:00:08. > :00:17.Diane, it's 1145 PM, maybe 18. Five miles south of Question Time, 12
:00:18. > :00:21.miles left of Newsnight. Never seen so many has beans in my life. As
:00:22. > :01:23.Andrew Neil would say, I'd rather be here than on ITV.
:01:24. > :01:46.My log has something to tell you about the manifesto.
:01:47. > :01:54.It is happening again, the return of the thing you thought you'd said
:01:55. > :01:55.goodbye to in the 1980s, the nanny state, brought to you by Theresa
:01:56. > :02:07.May. Young people are not what they seem.
:02:08. > :02:21.Perhaps their engagement could yet change everything.
:02:22. > :02:24.Welcome to This Week, where tonight we launch
:02:25. > :02:27.Well, everybody else has one, so why not This Week?
:02:28. > :02:29.We will be resolutely for the few, not the many.
:02:30. > :02:37.We are unstinting in our support of lazy families who break the rules
:02:38. > :02:41.We will not nationalise the water companies.
:02:42. > :02:46.What need of water when every tap will deliver ice cold
:02:47. > :02:51.We will legalise drugs, in the hope that students
:02:52. > :02:54.will forget we voted for the tripling of tuition fees.
:02:55. > :02:56.For those of you who say we're ignoring the big issues,
:02:57. > :02:58.we have a unique solution to global warming.
:02:59. > :03:01.All buildings will be instructed to reposition their air
:03:02. > :03:08.If that doesn't cool the planet, nothing will.
:03:09. > :03:10.We nicked that idea from the Monster Raving Looney Party.
:03:11. > :03:13.But if Theresa May can pinch half her manifesto
:03:14. > :03:17.from Ed Miliband then we can be a bit light-fingered too.
:03:18. > :03:20.We will treble taxes on all politicians who fail to answer even
:03:21. > :03:26.That should bring in a few trillion and finance all our spending plans,
:03:27. > :03:32.We'll ask Diane Abbott to do the sums.
:03:33. > :03:35.And finally, we will cut immigration to zero.
:03:36. > :03:39.And how will we manage that, I hear you ask?
:03:40. > :03:44.We'll make this such a miserable place to live nobody in their right
:03:45. > :03:48.Speaking of those who have long deterred sane folk
:03:49. > :03:51.from visiting our shores, I'm joined on the sofa tonight
:03:52. > :03:54.by the Yesterday Men of British politics.
:03:55. > :03:56.I speak of course of Michael #choochoo Portillo,
:03:57. > :04:10.Your moment of the week, Michael? Well, the changes to the financing
:04:11. > :04:14.of social care promised by the Conservatives in their manifesto. If
:04:15. > :04:18.you are a middle-class couple, maybe you have ?1 million in assets,
:04:19. > :04:22.including your house, you go into residential care, or you are cared
:04:23. > :04:27.for at home. Your assets can be Ridge used to ?100,000. And that is
:04:28. > :04:35.money that your offspring were counting on to be there inheritance.
:04:36. > :04:40.-- your assets can be reduced to ?100,000. Quite a lot of people will
:04:41. > :04:43.be browned off by this, and it represents an enormous shift of
:04:44. > :04:47.responsibility away from the state and onto individuals, which actually
:04:48. > :04:54.strikes me as rather a Conservative thing to do. I think probably we
:04:55. > :04:58.have seen this week the beginning of the end of the Trump Administration,
:04:59. > :05:04.with the tweets from the President, but it is a general election so I
:05:05. > :05:08.will choose a British example. The general secretary of Unite, Len
:05:09. > :05:11.McCluskey, declaring that 200 seats would be a victory for Labour,
:05:12. > :05:14.partly because it is significant and shows there have all as been some
:05:15. > :05:18.people around Jeremy who did not think winning a majority was the
:05:19. > :05:22.most important thing. But it may be that in an odd way, for Labour
:05:23. > :05:25.voters who were clearly worried about whether they could vote Labour
:05:26. > :05:30.and whether it meant voting for Jeremy Corbyn to Prime Minister, he
:05:31. > :05:36.is basically saying to them, it is OK to vote Labour. Didn't he changed
:05:37. > :05:39.his mind the next day? Well... People are allowed to do that.
:05:40. > :05:42.When Margaret Thatcher was faced with a fracturing Left in the 1980s,
:05:43. > :05:44.she moved to the Right and introduced a series of radical
:05:45. > :05:46.reforms which became known as Thatcherism.
:05:47. > :05:48.Theresa May's response to today's fractured Left has been
:05:49. > :05:50.to move to the Left, Right and Centre.
:05:51. > :05:52.Now doing the political splits three ways can be
:05:53. > :05:56.But most pundits think that by spreading her tanks across such
:05:57. > :05:59.a wide range of political turf she's on track for a landslide.
:06:00. > :06:04.The most recent polls still show a comfortable Tory lead but not
:06:05. > :06:08.by as much as a week or two weeks ago and some even show
:06:09. > :06:12.And some on the Right are not happy with Mrs May's
:06:13. > :06:35.Here's James Delingpole with his take of the week.
:06:36. > :06:38.Theresa May is so she has a vision, but what does it look like?
:06:39. > :06:41.You might expect it to mirror the instincts
:06:42. > :06:43.of the Conservative Party and the post-Brexit electorate,
:06:44. > :06:59.This election is going to hand the Conservatives
:07:00. > :07:05.It is their once in several generations opportunity to complete
:07:06. > :07:12.the free-market revolution unleashed by Margaret Thatcher.
:07:13. > :07:14.But Mrs May doesn't seem to be much interested
:07:15. > :07:17.in smaller government, lower taxes and personal
:07:18. > :07:24.She doesn't want to be The Iron Lady.
:07:25. > :07:28.Rather, she has chosen to model herself on one of the most dismally
:07:29. > :07:35.useless Tory Prime Ministers is in recent memory,
:07:36. > :07:43.the disastrous nanny state meddler Ted Heath.
:07:44. > :07:48.The lesson of the European Union is that big government doesn't work.
:07:49. > :07:53.The lesson of history is that big government doesn't work.
:07:54. > :08:05.So why has Theresa May decided to give us more big government?
:08:06. > :08:14.The Conservatives are supposed to be the party of low taxation. Today,
:08:15. > :08:22.thanks to Mrs May, we are heading towards the largest tax levels in 30
:08:23. > :08:30.years. Not even Dave, the heir to Blair, Cameron, was guilty of that
:08:31. > :08:35.kind of socialism light. When Ed Miliband first proposed an energy
:08:36. > :08:40.cap, the Tories branded it Marxist. Today, it is part of Theresa May's
:08:41. > :08:46.industrial policy, along with worker representatives in the boardroom, a
:08:47. > :08:51.higher minimum wage, some politically correct nonsense about
:08:52. > :08:56.the gender pay gap, the kind of thing that must make red Jeremy
:08:57. > :09:05.Corbyn wonder why he bothered. His work here is done.
:09:06. > :09:08.Thanks to Gala Bingo in Tooting for use of their hall of mirrors.
:09:09. > :09:14.The Spectator's very own, legs eleven, James Delingpole is here.
:09:15. > :09:23.Welcome to the programme. Are we agreed that Theresa May is not a
:09:24. > :09:27.Thatcherite? No. I would try and remember what Margaret Thatcher was
:09:28. > :09:34.really like. She had a top rate of income tax at 60p in the pound until
:09:35. > :09:39.the late 1980s. She inherited 83. She did not get near to 40 until the
:09:40. > :09:45.late 80s. She still had the dock worker regulation act until the late
:09:46. > :09:50.1980s. In her 1979 manifesto, she promised no privatisation. There was
:09:51. > :09:53.no privatisation to speak of in her first parliament, only the second,
:09:54. > :09:58.and she was dragged into much of that. She was always intervening in
:09:59. > :10:02.British industry to make sure that, for example, defence companies got
:10:03. > :10:07.big contracts not in competition with Americans or other foreign
:10:08. > :10:12.companies. And she was constantly going around the globe trying to
:10:13. > :10:16.shove armaments down the unwilling throats of other governments. She
:10:17. > :10:20.was hugely interventionist and would not countenance, for example, the
:10:21. > :10:25.privatisation of British Rail, or the Royal Mail, in the latter case
:10:26. > :10:33.because they had the word "Royal" in it. The idea that Theresa May is a
:10:34. > :10:38.red Tory is a smoke screen. But is she the air to Thatcher or not? It
:10:39. > :10:43.is a different period, clearly. There is a different inheritance.
:10:44. > :10:48.The reality is, if you take what she is doing, for example, on social
:10:49. > :10:51.care, that is a move away from society collectively pulling the
:10:52. > :10:57.risk and helping everybody, and saying you are on your own. It is a
:10:58. > :11:04.complete, there is no such thing as society, moment. If you are above a
:11:05. > :11:07.certain level of assets. Yes, but if you are above that level, you could
:11:08. > :11:12.lose an enormous amount of money, all based upon luck. The whole point
:11:13. > :11:16.of the Dilnot Commission 's was that we would share that risk together.
:11:17. > :11:24.That was a collectivist thing to do. This is on your own. Isn't the idea
:11:25. > :11:30.of a Thatcher Mark two unrealistic? The crash of 2008 tarnished the
:11:31. > :11:34.market for many people. Free markets have become synonymous with
:11:35. > :11:43.globalisation and huge inequality. Surely Mrs May is responding to
:11:44. > :11:47.that. I think that she has a once in several generations opportunity. She
:11:48. > :11:52.has the Conservative label, and free markets do actually work. Time and
:11:53. > :11:58.again history has shown that. But there is no appetite for them. You
:11:59. > :12:05.don't need appetite when you have a large majority. She might not have
:12:06. > :12:10.one. I would not buy into that. This election is hers for the taking. You
:12:11. > :12:14.are a lone voice. If you speak to the Tory right, they might not like
:12:15. > :12:18.a lot of this blue-collar conservatism, but they think she
:12:19. > :12:22.will deliver on Brexit. They think the union is safe in her hands. They
:12:23. > :12:27.are going to put up with a lot for that. Reed she has bought them off,
:12:28. > :12:34.basically feeding them this big piece of red meat called Brexit.
:12:35. > :12:37.They are accepting that. But if you read the Conservative comments area,
:12:38. > :12:42.they are up in arms, the people who think about Tory ideology, who
:12:43. > :12:48.understand economics, which she clearly doesn't, they are very
:12:49. > :12:52.concerned. And I am concerned. It is sad that the Conservative Party has
:12:53. > :12:59.been hijacked. You can't imagine Theresa May throwing down the road
:13:00. > :13:06.to serfdom on the table and saying, this is what we believe. Does this
:13:07. > :13:11.red Tory stuff amount to a row of beans or is it all spin and position
:13:12. > :13:15.huh? I think it's mainly spin and posture which may be quite
:13:16. > :13:19.effective. From what I've read of the proposals for workers on the
:13:20. > :13:25.boards, you know, it's no such thing. It may sound pretty good. I
:13:26. > :13:29.would have thought it would be a pretty minor inconvenience to
:13:30. > :13:33.companies. They all add up though all the minor inconveniences, don't
:13:34. > :13:37.they? Let me take another point. She's no longer saying she's
:13:38. > :13:44.committed not to raise income tax or VAT. Now, you can go to... She is
:13:45. > :13:49.committed to not raising VAT? It's Nat insurance and income tax? You
:13:50. > :13:51.are absolutely right. Two of them. There is a prior Conservative
:13:52. > :13:56.principle that you have to be prepared to do whatever is necessary
:13:57. > :14:01.to run the economy properly and that means, for example, keeping public
:14:02. > :14:04.borrowing within certain limits. Now, it distressed me to see the
:14:05. > :14:09.Conservatives before committed to not raising taxes because it meant
:14:10. > :14:11.in certain circumstances they were committing to being irresponsible in
:14:12. > :14:17.the management of the economy. You could say that by failing to promise
:14:18. > :14:24.these things, she becomes a responsible Tory to what's gone
:14:25. > :14:30.before. This should be coloured red. It's the Tory manifesto? Yes. It
:14:31. > :14:34.says, what is this about a national productivity investment fund and
:14:35. > :14:38.there is a section that says confronting burning injustices.
:14:39. > :14:43.She's got her ideas from The Guardian society pages, not from
:14:44. > :14:50.anything else. What do you say It sounds like the reformation of
:14:51. > :14:56.Neddy. The national and economic development council 1961 Harold
:14:57. > :15:01.Macmillan. The reality though is... The language about parasite wasps.
:15:02. > :15:05.That won't move you away from the free market about the elite in
:15:06. > :15:09.Westminster. That owes as much to Nigel Farage as it does to anybody
:15:10. > :15:13.on the level. When you look at what she's proposing to do on social care
:15:14. > :15:17.and Tax Credits for working families and the bottom four December isles,
:15:18. > :15:22.they are going to be hit harder than anybody's been hit in the last 20
:15:23. > :15:30.years. The idea this is a shift towards the left is nonsense. You
:15:31. > :15:34.may think she's insufficiently a free market or Thatcherite, that's a
:15:35. > :15:41.different point but the thought it's a move to the centre ground, I don't
:15:42. > :15:44.buy it. She's not just in the vote to leave the Europe European Union,
:15:45. > :15:49.that was also a cry from a lot of the country that things are not
:15:50. > :15:54.working well for us. The Metropolitan classes have all done
:15:55. > :15:58.fine, but we living in the Midlands and the north, have not done so well
:15:59. > :16:01.and she's responding to that. I would take the opposite view. She's
:16:02. > :16:06.saying yes, I hear you want Brexit and I understand what you want, but
:16:07. > :16:10.she doesn't understand because she was a remainor for starters and
:16:11. > :16:16.secondly, people voted brex to it gain their independence. What she's
:16:17. > :16:24.giving them is more of the micromanaging nanny status. They
:16:25. > :16:29.didn't vote Brexit for a Jefferson yank... Says you. They wanted to be
:16:30. > :16:35.free and get away from all the regulation. They wanted more things
:16:36. > :16:40.to help them share in some of the prosperity. We were great once. We
:16:41. > :16:45.had the open sea and we could have it again but she's denying us. There
:16:46. > :16:48.will be a clear majority of people who voted to leave the European
:16:49. > :16:52.Union who'd also vote to renationalise the water industry and
:16:53. > :16:57.the rail industry. We can debate whether that's a good idea or not, I
:16:58. > :17:02.don't feel ideological about it. It's not necessarily The idea that
:17:03. > :17:06.it's somehow not the kind of thing that people who voted Brexit would
:17:07. > :17:12.support, it's a nonsense. I think we'd agree reports You sound a
:17:13. > :17:17.remainor to me. People would like prosperity. That would be good. I
:17:18. > :17:23.think she's going the opposite route to prosperity and that's worrying.
:17:24. > :17:25.Isn't it ironic that, as Mrs May promises to take us out of the
:17:26. > :17:30.European Union and that that project will be safe in our hands, that
:17:31. > :17:35.she's really recasting the British Tories as a version of the German
:17:36. > :17:39.Christian Democrats? That's exactly what we have been debating and I
:17:40. > :17:44.rather doubt that. I mean, I don't want to labour this point on social
:17:45. > :17:46.care too much but it's extraordinarily radical, it really
:17:47. > :17:52.does mean that the people are going to have to... I mean you put it as
:17:53. > :17:56.people being left to fend for themselves, I say it's about people
:17:57. > :17:59.saving for a rainy day and hey when that comes they are expected to
:18:00. > :18:04.spend the money they've saved for a rainy day. People have to be
:18:05. > :18:14.responsible for themselves, what's not Thatcherite about that. I'm with
:18:15. > :18:22.her on foxhunting. A bit of Adam Smith? No, there's no Adam Smith
:18:23. > :18:28.there. I'm surprised about the foxes. Collectivist. They have to be
:18:29. > :18:33.hunted down as collectivists. I find that surprising. The shocking thing
:18:34. > :18:37.about this week from both parties is, we haven't really had any
:18:38. > :18:41.discussion at all about what Brexit was going to mean. We heard from the
:18:42. > :18:45.Prime Minister a very ego-driven statement which basically said, let
:18:46. > :18:48.me decide what I'm going to do, without at the moment giving us any
:18:49. > :18:54.indication of what that is. It may turn out to be something very
:18:55. > :18:58.different to what you want. I think it's a squandered opportunity. We
:18:59. > :19:04.could genuinely be an economic powerhouse. Even though we are
:19:05. > :19:07.leaving Europe, we kind of want to have the same regulation and worker
:19:08. > :19:09.protection and so on. It's not going to be good for us. Very well. Thank
:19:10. > :19:11.you very much. Now, it's late, Donald Trump
:19:12. > :19:17.flirting with Russia late. It's been a tough old week
:19:18. > :19:20.for the Donald as he says, no politician in history has been
:19:21. > :19:22.worse treated than him. And I think we can
:19:23. > :19:26.all agree with that. Worse than Abraham Lincoln,
:19:27. > :19:28.who was assassinated at the theatre. Worse than JFK, murdered
:19:29. > :19:32.in a motorcade in downtown Dallas. And clearly much, much worse
:19:33. > :19:35.than Nelson Mandela, But if like us, you've had quite
:19:36. > :19:44.enough of injustice this week, worry not, because waiting
:19:45. > :19:49.in the wingS is rapper and comic Doc Brown,
:19:50. > :19:51.here to get down with the kids And as we're pretty hip
:19:52. > :19:55.happening people, hit us up on the Facegram,
:19:56. > :19:58.the instabook, the Snapper Now folks, only 21 long hard days
:19:59. > :20:03.to go until the general election. Yes, in exactly three weeks time it
:20:04. > :20:07.will be all over bar the results. No more leaders' debates
:20:08. > :20:11.without the leaders. No more supposedly costed manifestos
:20:12. > :20:16.built on a wing and a prayer. No more "We've been clear,
:20:17. > :20:20.Andrew" when what follows Actually that will continue
:20:21. > :20:25.after the election. Anyway here's Miranda Green with her
:20:26. > :20:55.round up of the political week. Not a single customer all morning. I
:20:56. > :20:59.thought this election fortune telling would be a sure fire money
:21:00. > :21:02.spinner. It's not as if anyone believes the polls any more. It's
:21:03. > :21:06.almost as if people think the election is a foregone conclusion.
:21:07. > :21:16.Oh, my alluring sign has fallen down.
:21:17. > :21:24.This was manifesto week and all three parties unveiled their plans
:21:25. > :21:31.for the future. I see Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Leader going on a journey
:21:32. > :21:38.to safe Labour seats. But what does he say? Well, yes, clearly we've
:21:39. > :21:43.heard a lot of Labour's manifesto before. He confirmed pledges to
:21:44. > :21:51.scrap tuition fees, increase public spending and promised a Society for
:21:52. > :21:56.The many, not the few. The programme that is radical and
:21:57. > :22:01.responsible. A programme that will reverse our national priorities and
:22:02. > :22:10.put the interests of the many first. We will change our country while
:22:11. > :22:14.managing within our means. And, will lead us through Brexit while putting
:22:15. > :22:18.the preservation of jobs first. Corbyn predicted the Tories would
:22:19. > :22:24.attack him on credibility. He said his policies were fully costed. Hang
:22:25. > :22:29.on, predicted? So much more job preservation, you stick to your own
:22:30. > :22:33.job Jeremy, this tent isn't big enough for the both of us. All this
:22:34. > :22:38.is costed as the documents accompanying our manifesto make
:22:39. > :22:44.very, very clear. Our revenue-raising plans ensure we can
:22:45. > :22:49.embark on this ambitious programme without jeopardising our national
:22:50. > :22:56.finances. We are asking the better off and the big corporations to pay
:22:57. > :23:00.a little bit more and of course, to stop dodging their tax obligations
:23:01. > :23:03.in the first place. Even Labour's most ardent backers
:23:04. > :23:09.can foretell trouble ahead for the party. Unite boss Len McCluskey said
:23:10. > :23:16.retaining only 200 seats would count as success. But then, cosmic Len had
:23:17. > :23:20.another premonition. The stars aligned, the moon rose in Jupiter
:23:21. > :23:23.and the future looked bright again. So I'm now full of optimism if I was
:23:24. > :23:27.having that interview today I wouldn't be making those comments. I
:23:28. > :23:31.think also the Labour campaign has been brilliant. It's outshone the
:23:32. > :23:37.Tories. Jeremy Corbyn's come across as a real man of the people and a
:23:38. > :23:47.real leader and I'm now full of optimism as to what will happen in
:23:48. > :23:53.the next two to three weeks. The Tories are on their own journey
:23:54. > :23:58.while Corbyn sticks to Labour territory, the PM is touring the
:23:59. > :24:04.marginals making a grab for Labour votes and policies. I see a tall
:24:05. > :24:13.dark stranger in the PM's future. It's just spread sheet Phil. Wait,
:24:14. > :24:18.he's trying to tell us something. (BLEEP) economically illiterate
:24:19. > :24:24.(BLEEP) strong... The future is looking murky for
:24:25. > :24:29.Phil. If after June you are re-elected,
:24:30. > :24:39.will you still be next door neighbours? The theme of today's
:24:40. > :24:45.Tory manifesto was tough decisions. The title - Forward Together. Not
:24:46. > :24:49.you, Phil! Elderly people will be expected to foot more of the bill of
:24:50. > :24:54.their social care. It's a bold move to risk upsetting older voters.
:24:55. > :24:58.You've got to hand it to her. This is the first time that we have seen
:24:59. > :25:01.a proper long-term plan for sustainability of social care in
:25:02. > :25:05.this country. This is one of the great challenges that we face with
:25:06. > :25:08.an ageing population and it's right that anybody who wants to be Prime
:25:09. > :25:11.Minister any party that wants to be in Government faces up to that
:25:12. > :25:19.challenge and sets it out clearly for people. Surprises aside, this is
:25:20. > :25:23.the Brexit manifesto, that means immigration. Mrs May recommitted
:25:24. > :25:28.herself to the discredited Tory target to get migration down to the
:25:29. > :25:36.tens of thousands. Is that achievable? Yes. We want to increase
:25:37. > :25:40.the charge, skills charge, immigration skills charge. Then that
:25:41. > :25:43.money can be put into ensuring that people here are being trained up to
:25:44. > :25:47.take the jobs. I want to see people here having the skills to take on
:25:48. > :25:53.these jobs while we still have a system that brings the brightest and
:25:54. > :25:56.best into the United Kingdom. Tim Farron's manifesto is called
:25:57. > :26:02.Change Britain's Future. Change the future? ! Tim, what have you been
:26:03. > :26:06.smoking? The Liberal Democrats are promising more money for health and
:26:07. > :26:10.education and one penny on income tax. At the heart of the manifesto
:26:11. > :26:17.is a promise on a second referendum about Brexit. Ugh, that's brewed!
:26:18. > :26:24.Let's have a look at the leaves. Or is it the remains. Or the remainers.
:26:25. > :26:28.Or the re-levers. We don't just have to accept whatever deal we get back
:26:29. > :26:32.from the Brexit negotiations but the British people, you, should have the
:26:33. > :26:35.final say and if you don't like what Theresa May comes back with, you
:26:36. > :26:39.should have the right to vote to remain. The Liberal Democrats are
:26:40. > :26:48.the only people offering you hope that Britain's future could be
:26:49. > :26:53.brighter and better. Ah, the Tartan warrior. Nicola Sturgeon celebrated
:26:54. > :27:02.ten years of SNP control in Scotland this week by accusing Labour and the
:27:03. > :27:11.Tories of stealing her ideas. Thieving people, just you wait. The
:27:12. > :27:15.manifestos seem familiar policies in Scotland for a very good reason. The
:27:16. > :27:21.SNP Government's already delivered all of them in Scotland. Even the
:27:22. > :27:25.Tory who is spent the past ten years criticising council house building
:27:26. > :27:30.and free prescriptions have now changed their tune. For the Welsh
:27:31. > :27:37.nationalists, independence remains a distant dream. Dark clouds may be
:27:38. > :27:45.gathering on the horizon, there is also a ray of hope. We can be the
:27:46. > :27:52.voice of Wales. We can be that ray of hope. Now is the time to defy the
:27:53. > :27:58.old and out of touch parties. To show that we believe in Wales. Poor
:27:59. > :28:09.Leanne. Sing when you're winning... # It's all over the front-page
:28:10. > :28:14.# You give me road rage. What about my fortune? What's this? Abject
:28:15. > :28:18.poverty. Forced to work for This Week! I should have foreseen that.
:28:19. > :28:24.Nothing's certain except death and taxes. Stuff the stars and this
:28:25. > :28:29.mystic malarkey and you don't even work!
:28:30. > :28:33.# She's just a devil woman # With evil on her mind.
:28:34. > :28:36.And we're joined by former Green Party Leader, Natalie Bennett,
:28:37. > :28:38.and by Polly McKenzie, who used to be Director
:28:39. > :28:40.of Policy for former Liberal Democrat Leader,
:28:41. > :28:50.How left-wing is the Labour manifesto, Ed? If you look at the
:28:51. > :28:55.individual policies, there's quite a lot of policy in there which I could
:28:56. > :29:01.sign up to which was in the last manifesto and one before. It was
:29:02. > :29:04.undermined by Jeremy Corbyn immediately contradicting the
:29:05. > :29:13.manifesto on the benefit freeze and saying in fact we are going to do it
:29:14. > :29:17.and go ahead with it. It was exposed in a number of interviews. He could
:29:18. > :29:20.have tragically, the left has been waiting in the Labour Party for
:29:21. > :29:25.decades to have a manifesto and when they finally get one, it gets
:29:26. > :29:30.totally overshadowed by a complete screw-up. Despite that which he had
:29:31. > :29:34.to correct, couldn't it be said Mr Corbyn's having a pretty good
:29:35. > :29:39.election? Well, in the end, the election will be decided by the
:29:40. > :29:44.voters. Is that how democracy works? I never knew that. Is he having a
:29:45. > :29:50.good election? The opinion polls look good. He's doing good at the
:29:51. > :29:54.rallies but in the end what matters is what is happening on the ballot
:29:55. > :29:58.boxes and the polls. Compared to Theresa May, he's talking to people
:29:59. > :30:01.and getting out there wanting to have arguments and debates. He's
:30:02. > :30:06.having a better election campaign than she is. Labour is also,
:30:07. > :30:12.Michael, going into detailed costings and also where the revenue
:30:13. > :30:17.will come from, now you can have an argument about whether the costings
:30:18. > :30:23.or the revenues are realistic, but they have put figures down there
:30:24. > :30:27.that show analysis. There are almost no costings, there is no table of
:30:28. > :30:33.revenue-raising at all, just figures thrown out hear and there? Yes.
:30:34. > :30:37.Labour has some big aspirations to renationalise and they are not
:30:38. > :30:42.costed and, as you say, the rest of it is pretty arguable. But none of
:30:43. > :30:46.this matters because the election's really about Jeremy Corbyn. When you
:30:47. > :30:50.say he's having a good election, what is happening is that Labour
:30:51. > :30:54.canvassers are going to the voters and saying, it's safe to vote Labour
:30:55. > :30:58.because we are not going to win, so this election is not really about
:30:59. > :31:02.Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister, it's simply about having,
:31:03. > :31:06.you know, a respectable number of Labour MPs to provide some
:31:07. > :31:10.opposition. That would be a strange definition of a successful campaign
:31:11. > :31:16.for him. Is this election about Jeremy Corbyn?
:31:17. > :31:24.I think it is about the future of Britain and what will happen in the
:31:25. > :31:28.Brexit talks. Let's not get it down to personalities. I understand that
:31:29. > :31:32.is what elections should be about, and although that may be what you
:31:33. > :31:37.want, is it happening in reality, or is it about Mr Corbyn and Mrs May,
:31:38. > :31:43.who is running a presidential campaign? I am finding on the
:31:44. > :31:49.doorstep in Sheffield that people are talking about issues. Obviously
:31:50. > :31:52.about Brexit, but also there is an enormous focus on education. There
:31:53. > :31:57.are real concerns about what is happening in schools and education,
:31:58. > :32:00.where schools are being turned into exam factories with pupils pushed
:32:01. > :32:06.through the exam after exam, losing creative subjects. That is what
:32:07. > :32:11.people are saying on the doorstep, really? They are saying, I am glad
:32:12. > :32:18.you have knocked on the door because our schools are exam factories?
:32:19. > :32:23.Exactly. Are you sure you are not knocking on your own door? They are
:32:24. > :32:27.talking about young people losing the opportunity to freely move
:32:28. > :32:34.around Europe. They are worried about the future of young people. Is
:32:35. > :32:38.the election about Mr Corbyn? The Conservatives are trying to make it
:32:39. > :32:44.about Theresa May against Jeremy Corbyn. Almost every sensible person
:32:45. > :32:48.thinks Theresa May would do a better job than Jeremy Corbyn at pretty
:32:49. > :32:55.much anything, I think. As Michael says, the Labour Party is trying to
:32:56. > :32:57.suggest there is no way that Jeremy Corbyn can win, and the
:32:58. > :33:02.Conservatives are trying to say he might win. It feels like they have
:33:03. > :33:08.put some unpopular policies in their manifesto, the weird decision to go
:33:09. > :33:12.on fox hunting, just to narrow down the polls and give Labour a bit of a
:33:13. > :33:16.boost so that in the last week they can hit that message, which they did
:33:17. > :33:22.successfully in 2015, that there might be a coalition of chaos. At
:33:23. > :33:26.the start of the campaign it felt so implausible that Jeremy Corbyn could
:33:27. > :33:34.win, and now they are trying to push that message. What has gone wrong
:33:35. > :33:38.with the Lib campaign? The Lib Dems have gained some votes from people
:33:39. > :33:42.who are Remainers in core places that might do well, south-west
:33:43. > :33:46.London or Cambridge, for example, but are clearly losing votes from
:33:47. > :33:51.people who either voted Leave and have been exposed strongly to the
:33:52. > :33:55.idea that the Lib Dems don't want to leave, and some people who don't
:33:56. > :34:00.care and want to move on to education, or the NHS, or whatever
:34:01. > :34:03.it is. The question for the Lib Dems is not the national polls but how
:34:04. > :34:07.they do in individual seats, and that will never translate
:34:08. > :34:12.international polls. I don't think we really know because only in terms
:34:13. > :34:17.of canvassing returns is when you get that indication. But did you
:34:18. > :34:21.read the mood of the nation, thinking you could tap into the mood
:34:22. > :34:27.of Remainers, but although they were unhappy, many just want to get on
:34:28. > :34:31.with it. There is a reasonable position which Tim Farron is taking.
:34:32. > :34:35.Since the referendum the Lib Dems have been talking about a new
:34:36. > :34:39.referendum and it was not clear what that meant. And now there is a clear
:34:40. > :34:43.position which is, you go to Brussels, get the best deal you can
:34:44. > :34:47.and then you can compare it with staying and the British people
:34:48. > :34:51.decide. The truth is probably the British people would still decide to
:34:52. > :35:01.leave. The thing is, they don't know where they are going. It is like in
:35:02. > :35:05.Sheffield. That is your constituency. We can't keep talking
:35:06. > :35:11.about your constituency. In a general election, you can't do that.
:35:12. > :35:15.If we are driving north from London, how far you go, what heading you
:35:16. > :35:18.take, there are many possible directions and the first referendum
:35:19. > :35:24.told us to go north. It did not tell us what direction. If people get to
:35:25. > :35:27.the final destination and are not happy, if politicians are allowed to
:35:28. > :35:33.do a U-turn, people should be allowed to, too. Theresa May's point
:35:34. > :35:37.is that we cannot have a Scottish referendum because we do not know
:35:38. > :35:40.what Brexit looks like yet. So it is perfectly reasonable to be able to
:35:41. > :35:48.say, let's give people another look at that, instead of just parliament.
:35:49. > :35:53.Is it, Michael? No. But I think we moved beyond this weeks ago. I think
:35:54. > :35:56.that is the big misconception of the Liberal Democrats. You are right
:35:57. > :36:01.when you implied that people have moved on. They know Brexit is going
:36:02. > :36:05.to happen. The two main parties are saying it is going to happen. Just
:36:06. > :36:08.to go back over the arguments, if we were to say to our European
:36:09. > :36:13.parliaments, if the deal is not acceptable, we will have another
:36:14. > :36:17.referendum and rejected, of course we would be given an unreasonable
:36:18. > :36:22.deal. People understand that, which is why Tim Farron's position is
:36:23. > :36:26.ridiculous. To go back to where we were, there is nothing improper or
:36:27. > :36:30.strange about an election being about the two candidates for Prime
:36:31. > :36:34.Minister. It is fundamentally what it is about. Whether it is Churchill
:36:35. > :36:37.against at least, Michael foot against Margaret Thatcher, William
:36:38. > :36:42.Hague against Tony Blair, that is what it is always about, and
:36:43. > :36:48.absolutely right that it should be. Are the best days of the Green Party
:36:49. > :36:53.over? Absolutely not. That point shows how out of date and hopeless
:36:54. > :36:56.and undemocratic power system is, because people do not find Theresa
:36:57. > :37:02.May or Jeremy Corbyn on their ballot paper. They vote for their local MP.
:37:03. > :37:07.But people can make that logical leap because they are not stupid.
:37:08. > :37:11.They are also making choices about who they want to elect locally on
:37:12. > :37:16.local issues. The whole thing is a mess. We have a government elected
:37:17. > :37:22.with the support of 24% of eligible voters. Let me tell you in all
:37:23. > :37:26.humility that I very much discovered that when I won, it had nothing to
:37:27. > :37:34.do with me. And when I lost, it didn't have that much to do with me.
:37:35. > :37:39.I think it did! You are wicked! It is all to do with the party they
:37:40. > :37:44.want to be the government. The Greens are not standing in 171
:37:45. > :37:49.seats. The best you can hope to do is retain the one seat that you have
:37:50. > :37:54.and maybe win one more. That is clay seal progress, even if you do. I
:37:55. > :37:59.don't agree. I guess I am not allowed to mention the other seats
:38:00. > :38:06.we might win as well. In 2015 we got 1.1 million votes. In a fair
:38:07. > :38:10.electoral system... But you have the electoral system that you have. In
:38:11. > :38:14.Germany, which has aways had the strongest Green Party in Europe, the
:38:15. > :38:19.Greens are in serious decline. If you look at the results in North
:38:20. > :38:22.Rhine Westphalian, they are struggling to get above the 5% of
:38:23. > :38:29.the vote that would keep them in the Bundestag. And in Britain, you have
:38:30. > :38:33.got nowhere near that, so what is the future? If you want to trade
:38:34. > :38:37.foreign elections, we could point to the Dutch election where the Green
:38:38. > :38:44.left out did Geert Wilders party and had a meteoric rise. We can trade
:38:45. > :38:49.foreign results. But the big one is the German Greens. The point about
:38:50. > :38:54.here is that we can take the 1.1 million votes from last time. The
:38:55. > :38:59.kind of growth we have had in the party, four times the size it was a
:39:00. > :39:03.two years ago, and we can turn that into seats. We are focusing hard,
:39:04. > :39:08.concentrating our efforts and aiming to grow. How many seats do you think
:39:09. > :39:14.you will win? Between three and five. Parties can have an impact
:39:15. > :39:24.without winning many seats. Look at Ukip. But look what then happened.
:39:25. > :39:27.It is a bit dispiriting, isn't it? It is dispiriting, and it is
:39:28. > :39:30.difficult. I think the Lib Dems did the right thing for the country and
:39:31. > :39:41.got damaged as a result. These things happen. Has Tim Farron fails
:39:42. > :39:45.to make the big time? Tim has had a few unfortunate slip-ups around this
:39:46. > :39:50.conflict between the internal view is that he may or may not have based
:39:51. > :39:54.on his religious philosophy and his Liberal positioning, which means he
:39:55. > :39:59.always votes for a separation of church and state and thinks it is
:40:00. > :40:06.irrelevant. He will be pleased you have reminded us about that, it was
:40:07. > :40:10.about ten days ago. He is also carrying a heavy burden because in
:40:11. > :40:14.politics, when something happens... View for a long time. The Lib Dems
:40:15. > :40:19.went into coalition which was unpopular for them. He bears that
:40:20. > :40:22.burden. He has also decided to narrow his coalition by only going
:40:23. > :40:27.for a narrow Remainer and the Liberal Democrats stretch much more
:40:28. > :40:30.widely than that. The problem is that we had a referendum on
:40:31. > :40:38.proportional representation and we decided not to have it. At 12:30am,
:40:39. > :40:39.we are not going to speak about proportional representation. Thank
:40:40. > :40:42.you, both. Now, it's been a swag
:40:43. > :40:44.week for Jezza Corbz. All the mandem have come out to rep
:40:45. > :40:47.for their boy, big JC. We already knew Stormzy
:40:48. > :40:50.liked his energy but now JME, Boy Better Know and all the mandem
:40:51. > :40:52.have strated #Grime4Corbyn. They're all bigging up
:40:53. > :40:55.the Labour ting, rude boy. I'm told there will be
:40:56. > :40:57.a translation of all that I look forward to finding out
:40:58. > :41:02.what I've just said. The Prime Minister got down
:41:03. > :41:25.with the kids in Birmingham on Tuesday showing off her
:41:26. > :41:27.Harry Potter knowledge Despite trying to impress the young,
:41:28. > :41:36.the PM still isn't keen You have to draw a line,
:41:37. > :41:41.you have to pick a point at which you think it's right
:41:42. > :41:44.for the voting age to be. I continue to think that it's
:41:45. > :41:50.right for it to be 18. The Lib Dems on the other hand think
:41:51. > :41:54.it's right for the voting age to be We must give the British people,
:41:55. > :42:02.particularly the young people... A desire to give people of our
:42:03. > :42:06.country, particularly young people, Tim Farron even took
:42:07. > :42:12.to an East London nightclub to launch his youth
:42:13. > :42:17.oriented manifesto yesterday. So that is the launch
:42:18. > :42:19.of the Liberal Democrat party manifesto for this general election
:42:20. > :42:22.in this very noisy nightclub He received an enormous
:42:23. > :42:31.cheer for pledging to axe Labour will scrap tuition fees,
:42:32. > :42:37.lifting the debt... He now appears to benefit
:42:38. > :42:42.from overwhelming support BOTH: Make sure
:42:43. > :42:52.you register to vote. Comedian and rapper Doc Brown
:42:53. > :42:55.is campaigning to get young people But will such attempts always
:42:56. > :43:16.be an uphill struggle? And Ben Bailey Smith is with us.
:43:17. > :43:22.Welcome to the programme. Thank you. Do you think this election is really
:43:23. > :43:26.grabbing young people? More than the last three or four elections. The
:43:27. > :43:33.numbers bear that out, looking at the Electoral Commission numbers.
:43:34. > :43:39.390,000 people aged 18-24 have already registered since the snap
:43:40. > :43:45.election was called. Those figures were a good eight days ago. It might
:43:46. > :43:51.still be growing until the cut-off date. It has grown considerably over
:43:52. > :43:57.the last three elections. I wonder if that is maybe because young
:43:58. > :44:02.people are looking at it now in respect of some of the crazy things
:44:03. > :44:09.that have happened, as a result of voting in very recent memory. You
:44:10. > :44:15.think about how crazy Brexit was, as a surprise to a lot of people. There
:44:16. > :44:20.is a reality TV star running the free world. It is pretty crazy
:44:21. > :44:28.stuff, and these are the results of votes. And they are big news. You
:44:29. > :44:32.can't escape them. Exactly. So those things are already in gauging young
:44:33. > :44:37.people to some extent. The idea they are not in gauged is a mistake.
:44:38. > :44:41.There have all it's been efforts to try and get younger people to be
:44:42. > :44:46.more engaged in the political process, but it never quite happens.
:44:47. > :44:54.The only modern example I can think of is the Scottish referendum. Well,
:44:55. > :44:59.they lowered the voting age, which is very interesting. For the
:45:00. > :45:03.referendum they lowered it. And that is interesting because the majority
:45:04. > :45:06.of 16-year-olds will still be in their house with their parents, with
:45:07. > :45:12.a knowledge of what is going on in their community. At 18, you could be
:45:13. > :45:16.anywhere. And the date of this snap election is interesting as well,
:45:17. > :45:20.because I think the last three elections were in early May will
:45:21. > :45:25.stop this one, early June, a time when some of these young people will
:45:26. > :45:28.have finished their exams and will be looking to do interesting,
:45:29. > :45:33.different things, getting out of their town, going abroad, on the
:45:34. > :45:41.move. That is a bit of a shame, but I think the Scottish referendum is
:45:42. > :45:47.also not the only example. Perhaps in the UK, but if you look at Bernie
:45:48. > :45:55.Sanders in the states, he managed to govern I is a huge, huge youth
:45:56. > :46:00.turnout in the votes. 80%, something like that. Which is very impressive.
:46:01. > :46:07.That says to me, regardless of your politics, if there is a big idea,
:46:08. > :46:14.something bigger than, hey, maybe we will legalise marijuana, scrapped
:46:15. > :46:19.tuition fees... Something bigger than that? Yes. I think young people
:46:20. > :46:22.are thinking bigger than just these individualistic ideas, which affect
:46:23. > :46:27.them and their mates. They think deeper.
:46:28. > :46:31.My experience is that young people are interested in politics, they are
:46:32. > :46:37.not that interested in Party Politics. Exactly. The big ideas are
:46:38. > :46:41.bigger than the party and the personality politics, bigger than oh
:46:42. > :46:47.look at her and what she's wearing. They are engaged in the big things
:46:48. > :46:53.but there's very limited... It's like it's the essence of politics
:46:54. > :47:00.that they're into and nobody's really tapping into that. The rapid
:47:01. > :47:04.rise of Obama and the huge wave of support behind him, I think it
:47:05. > :47:09.largely came from that rhetoric of hope and change. It seemed big and
:47:10. > :47:16.positive and different. And that galvanised younger people? Yes, like
:47:17. > :47:21.it did once in Canada. The idea of something big and hopeful. That's
:47:22. > :47:28.what young people are, they've still got hope, you know, they've still
:47:29. > :47:31.got this kind of optimism that's largely untapped because nobody's
:47:32. > :47:36.going, here is the big idea, you know. We'll see what happens on June
:47:37. > :47:42.8th. Just before you go, what are you up to? Actually, is it past
:47:43. > :47:48.Midnight already? Yes. My album is out today. I put together an album,
:47:49. > :47:52.my first in almost a decade working in comedy for such a long time.
:47:53. > :47:57.Congratulations and good luck with it. Little plug on the BBC. No harm
:47:58. > :48:01.in that, especially at this time of night. Thank you. Cheers.
:48:02. > :48:04.That's your lot for tonight folks, but not for us, we're staying right
:48:05. > :48:07.here and partaking in what is sure to be the viral craze of 2017,
:48:08. > :48:10.we're set for a wild night playing Ballsbingo.
:48:11. > :48:15.Our very own Ed wants to show Ed Milliband how it's done.
:48:16. > :48:17.Pick up your sheets guys and listen up!
:48:18. > :48:22.Nighty nighty, don't let Ed's dulcet tones bite.
:48:23. > :48:38.Hands on dabbers, eyes down, here we go. 1 and 0 Number Ten. That's the
:48:39. > :48:51.prize. 9 and 7, 97, Labour landslide. Six and six, all the
:48:52. > :49:02.sixes, 66. 6 and 0, 60, free bus pass. 7 and 5, 75. Free TV licence
:49:03. > :49:12.on the way for you, Andrew! 5 and 0, 50, 50p, top payer tax. 1 and 8, 18,
:49:13. > :49:21.Doc time to vote. Get voting. 1 and 1, Number 11, the guy next door,
:49:22. > :49:27.friend or foe? 7 and 9, 79. The day Michael's hero came to Downing
:49:28. > :49:32.Street. Now, before we award the prize, we need to verify your card,
:49:33. > :49:38.we know what you Tories are like, get it checked. Exactly. Michael, at
:49:39. > :49:43.last, you've won a game. I have never slept with
:49:44. > :49:47.a man that I just met.