > :13:28.Heseltine or Lawson or Lamont were failed politicians. I merely give
:13:29. > :13:31.you two out of three. In their day, they were very successful
:13:32. > :13:34.politicians. There are people who shouldn't ever have been put there
:13:35. > :13:42.in the first place, that's true. No-one can be truly happy with a
:13:43. > :13:47.House of Lords that doesn't contain David Starkey or Michael Portillo.
:13:48. > :13:52.What happens when in a major issue like this, the Lords start stepping
:13:53. > :13:57.out of line in a very serious fashion. The Commons itself and this
:13:58. > :14:00.has been a fundamental problem in the last few months, it's seriously
:14:01. > :14:04.out of line. The Lords aren't stepping out of line in a major way.
:14:05. > :14:08.What the Lords did was to say that Parliament should have a vote on the
:14:09. > :14:12.final deal and, for someone like me who absolutely went out and made the
:14:13. > :14:16.case to remain, lost that argument and respects the fact that the
:14:17. > :14:20.people have spoken about whether we are leaving the European Union. I'm
:14:21. > :14:23.also very acutely aware that there were lots of different competing
:14:24. > :14:28.versions of Brexit on offer during the course of the referendum. There
:14:29. > :14:32.is no mandate for any one particular outcome and it must be debated by
:14:33. > :14:35.Parliament and there must be the ability of Parliament to hold the
:14:36. > :14:38.Government to account and I'll tell you why. We heard it over and over
:14:39. > :14:43.again during the referendum campaign. The levers, the one thing
:14:44. > :14:44.that really united them was that they said Parliament must be
:14:45. > :14:53.suffering. You have a parliament and an
:14:54. > :14:57.executive, and the executive is there to execute things. You cannot
:14:58. > :15:01.have 1400 members of Parliament in the Lords and Commons being people
:15:02. > :15:05.who conduct a negotiation. The only thing that would happen if that
:15:06. > :15:09.clause were passed is that the European Union would see that if it
:15:10. > :15:14.were unreasonable, Parliament would reject the deal and the European
:15:15. > :15:18.Union would have the hope that we would revert... You say it is
:15:19. > :15:23.causing political instability. Explain. We are in a position where
:15:24. > :15:28.we are now dealing with a very tight timetable. It is a timetable of
:15:29. > :15:33.nearly two years. We are dealing with an extraordinarily difficult
:15:34. > :15:39.negotiation, the point just made, that if this clause were accepted it
:15:40. > :15:41.effectively gives Europe the obvious negotiating tactic, be as difficult
:15:42. > :15:47.as possible and the negotiations will fail. Lisa, you really do have
:15:48. > :15:54.to understand that the Lords is not the proper... I am pleased there are
:15:55. > :15:59.a bunch of men here to explain to me how it works. There is one man
:16:00. > :16:03.explaining to you. The real failure in the Commons has been new lot,
:16:04. > :16:09.particularly the Labour Party. It is up to you to take a clear line. When
:16:10. > :16:15.you have an opposition that is as badly led, the effective opposition
:16:16. > :16:21.goes to the Lords. Let Lisa respond. This is absolute nonsense. First of
:16:22. > :16:27.all, the Labour Party has not been weak and confused in our line on
:16:28. > :16:32.Brexit. In the last round, we had a whip imposed about how to vote.
:16:33. > :16:40.Talking about the Lords, how far should the Lords go? Into an
:16:41. > :16:46.amendment that they have passed? I think they are right. How far should
:16:47. > :16:50.they go in terms of challenging? Yes. They have made their views
:16:51. > :16:57.clear and it is up to the Commons to make a decision. If it knocks it
:16:58. > :17:01.down, what should the Lords do? In the end, the Commons has to prevail.
:17:02. > :17:06.It is the house with legitimacy. But the point is that because of
:17:07. > :17:09.parliamentary scrutiny, the Government will be under pressure to
:17:10. > :17:13.come to the House of Commons with a deal that works for the majority of
:17:14. > :17:18.the British people, and that is the importance of the outcome we need to
:17:19. > :17:24.get. Is that really how a negotiation will be conducted? If it
:17:25. > :17:28.is not in the interest of the British people... Where I disagree
:17:29. > :17:34.with you, David is that I do not think the Lords have gone beyond a
:17:35. > :17:39.threshold in what they have done. Yet. If they reverse the Commons for
:17:40. > :17:43.a second time, I would unleash the dogs of war, threaten them with the
:17:44. > :17:50.creation of enough peers to get business through, but I doubt they
:17:51. > :17:54.will do that. Are we not as far away from the democratic reform of the
:17:55. > :17:57.Lords as ever in modern times? I think we are, and one of the
:17:58. > :18:02.problems with the abolition of Reddit trees, you seemed to carry
:18:03. > :18:11.out, as with so much of new Labour, a pseudo- model -- moderation. I
:18:12. > :18:14.think we have an extraordinary debate over what the role of the
:18:15. > :18:16.judiciary was, in terms of the work and planning Parliament to go
:18:17. > :18:23.through the process. These things are really dangerous. We are played
:18:24. > :18:26.out with this Gilbert and Sullivan pantomime of an unwritten
:18:27. > :18:30.constitution, and I would hope that this enormous political crisis,
:18:31. > :18:35.because that is what it is, the biggest change in politics for well
:18:36. > :18:42.over 50 years, would force us to look again. We put it off and put it
:18:43. > :18:47.off, too long. We need to do something and have the courage. We
:18:48. > :18:50.will see what happens. I've -- I remember when Michael foot and Enoch
:18:51. > :18:53.Powell got together to stop reform of the Lords.
:18:54. > :18:55.Now it's late, Netflix and chill with Julian Assange late.
:18:56. > :18:58.To be honest, we're just glad Nigel Farage has gotten
:18:59. > :19:00.over his messy break up with Douglas Carswell so quickly.
:19:01. > :19:03.But if, like us, you'd rather not hear about Nigel's strange
:19:04. > :19:05.bedfellows, fear not, because waiting in the wings
:19:06. > :19:07.is supermodel and refugee rights campaigner Lily Cole,
:19:08. > :19:11.here to put campaigning in our Spotlight.
:19:12. > :19:16.So join in my sad little keyboard warriors, go Facebonkers
:19:17. > :19:19.for the newest Snapcraze, all comrades are welcome
:19:20. > :19:23.to our Twitterevoution, yes even, you, Instagranny.
:19:24. > :19:25.Now, it's been Spreadsheet Phil's Big Week in the sun
:19:26. > :19:28.which was something of a novelty since you don't usually see
:19:29. > :19:33.The Chancellor was on top form delivering his first Budget,
:19:34. > :19:36.comparing the Labour party to a driverless car and saying that
:19:37. > :19:38.Jeremy Corbyn was so far down a black hole that even
:19:39. > :19:44.Clearly he'd hit the Blue Nun before hitting the Despatch Box.
:19:45. > :19:47.But he's always had a sense of humour and well-practiced
:19:48. > :19:51.at keeping it well-hidden from the rest of us.
:19:52. > :19:54.But he once sat in this very studio having a conversation
:19:55. > :19:58.about government spending with Peppa Pig.
:19:59. > :20:01.Which is not quite as demeaning as what our very own Nick Robinson
:20:02. > :20:04.accidentally called him on Radio Four this morning.
:20:05. > :20:07.It began with Spread, followed by shh but ended
:20:08. > :20:21.Anyway, here's Richard Madeley with his Round Up of the Week.
:20:22. > :20:39.Andrew has finally allowed me to get a stylist's chair in the prestigious
:20:40. > :20:52.To be absolutely honest with you, I really thought I'd blown it last
:20:53. > :20:54.week with that disastrous new style that I trialled on Michael.
:20:55. > :21:06.You don't bounce back from something like that easily.
:21:07. > :21:09.But I can't let a little thing like Michael drag me down.
:21:10. > :21:12.I mean, we self-employed are the life blood of the economy.
:21:13. > :21:27.# Clean your act up and don't be a slob.
:21:28. > :21:30.# Get it together like your big brother Bob.
:21:31. > :21:37.# Why don't you get a hair cut and get a real job #.
:21:38. > :21:39.The political week began with the second defeat
:21:40. > :21:43.Peers voted through an amendment calling for a "meaningful vote",
:21:44. > :21:54.I ask your Lordships to rest on the long contested principle
:21:55. > :21:58.that this country's future should rest with Parliament
:21:59. > :22:08.And it is in that spirit that I commend this new clause
:22:09. > :22:14.# Get a hair cut and get a real job #.
:22:15. > :22:16.In the end, 12 Tory peers joined the rebellion.
:22:17. > :22:23.Mr Heseltine, Sir, welcome to the salon.
:22:24. > :22:26.It was an eyebrow trim you reserved, as I recall, Sir, wasn't it?
:22:27. > :22:33.# Get a hair cut and get a real job #.
:22:34. > :22:36.I see, it was for meeting the PM for the first time.
:22:37. > :22:37.Well, that does deserve something special.
:22:38. > :22:46.And then she said that you'd actually met before?!
:22:47. > :22:53.The point comes in life when you have to do what you believe
:22:54. > :22:57.to be right and saying that somehow or other Parliament couldn't have
:22:58. > :23:02.enshrined in the statute, a commitment to involve Parliament,
:23:03. > :23:16.the sovereign body of our country, was too much for me.
:23:17. > :23:29.Well, that sacking must have put hairs on Theresa May's chest.
:23:30. > :23:31.Don't worry, Prime Minister, we can sort that out
:23:32. > :23:37.Mrs May was in robust mood for PMQs and Jeremy Corbyn tried
:23:38. > :23:47.But then he switched tack and went on to schools.
:23:48. > :23:49.She proposes a flagship scheme to build the wrong
:23:50. > :23:52.schools in the wrong place, spending millions on vanity projects
:23:53. > :23:56.of grammar schools and free schools whilst at the same time per pupil
:23:57. > :24:05.Isn't it time that this colossal waste of money was addressed?
:24:06. > :24:14.We are fighting for the best deal for Britain.
:24:15. > :24:17.Labour are fighting among themselves.
:24:18. > :24:19.That's Labour, weak, divided and unfit to govern
:24:20. > :24:32.# I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair.
:24:33. > :24:39.Well, the main political event of the week was of course the Budget
:24:40. > :24:43.and spreadsheet Phil's statement was absolutely lathered with jokes.
:24:44. > :24:45.And yet he never once mentioned Brexit.
:24:46. > :24:53.Still, the cost of Brexit's no laughing matter, is it?
:24:54. > :24:55.I turn now, Mr Deputy Speaker, to the OBR forecast.
:24:56. > :24:59.This is the spreadsheet bit but bear with me because I've
:25:00. > :25:07.The Right Honourable gentleman opposite who is now so far down
:25:08. > :25:14.a black hole that even Stephen Hawking has disowned him.
:25:15. > :25:16.At the forefront of disruptive technologies like biotech,
:25:17. > :25:20.robotic systems and driverless vehicles, a technology
:25:21. > :25:26.I believe the party opposite knows something about.
:25:27. > :25:29.There wasn't a massive amount of policy to go between all of those
:25:30. > :25:32.gags but I suppose one key measure was to go back on a manifesto pledge
:25:33. > :25:33.and increase national insurance contributions
:25:34. > :25:45.From April 2018, when the class 2 NIC is abolished, the main
:25:46. > :25:47.rate of class 4 NICS for the self-employed
:25:48. > :25:50.will increase by 1% 2010% with a further 1% increase
:25:51. > :25:58.# Mirror, mirror, mirror on the wall #.
:25:59. > :26:00.Jeremy Corbyn responded with a rallying cry for people
:26:01. > :26:07.I wonder what made him think of that.
:26:08. > :26:09.This was a budget of utter complacency about the
:26:10. > :26:15.Utter complacency about the crisis facing our public services
:26:16. > :26:20.and complacent about the reality of daily life for millions
:26:21. > :26:28.Entirely out of touch with that reality of life for millions.
:26:29. > :26:32.This morning, over one million workers will have woken up not
:26:33. > :26:39.knowing whether they'll work today, tomorrow or next week.
:26:40. > :26:48.The Lib Dems and the SNP highlighted the lack of mentions of Brexit.
:26:49. > :26:55.And of course that hit to the self-employed.
:26:56. > :26:59.It was the Brexit budget that dare not speak its name,
:27:00. > :27:03.The biggest single risk to the UK and the Scottish economy.
:27:04. > :27:05.He's confirmed he's wedded to the welfare cut, punishing
:27:06. > :27:11.It's a real insult to self-employed people.
:27:12. > :27:13.One in four people in my constituency is self-employed.
:27:14. > :27:15.Self-employed people already don't get holiday pay,
:27:16. > :27:17.now thanks to this Government, they can't afford a holiday
:27:18. > :27:24.Do you know what, I'm not sure I'm cut out of this lark.
:27:25. > :27:28.Oh, having to listen to the customers' dreadful
:27:29. > :27:36.To be quite straight with you, the This Week regulars - ferrel.
:27:37. > :27:55.Our thanks to the staff and students at Lambeth College.
:27:56. > :28:01.Welcome back to the programme. Michael, this increase in the
:28:02. > :28:04.self-employed National Insurance Contributions Bill you are a former
:28:05. > :28:09.Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Would this have been fully discussed
:28:10. > :28:14.with the Treasury team and approved by the Prime Minister? Certainly the
:28:15. > :28:17.former. Yes, I would have thought the Prime Minister would approve a
:28:18. > :28:26.major part of the Budget, absolutely. And none of them saw
:28:27. > :28:28.this coming? What? That they could put up the National Insurance
:28:29. > :28:33.Contributions Bill the self-employed and it not blow up in their face.
:28:34. > :28:38.Well, they decided they wanted to raise some more tax. Whatever they
:28:39. > :28:44.did, that was going to be difficult. They probably thought they have the
:28:45. > :28:48.best possible case here because the self-employed's access to state
:28:49. > :28:55.pensions has been equalised with employed people. So they had a case
:28:56. > :29:00.to make in this particular field. But what this takes me back to is
:29:01. > :29:04.the folly of going into elections with a heap of pledges about all the
:29:05. > :29:08.things that you are not going to do in the coming Parliament. My one
:29:09. > :29:11.hope is that because the Tories look as if they will win the next
:29:12. > :29:16.election whatever happens, that they won't next time go into the election
:29:17. > :29:21.promising not to raising complex, not to raise VAT... But they did not
:29:22. > :29:25.think they were going to women they promised that. Nobody thought that.
:29:26. > :29:30.They thought they could not win unless they promised it, because
:29:31. > :29:35.they thought every time a journalist said are you going to raise VAT and
:29:36. > :29:41.they said we will not say, that would lose them votes. It did not
:29:42. > :29:45.seem to dawn on him that many of the people he is hitting our Tory
:29:46. > :29:49.supporters. Is it right to close the gap between the taxation of the
:29:50. > :29:53.employed and self-employed? That was one of the arguments, that it helps
:29:54. > :29:58.crack on this false self employment issue. The problem is that basically
:29:59. > :30:04.you are punishing the victims of the crime and not the perpetrators. If
:30:05. > :30:08.employers are putting people on to self-employed contracts, not
:30:09. > :30:12.contracts, but classifying them as self-employed as to avoid having to
:30:13. > :30:16.meet the other costs like holiday pay and maternity and paternity
:30:17. > :30:20.rights, and your answer is to say, we are going to make life harder for
:30:21. > :30:26.the people who do not have those rights, it seems wrong-headed. The
:30:27. > :30:30.people you are talking about may not be affected. According to the in
:30:31. > :30:34.situ tough fiscal studies, 96% of the extra money raised by this
:30:35. > :30:45.change will be in the top 50% of households. If you are a
:30:46. > :30:50.hairdresser, on low pay, ?12,500 a year, you -- your insurance
:30:51. > :30:56.contributions will fall. A taxi driver on ?17,300, you will pay an
:30:57. > :31:02.extra ?20 a year. Not per month. But if you are a management consultant
:31:03. > :31:06.on ?52,000 a year, you will pay extra National Insurance of ?620.
:31:07. > :31:11.Why would a Labour Party not approve of that?
:31:12. > :31:18.The bracket this is hard for is the ?17,000 to ?24,000 a year earners.
:31:19. > :31:21.For them this is really tough because they're paying more, nothing
:31:22. > :31:25.has been done about the protections that they currently don't have, like
:31:26. > :31:28.holiday pay and paternity and maternity and so on. But also,
:31:29. > :31:33.there's something else in this budget that is a real problem for
:31:34. > :31:36.them and for many of us too, that's the inability of the political
:31:37. > :31:42.system as a whole to get a grip of the crisis in social care. Don't
:31:43. > :31:45.forget, many people who're self-employed in that earnings
:31:46. > :31:49.bracket will be struggling to make ends meet already. They will be
:31:50. > :31:53.worrying about the job insecurity that they've got and they'll also be
:31:54. > :31:58.worrying about how they're going to pay for their care in the future. Am
:31:59. > :32:02.I the only one to be a little surprised that the Chancellor should
:32:03. > :32:06.have taken such a collectivist approach to this particular problem.
:32:07. > :32:13.If he genuinely was concerned there was an unfair gap between employed
:32:14. > :32:16.contributions and self-employed contributions, why didn't he lower
:32:17. > :32:22.the level rather than raise the level at the bottom, why didn't he
:32:23. > :32:27.bring them closer together. Very good question. Someone said to me,
:32:28. > :32:30.why is the Tory Chancellor saying we are going to tax you more, but in
:32:31. > :32:34.the return we are going to give you more. It's not what the Tories are
:32:35. > :32:45.meant to do? The big issue is that if you are an employed person, your
:32:46. > :32:51.employer pays 13.8%. That is an enormous Amount. If you are worried
:32:52. > :32:55.about the incentives, you would have to tackle the gap between what would
:32:56. > :32:58.be the employers contribution and the fact there is no contribution
:32:59. > :33:03.whatsoever for a self-employed person. My guess is that actually,
:33:04. > :33:09.the Chancellor will get away with this. It's true that it hits Tory
:33:10. > :33:12.voters. It seems odd. Here is a Conservative Government that no
:33:13. > :33:16.longer seems to be in favour particularly of home ownership and
:33:17. > :33:20.now is hitting the self-employed. On the other hand it's also a Tory
:33:21. > :33:28.Government 16 points ahead in the opinion polls. Before it did this? !
:33:29. > :33:33.You saw what the omnishambles budget of George Osborne did. It may not
:33:34. > :33:37.result in a lead but could cut the lead. There is a deeper issue at
:33:38. > :33:45.work here, Lisa, and Michael alluded to it. It is the wilful erosion of
:33:46. > :33:51.the tax base. If politicians say they're not going to raise VAT, they
:33:52. > :33:56.are going to raise income tax, they are going to freeze fuel duty,
:33:57. > :34:00.you've got the rapid growth in self-employment, the rise of the
:34:01. > :34:05.digital gig economy. So where does the money come from for all these
:34:06. > :34:09.huge demands that will hit us in the next decade on social care and NHS?
:34:10. > :34:13.I don't see how you square that circle? The way you square the
:34:14. > :34:16.circumstance sell to take the Party Politics out of it. Social care is
:34:17. > :34:20.the best example of this that I can think of. There have been a number
:34:21. > :34:23.of reports and suggestions over the last few years about how we solve
:34:24. > :34:27.the crisis in social care. Every time that a political party has
:34:28. > :34:31.actually stuck their head up and said OK we are going to support one
:34:32. > :34:37.of those, there's been a major political row and the whole thing's
:34:38. > :34:40.fallen apart. You mean essentially people insuring themselves during
:34:41. > :34:44.their lifetime? Well, so you've got the Dilnot Report with the cap on
:34:45. > :34:48.the amount you pay... We have had all these reports. Remember what
:34:49. > :34:54.happened to Andy Burnham before the 2010 general election. He talked
:34:55. > :34:59.about levy on the estate after people died, the Tories labelled it
:35:00. > :35:02.the death tax, it was everywhere, it collapsed everywhere, now the idea
:35:03. > :35:07.is being floated again. They didn't in this budget but you are right,
:35:08. > :35:09.there's been talk about it. I always hear politicians say they are going
:35:10. > :35:13.to take the politics out of something and I just think, yes,
:35:14. > :35:17.that's never going to happen. Is it? Would than be funny. You think that
:35:18. > :35:22.about everything we say though, Andrew. That's my default position.
:35:23. > :35:25.Something you said a few minutes ago, if politicians aren't supposed
:35:26. > :35:29.to talk positively about their manifesto and make promises, what do
:35:30. > :35:34.they do in the run-up to an election? What I object to is
:35:35. > :35:37.negative promises, saying all the things they absolutely won't do
:35:38. > :35:41.whatever the circumstances may be. I see. But what is the difference
:35:42. > :35:45.between breaking a negative promise and a positive promise, because they
:35:46. > :35:49.do both? No, I think one of the reasons they've gone for this is
:35:50. > :35:53.that, in the legislation that gave effect to the tax lock, this I think
:35:54. > :35:59.was not covered, if I've understood this point correctly. That's the
:36:00. > :36:03.small print. I know. Although it's not in the manifesto, they haven't
:36:04. > :36:06.locked themselves in legislatively. There isn't an example of how bad
:36:07. > :36:10.policy gets made because they've seen a little gap where they can
:36:11. > :36:15.make a change. It would be so much better if the Chancellor had no
:36:16. > :36:18.promises back there, so if he thought it was appropriate now the
:36:19. > :36:20.raise VAT or tax or whatever, he could do whatever he thought was
:36:21. > :36:25.best. I think he's gone for this because he thought there was a
:36:26. > :36:29.little gap where he could get it in. By the way, it raises peanuts in the
:36:30. > :36:33.grand scheme of things, but they lock themselves into none of the tax
:36:34. > :36:37.rises, of the erosion of the tax base, even though their fiscal plans
:36:38. > :36:40.have gone awry, they promised to balance the budget by 2015, they
:36:41. > :36:46.didn't. They promised to do it by 2020, they won't. It's now an
:36:47. > :36:51.unspecified time in the next decade. I don't want to blame the media but
:36:52. > :36:55.you know perfectly well, if they had not promised the lock, you would
:36:56. > :36:59.have spent much of the election on this saying, why didn't you promise
:37:00. > :37:03.that you are not going to raise VAT and income tax and, it's from that
:37:04. > :37:10.sort of pressure that they feel... So I'm to blame? I preface my
:37:11. > :37:18.remarks appropriately. Richard, you were in the same class as Philip
:37:19. > :37:22.Hammond? Yes, yes. Shenfield Tech in Essex. Did he run a good spread
:37:23. > :37:26.sheet? He did for his disco business. He ran a school disco
:37:27. > :37:32.business and it made a lot of money because I was good friends with his
:37:33. > :37:37.partner in this business, named Graham Norton, but not that Graham
:37:38. > :37:40.Norton and Phil kept the share of the profits, I'm not saying that was
:37:41. > :37:43.the wrong thing to do, but he did it very well. The word is that the
:37:44. > :37:47.Prime Minister said she doesn't want to run into the legislation
:37:48. > :37:51.necessary to do the national insurance contributions. I see. That
:37:52. > :37:52.smells like a U-turn in there somewhere. Thank you very much,
:37:53. > :37:56.Richard, good luck with the day job. Now, a wave of grassroots activism
:37:57. > :38:00.has taken This Week by storm. Michael has been tirelessly
:38:01. > :38:03.campaigning to reopen the Chipping Sodbury to Much Binding
:38:04. > :38:06.in the Marsh railway line, even though historians are not
:38:07. > :38:09.sure it ever existed. While Lisa has gone full populist,
:38:10. > :38:12.starting a petition to keep Britain's manhole covers safe
:38:13. > :38:15.from radical groups. We didn't know they were threatened
:38:16. > :38:18.in this way but she assures us she's seen a suspicious guy with a beard
:38:19. > :38:21.taking an unhealthy With such a wave of democratic
:38:22. > :38:26.enthusiasm, we're putting campaigning in this week's
:38:27. > :38:30.Spotlight. # I suppose I should tell
:38:31. > :38:34.you what this lady's thinking...# So, you want to campaign
:38:35. > :38:41.for change, do you? Well, you'd better get yourself one
:38:42. > :38:44.of those celebrity endorsements. Support the NSPCC's
:38:45. > :38:47.Call for Help appeal. Although members of the public
:38:48. > :38:52.are getting in on the act, too. We found attitudes
:38:53. > :38:58.that belonged more - I was going to say in the 1950s,
:38:59. > :39:00.but probably the 1850s might be more accurate -
:39:01. > :39:03.than in the 21st-century. # Sometimes it's hard to find
:39:04. > :39:06.the words to say...# Not a problem on
:39:07. > :39:11.International Women's Day. Meanwhile, Annie Lennox thinks
:39:12. > :39:13.Donald Trump has actually made But it wasn't a great week for those
:39:14. > :39:25.campaigning to bring more child These local authorities
:39:26. > :39:30.have put their hands up Why should we, as a nation,
:39:31. > :39:35.say no to them? So the noes have it,
:39:36. > :39:37.the noes have it. And to supermodel turned refugee
:39:38. > :39:39.campaigner, Lily Cole, who is raising awareness
:39:40. > :39:42.for the refugee cause in a new film. The refugee camp, designed for less
:39:43. > :39:45.than a thousand people, Celebrity endorsement
:39:46. > :39:59.and fighting the good fight. Welcome to the programme. Lots of
:40:00. > :40:10.powerful causes around at the moment. Why for you the refugee
:40:11. > :40:13.crisis? Good question. I went out to Greece last year to make the short
:40:14. > :40:17.film you showed some clips from, without feeling like a kind of
:40:18. > :40:21.emotionally affected by the issue but feeling like I didn't really
:40:22. > :40:24.understand it very well and a bit confused about all the different
:40:25. > :40:29.things you read and narratives. And so I went first and foremost to
:40:30. > :40:32.learn and then happened upon meeting a couple of people with
:40:33. > :40:35.extraordinary stories which we filmed and packaged into the short
:40:36. > :40:40.film which is online now. I think, as I've tried to unpick and
:40:41. > :40:43.understand the issue better, it's, I guess the humanitarian basis first
:40:44. > :40:47.and foremost that really appeals to me. I mean the reality of what
:40:48. > :40:51.people are going through right now I think is pretty horrific. Was it
:40:52. > :40:57.pretty bad in the camps you visited? It was awful. People had come
:40:58. > :41:00.through Turkey? Exactly. From the Syrian conflict, Afghanistan and
:41:01. > :41:05.other areas? Yes. Managed to get to Greece but were going no further?
:41:06. > :41:10.Yes. I visited the end of last year. There were around 2200 people in the
:41:11. > :41:16.camp there, it was designed to have less than 1,000, so it was really
:41:17. > :41:21.overcrowded, badly managed, to a point where when multiple people we
:41:22. > :41:26.interviewed speculated that was a deterrent strategy to make it so
:41:27. > :41:30.bad. That it's so horrible you don't want to go? So that you don't
:41:31. > :41:34.encourage your friends and family on the other side of the sea to cross
:41:35. > :41:37.over, that that was a squarely believable prospect. What are you
:41:38. > :41:42.campaigning for the British Government to do? I mean, it
:41:43. > :41:46.coincides, we worked on editing the film and we put the film out last
:41:47. > :41:49.week and it happened to coincide with different other political
:41:50. > :41:54.narratives that were happening. So here in the UK we have obviously had
:41:55. > :41:59.the kind of step back from what was agreed under the Dubs amendment last
:42:00. > :42:03.year and that for me was truly horrifying when I learnt about that.
:42:04. > :42:08.It's the only thing this year that's made me cry. I watched the House of
:42:09. > :42:12.Commons debate. The numbers that we thought would be coming in are not
:42:13. > :42:18.the numbers that will be coming in Just that we are taking a harsh
:42:19. > :42:26.attitude towards the situation. The numbers are so minimal, 2650
:42:27. > :42:29.children is what we are debating on, it's 0.04%, it's a trivial number,
:42:30. > :42:33.feeling ideological and political, rather than a real tangible
:42:34. > :42:38.reflection on numbers. Today I don't know if you saw the Guardian did a
:42:39. > :42:44.Freedom of Information request and showed that over 20,000 places
:42:45. > :42:50.apparently have been offered by local authorities across the
:42:51. > :42:59.country. That contradicts what was being said. This is a strange verb
:43:00. > :43:05.to use, but have you enjoyed getting stuck into this, because it's a real
:43:06. > :43:11.issue? Enjoyed it is a tricky word. Satisfying? On some level. I mean, I
:43:12. > :43:16.also have other work, so it was quite hard doing like two things at
:43:17. > :43:20.the same time. Tell me about it! But it's something that I've been
:43:21. > :43:27.incredibly consumed by, passionate about, thinking about a night,
:43:28. > :43:30.working on my spare -- working on it at night in my spare time. It feels
:43:31. > :43:35.real. Are you going to stick with it? I don't know what that means.
:43:36. > :43:39.Keep campaigning? Yes, I don't know how that will manifest, whether it
:43:40. > :43:42.will be more film-making or conversations, I don't know how. We
:43:43. > :43:47.can see the film on YouTube? You might be able to see it on YouTube
:43:48. > :43:51.tomorrow, but right now it's on Vice. Lights in dark places it's
:43:52. > :43:57.called. That is your lot. We're off to LouLou's
:43:58. > :44:01.for Michael Heseltine's man-sized Michael and Lisa have been asked
:44:02. > :44:06.to "man" the doors and they're so desperate for work they've even
:44:07. > :44:09.agreed to adhere to the dress code Nighty night, don't let
:44:10. > :44:33.the PM's demonic laugh bite. # And there was a little
:44:34. > :44:45.old man in scarlet and grey I ought to report you
:44:46. > :45:06.to the Gnome Office. # I'm the laughing
:45:07. > :45:13.gnome and you can't catch me # I'm the laughing gnome
:45:14. > :45:21.and you can't catch me.# You can still see her -
:45:22. > :45:27.but it has to be supervised. You thought it was YOU
:45:28. > :45:29.I was afraid of. Now it's happened, not only
:45:30. > :45:32.have I got nothing to lose,