Asian Network's Big Election Debate

Organisations start to engage with this government, what they do is

they engage with other... The government tries to sideline these

organisations who tried to engage and give alternatives. The

government looks at the echo chamber and only agrees with people they

actually want to agree with. You have the same thing with the junior

doctors. You have a government that does not want to listen, that wants

to bulldoze its way and push its own issues. All I say is look at the

events of... S the reason this person has gone through is because

you've got so many referrals of issues that don't matter. You've got

kids that, because they said the word cucumber wrong, have been

referred. You've got lots of people being referred and there is so much

noise and it causes more work for people. You say nonsense but he

feels like this. In terms of the line on homophobia, what is it? When

it came to the main manifesto they said they support the rights of all

people. What did it say about homophobia? What do you mean? The

discrimination act? Can I bring the Liberal Democrats into this? There

is one thing I forgot to say, prevent only tackles one aspect of

places where people are radicalised and I would say it really misses the

point because the major radicalisation of young Muslims who

are susceptible to it takes place online, on social media, out of

sight. That aspect really needs to be tackled because the tools the

extremists use are very similar to the psychological tools of

paedophile grooming. We completely missed the point if we don't address

that which happens online. The government has a role to play and

Theresa May as Home Secretary did nothing to stop these hate preachers

who contributed to the fuelling of hate. It took them ten years to

extradite one of the hate preachers... It shows the lack of

investment into the Muslim population. They have cut the

number, they don't listen to the community, then when something

happens they run around like headless chickens wondering what has

happened. At the back... I will give you the alternative. Everybody needs

to go back to school, journalists, with respect, I think you need to

understand to tackle radicalisation you've also got to tackle

marginalisation of the community. You also need someone from the

community that will come out with a narrative that Islam and the

fundamentalists don't condone terrorism. It is time we had an

intermediary between someone and our community, I think we need a chief

imam. Do you think there is a lack of strong Muslim leadership?

Definitely. Academics have also respected that. I think it is time

we had a narrative that not only represents our interest with

government ministers but also with our own community. Li Yan, you were

talking about working in communities. Could that be a

solution to stronger leadership? That is one solution. The main thing

is we've got to talk about this. What are the issues that are making

people commit these acts? I think foreign policy plays a part in it,

even if it acts as a propaganda tool. The main thing is discussion

and debate and trying to challenge some of those ideas and ideologies

and belief systems that make people carry out these acts. I think we

could talk forever. As far as the Internet is concerned, or for a

quarter of a million unlawful terrorist related material has been

taken off-line as a direct result of this government's policies. Heat

preachers have been denied entry as a consequence of the policies. Abu

Hamza stayed here for ten years because of European laws and the

right to appeal. There were five warnings about Abedi ignored. There

is always room for improvement but what is your problem with 150

British people going to Syria to learn to fight, and coming back to

this country and doing barbaric acts? You're speaking against the

programme that actually stops people... I am not speaking against

that programme, what I am speaking against... Let us play nice... I

want to pick up... You had ample warning. I want to pick up fleece

cuts. We've not got a lot of time. -- police cuts. This was something

the Conservative Government were accused of following the aftermath

of the Manchester bombings, you cut the number of police. If there were

more police on the streets this would not have happened, that was

said. As far as general policing is concerned, crime is down by a third.

What that tells you is this is not just numbers and bodies on the

streets. I've been to these centres. We've got people watching 20, 30

video screens. We can direct people to those areas of difficulty. We

need to look at the way policing is done. As far as counterterrorism

activity is concerned, as I said at the outset, this government has

protected the counterterrorism fund. It is also said there should be an

additional 1900 officers. I suspect everyone will have a go at the

government. In all fairness you will allow me to put the government's

argument forward. Can you make it brief? Given there are people who

are going to have a go at my record. You're wasting time now. An

additional ?140 million has been spent in terms of training officers

for firearms and dealing with terrorism activities. You read the

point of police cuts, Leanne Wood. The police themselves have been

complaining about it. There is a point about community connectivity.

They've got their ear to the ground. It is the same point that I made.

People have to be trained, given the time and space and when cuts are

happening and people need to work extra workloads it is difficult to

do that. There is a question of investment in public services and

I'm afraid the Tories are not prepared to accept that. They will

return more if they have a bigger mandate. That is the danger. I want

to get our next question from Kieran. I don't know where you have

been living or sleeping with crime going down, I can assure you and I

can assure you it has not. It is an independent analysis of these

figures. You are slipping somewhere because this is real, this is what

is going on in the streets. I have the largest electorate in the

country. The people I represent, it is one of the largest electorate in

mainland Britain and I have my ear to the ground. I talked to the

police on a regular basis. We will agree to disagree. You can come

round, the invitation is open. You can come round to my place too. With

hate crime being on the increase, what are the government doing to

tackle that issue? Ukip. What would you do? He crime is on the rise.

Ukip are fuelling it. Paul Nuttall did come out and said he was right

about the cancer of radical Islam. His main point is to ban the burqa.

How will that help? Everybody has their own views. The way to stop

radicalisation to have police force is working with the community to

overcome hate crime. The burqa ban, would you back it? I believe in

today's modern society any form of covering your face is not required.

I don't see the need for it. You think it is OK for a man to tell a

woman what to wear. It has got to be a level playing field for everyone.

I would not want it for just one community. I don't mean to be rude,

I don't have a political vacuum, they say the right things... You are

an undecided voter. I don't think it will happen. Can I bring the make

bones of this lady in the front. I disagree. It is kind of like, do you

really have a right to tell people what to wear? Do you really have a

right to tell women what to wear? I understand it's an issue of security

but we live in a democracy, we try to live in a democracy, politicians

are constantly coming to the young people, where the hell are you for

the rest of the year? You come to us at election time. People like us are

undecided voters. You say you're throwing millions of pounds in

mental health services. Why are we not seeing that money in practice?

Where is it? We will get to the issue of health. On the point about

the burqa, and the point about it fuelling hate, do you agree?

Completely. I've known young woman walking down the road with

headscarves, they've had them ripped off them. That is assault. It is,

and people get away with it. These young women are scared to leave

their houses, to do normal things and it is unacceptable the way

people get away with it. I've been walking down the road, people have

said, have you got a bomb in your bag, I'm having to justify myself to

you as a young Muslim, sure my bag and say, I've got some curry in my

bag. Do I need to sure you and justify that I've got food in my

bag? These stories are not rare. Whose fault is it? Some of the

language we've been hearing since the referendum has been fuelling

this. Some of the images the Leave campaign, the one led by my Ukip

person here on the left, I'm not able to call him a colleague. The

one led by his leader, Nigel Farage, when he stood in front of that

revolting poster of desperate Syrian refugees saying, breaking point.

Those images leave a lasting impact and they fuel some of the hate crime

we've been seeing. Those posters were used in Germany in the 1930s.

They are exact carbon copies. The week after the campaign, hate crime

went up 43%. It says it all. Can I bring in the Conservative party

member. We need to deal with these issues sensitively. We need to be in

mind that what we say has consequences. I'm happy to say, I

was a Remainer during the campaign but some of the language that was

used could have been worded differently. There was a rise in

hate crime. When it happens, we have to deal with it. The police forces

dealt with it as best as they could. It was wonderful to see the British

community rally around as well. I remember at the time that while

there was an increase in hate crime, millions of people said, I don't

like this. It was small communities all over the place but were giving

comfort. It was a very sad and regrettable incident. The strength

of this country is that the majority of people are decent people.

I am not saying hate crime doesn't exist, it does. Khalid Mahmood from

Labour, if Jeremy Corbyn becomes Prime Minister, what is he planning

to do to tackle this sort of hate crime? He is planning to introduce

10,000 more police on the streets. I would prefer community support

officers on the ground as well. I have a fantastic community support

officer in my constituency, who goes to people's houses. He understands

what is going on. Let's not be reactive, let's be proactive in

relation to the police. Jeremy Corbyn is saying we are going to

increase the police forces. A lot of comments have been made about the

crime. It is going up. If you look at the proper crime figures in terms

of burglary, personal safety and mouth crime, it has gone up because

we haven't got those people. I live in my constituency and we see what

is going on. I have people here from my constituency who have had issues

in relation to this and I speak to local people day in, day out. They

can't put up with it. If you have an incident, you have to wait a few

hours before the police turn up because they haven't got the

resources. We need to have police back on the streets and not have

them looking at some monitors or doing an IT job. The police's job is

to gain intelligence on the ground and be proactive. We have so many

other questions to get through. Let me look at another issue that is

very important for voters in this election. Let's get the question. To

the Ukip person, women should wear whatever they want to wear. If they

don't want to wear it, they don't need to wear it. It is not something

you should be saying about banning the hugger. No. Women should wear

whatever they want to wear. -- banning the burqa. Women have come

so far away from that now. We should be able to wear what we want to

wear. My question is, how do you plan to lead us through Brexit

successfully, what measures we take to make sure it is successful for

the British people? Liberal Democrats? Firstly, to tie in Brexit

with what we were discussing before, I think Theresa May's version of a

hard Brexit where we crash out of the EU without a deal will pose a

real problem to our national security, because we will lose the

European arrest warrant, which was responsible for arresting one of the

21-7 failed bombers. If we lose that ability, we will lose cooperation

with Europol and we will lose access to databases in Europe. Nick Clegg

was talking about the database which gives us mutual access, the 27

countries in Europe, to each other's information and we share that. I

think the British government uses it 16 times a second. It helps us stop

suspected terrorists anywhere in Europe and vice versa, anyone

flagged up in Europe as being at possible terrorist can be picked up

in the UK. I believe your party is the only one offering another

referendum on the Brexit bail. -- the Brexit deal. That is a key

point. When we were asked to vote last year, we had two questions, yes

or no? It didn't mention immigration, didn't mention the

single market, didn't mention the rights of EU workers or our

security. It didn't mention so many other things. In two years' time,

nobody knows what the final deal will look like, least of all Theresa

May. And given that we have a Prime Minister who has you turned after

U-turn and has been shown to be weak and wobbly rather than strong and

stable, should we give her the right over what future generations in

Britain will have to live with? The Liberal Democrats say no. You, the

people, should have the final say on what kind of Britain we live in. Let

me bring in the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru. Let me bring the

microphone to this lady. My name is Anya Choudhury. If we do have

another referendum on Brexit, will it lead to voter fatigue and very

undemocratic just to wait for the result we want? Can you briefly

answer that? It is a valid point. There is voting fatigue. We are

where we are. This started with a referendum last year asking the

people, and democracy dictates that it finishes with a referendum and

not one person taking the decision. The baroness speaks of democracy.

17.4 million people in that referendum said they wanted to leave

the European Union. They didn't say they wanted to leave the single

market. If you let me finish, I can point out your in your accuracies --

your inaccuracies. The referendum asked, in or out. 17.4 million

people voted for out. They didn't vote for out of the single market,

though. Brexit is about leadership. Theresa May wouldn't even turn up

last night. 11 days after the general election, we have Theresa

May negotiating with 27 European leaders, or Jeremy Corbyn. The

people of Britain have to decide. It is very simple. You have only two

candidates to be Prime Minister. One person was Home Secretary for six

years and has a track record of dealing with the European Union. And

U-turns, and failing to show up. Or Jeremy Corbyn, who basically has no

confidence from his own party. 174 Labour members voted against him in

a no-confidence motion, compared to 40 who supported him. Let me tell

you what is at stake here. If we get the negotiations right, we will lock

in the economic gains we have made in the past seven years. And also,

the deficit is down by three quarters. You are sparking a lot of

reaction with your comments. We want a good deal which will ensure that

our economy continues to grow and by doing so, all the public services

that everyone is concerned about, if we get the deal right, there will be

more money for those services. If we get it wrong, the people complaining

about the cuts, if Jeremy Corbyn is leading the negotiations, we will

get a worse deal and they will find it will be worse. We will continue

in a minute, Labour Party and Plaid Cymru. Let me take a question from

the audience. I'm sorry, I have been watching all the election coverage

and that is ridiculous. Jeremy has actually gone out and met people.

Yours hides and she is brewed when she turns up. She didn't turn up

last match. If she is so strong, what can she not defend that? Labour

had a costed policy. There are 60 costed pledges in your manifesto.

How are we supposed to vote for the Tories when you can't even give us?

Let Khalid Mahmood from the Labour Party respond to some of that. The

Tories say no deal is better than a bad deal. Who is going to create a

bad deal? They are. Europe will put out a list of things they want to

negotiate and the cost of those. Nobody in the Government is looking

at that. Nobody has bothered to see what it is. Until they realise that

this is more than rhetoric, this is about sitting down and negotiating

properly, this is not about showing how hard and nasty Mrs May can be

somebody who takes a U-turn through her election campaign at the start

of her own manifesto. That is how strong she is. When she comes up

against something, she doubles back straightaway. In terms of Brexit, we

want a Brexit that allows our companies... The West Midlands here

is a base of manufacturing. There will huge problems in terms of the

way we import and export. In terms of world trade, there will be a huge

cost to our manufacturing industry. How are we going to survive? They

haven't got an answer to stop they are not telling of a single detail.

They say, we are the best negotiators. That is because they

are running scared of Jeremy Corbyn. They know he is becoming strong, so

instead of looking at the issues, they are playing the player rather

than playing the ball. Theresa May has a televised debate every week

with Jeremy Corbyn when Parliament is sitting. Oh, come on. Shias out

their the people who are going to be voting -- she is out there. But she

didn't take part in the debate last night. Leanne Wood. A good deal is

better than a bad deal, and a no-show is better than a bad show.

That was why she wasn't there last night. She can't defend her

policies. Let me try and get through everybody. Khaled, your words would

have greater meaning if Jeremy Corbyn had not gone hand-in-hand

with Theresa May through the lobbies in Westminster, supporting Article

50 without any safeguards on the free movement of EU citizens already

in the UK and without safeguards on keeping Britain in the single

market. Leaving the single market would damage our economy beyond

repair for decades. Let me bring Ukip's Bob Dylan into this. Leaving

the European Union was the centrepiece of your party. What is

the point of your party now? There is a lot of work to be done after

leaving. Do you believe the Conservatives would deliver Brexit?

I am disappointed at both the options the public have got, Theresa

May or Jeremy Corbyn. Paul Nuttal? Well, I am disappointed because if

they came in front of me in the boardroom, I would take them apart.

This would be a separate show, I think! Do you still think your party

has a point? Villa we have the Commonwealth nations that we do 95%

of our trade with, and 5% with Europe. Our companies in the

Midlands are going with confidence and winning orders. It is so hard to

get into the European market that most of them don't even try. So I

don't understand why we are fussing about the EU. It leaves us more than

we need them. 20% of their trade is with us. 5% of vases with them. One

issue that was mentioned with Brexit was immigration. We know it was an

issue for them. Let me talk about immigration and integration.

Community is made up of people coming from halfway across the world

are accused of not integrating by the likes of Ukip and others on that

panel. Spike integrating with one another, what needs to improve in

British society and policy in order to accommodate the integration

process? Leanne Wood? There needs to be strong statements from

politicians about how everybody who lives on this land has to live

together. We need to live together, there needs to be no racism and

politicians should take the lead on that statement. One of the reasons I

think it is on the rise is because of the political debate that has

happened. Not just about Brexit but the question of immigration in

particular. As the leader of Plaid Cymru I would say that for everyone

in Wales, it can be a home for you, it is about a civic project,

building up the nation and making sure everybody feels part of those

communities. When politicians like Ukip and the Tories send out those

signals that people ought to go back or are not welcome, or that numbers

need to be cut, then I think we're doing the absolute opposite. The

other thing I would like to see if there has a deliberate conflation of

free movement of people and refugees and asylum seekers. You cannot,

through voting to come out of the European Union, make any difference

to the question of how many refugees come here. We have signed up to

international treaties. We would want the same if we were escaping

our state. We would not want to go to other countries and not be safe.

We should comply with our international obligations and be

prepared to support refugees. I just want to come to that point of

integration. Whose responsibility is it to integrate? Is it people in the

community, the government? I think you need to focus on what immigrants

bring instead of what they take away. My mum works in a children's

centre, I work for the NHS for five years, we bring a lot more to

society than we take away. Do you feel the parties make you feel like

they do not contribute? I feel we are a real value to society and this

rhetoric will scare immigrants away. I hold very strong British values, I

am a British person who will give this country everything I have and

my parents were immigrants and I just feel that this rhetoric needs

to stop, stop using immigrants as an excuse for your policies to get your

message across. It is ridiculous. Whenever I come across the topic of

immigration and immigrants being people that take things away I find

it quite ironic because historically the first immigrants were Europeans.

Nobody asked for colonisation. When we look at things like immigration,

the Brexit role really revealed and gave voice to the elephant in the

room that people have been walking past four years. The fact that a

woman who is not white, is not rich, did not go to Eton is less likely to

gain access, that has been going on for a long time. Before I got

involved, to me, politics was bald, white and rich. I decided it was

very important and if I'm going to be attacked, instead of complaining

I will try and bring about some change. I think what politicians

need to take into consideration is, how are we going to ask ourselves

the real question, why is it the foundation on the ground is between

white people and everybody else, the divide that has been there for years

that people have avoided or used political correctness to go around,

when are you going to take a stand and face it? Thank you for that

question. Do you think there is a divide. Let me say, speaking as the

son of an immigrant carpenter, I remember seeing bed-and-breakfast

signs which said no blacks, no coloured, no dogs and no Irish. I

remember as a Boy Scout about to press a doorbell when it said

another discriminatory term. I know what it is like but let me tell you,

politics has changed. It has people like me, the son of an immigrant

carpenter. State educated throughout. Redbrick university.

Ending up in Parliament as a conservative MP and as a minister.

The world of politics has changed but that is not to say it cannot be

improved. The thing about the Conservative Party is we're not

saying that are stopping immigration. We are talking about

reducing immigration. As politicians we have to listen to what the people

of Britain are saying and 17.4 million people voted to leave the EU

and many of those people voted that way because they are concerned about

the central criteria of the single market, which talks about freedom of

movement and Labour. When you have unelected people sitting in the

Lords, ignoring the will of the people, is there any wonder the

public is disenchanted? No wonder. We gave you the chance to reform the

House of Lords and your party turned it down so do not accuse me of being

unelected. You want to cut down on immigration. Ukip wants to

immigration to zero -- reduce immigration. Can I ask this

question, where are you going to cut immigration from? Who are you going

to stop coming into the country? As somebody who has been a member of

Parliament for the last 14 years, people say to me they are unemployed

but they have the qualifications, and I think we as a country have a

duty. Who are you going to stop them coming into the country? I assume

you're talking about your appearance being in professions and I wonder if

that is what you are interested to know about? Who are they going to

stop? Well this is a biased presenter. I have let you speak a

lot. You a cheap shot. Who are you going to cut? We would like to have

less people coming here for jobs so that our own people can have those

jobs and what we are going to do is increase the levy charged from

employers when they pay annually are charged for people that they employ

from overseas. We are doubling that in our manifesto and it would be

used to train a raw and people -- our own people. Where there is a

skilled vacancy, of course we will allow people in. They have hardly

put anything into apprentices over the last seven years. I am a

properly trained apprentice so I know what they are. Putting someone

on a six-month course does not qualify you as an apprentice. We

want to apply young people and give them a proper location. All they are

doing is cutting the numbers. If you're looking at people come in

then allow a points-based system. Why do you put a number on it? We

will not have an open gate, we will have it as industry needs, as the

community needs to comment, if they have the right skills they will, and

on that basis, which will make a contribution to the Exchequer. What

we will do in terms of integration, reflecting our institutions, in

Birmingham we have a huge wealth of people. We have all these people.

You get all walks of life. You get Muslims, Christians, that is what

integration is about. Celebrating the best of our communities. You

said we can train our home-grown population. It takes ten years to

train a doctor. We have a shortage of doctors. We want a new medical

school. We've been working hard for that. It will take ten years to

train them. In the meantime we are cutting off our supply. How will the

NHS cope with fewer doctors and nurses because of this drive to

close? Can I just bring in Ukip, I want to get the audience into this.

What will you do to encourage integration? I am all in favour of

investing in the ladies and gentlemen of this university.

Immigration is far too high. Governments have allowed it to go to

80 million. I have no problem with immigrants coming in as long as it

is points-based. Let him finish. Shut the door. You said you want a

points-based system which is our policy so I don't know what you're

talking about. We want, like Canada, New Zealand and elsewhere, where

there is a shortage we will allow people in. 20 million people, we've

got to let them have time to integrate. That will help. Over the

years from the 1960s to 2000, we had major integration and there's never

been a problem but in a short space of time we've had too many. Ideally

want to go to the audience. Can I start with someone who's not ask a

question. Surely the best way for integration is to have more

diversity among the policymakers, among the police, the people that

wield the powers in our institutions? Get involved in

politics. Not just politics, we talk about the institutions you

mentioned. Isn't it more important to have diversity in the police

force? Can I get comments from other people? I just want to ask a

question to the Tory and Ukip representatives. Would your parents

have passed that system to let you into the country? Quickly, yes or

no. The world is a lot different from the 1960s. That is not yes or

no. Yes or no? This is hypocrisy. You are the children of immigrants

and you are preventing the same rates you had and opportunities you

had and that is wrong. Can we bring the microphone to the gentleman with

the glasses. I want to get your comments. The Conservative MP keeps

bringing this figure of 25% of the population and on top of that there

was nothing on the ballot that promote we talked about immigration.

It is simply a huge leap to claim it is. And the UCL Centre for analysis

on migration released a paper that showed immigration did not depress

wages, but it increased the economic output for the country. The

statement that immigrants train the economy is simply not factual. I'm

so sorry, I know that everyone wants to get their say, I want to get onto

the issue of the NHS which is really important to our listeners.

I am from Birmingham and I have been treated at the wonderful Queen

Elizabeth Hospital here. I was diagnosed with cancer at the age of

17. I'm 33 today and I still have it. Having been part of the NHS for

over 15 years, I have personally seen its decline. That has gone from

three cancelled operations, a missed tumour growth while I was pregnant

with my first child that nearly resulted in my death, to now,

delayed MRI scans because there aren't enough technicians to report.

When that MRI scan is delayed, I have to marker buoys at home. My

life is on hold. What are you going to do to reassure not just me, but

the thousands of people who have been diagnosed with cancer, not

getting treated and dying as a result, and why aren't they being

diagnosed? Because our NHS is badly underfunded and in a crisis.

Labour's Khalid Mahmood? The Conservatives claim they will boost

funding for the National Health Service. If we carry on the way we

are carrying on, we will have a huge waiting list. The Labour Party gave

a guarantee of eight weeks to see cancer patients. I myself had a

transplant in 2014, a kidney transplant. I had a ward where the

nurses looking after me had to work additional hours without extra pay

to support me, because they were the bravest people of all, supporting us

without getting any pay and taking additional time out. The supervising

nurse on that shift had to work four hours on top to get my release form

sorted out. So they do a tremendous amount of work. The Conservative

Party have now decided to drop the waiting times, because it doesn't

matter if they are lying on trolleys in A They have consistently

abused that. They say they are the party of the national health

service. All they want to do is privatise it and give it to their

mates. Is that what you want to do? Firstly, I am sorry to hear about

the lady's health complaint and I wish you well in the future. As far

as the NHS is concerned, the facts are that over the next five years in

real terms, there will be an additional ?8 billion going into the

NHS. There are record amounts of money going to mental health

treatment. It is not enough. In the past seven years, there have been

more than 11,000 doctors. We have put in place more than 12,000 nurses

and midwives. Clearly, there has to be a recognition that there isn't a

bottomless pit. I understand it is not a bottomless pit, but over 15

years, it has never been this bad. I was asking for pain relief and I was

waiting two hours. The nurse came to me in tears saying, I am so sorry

you waited, my love, I haven't got enough staff. That is not good

enough. As I say, in the past seven years, there are more than 12,000

more nurses and midwives. I am sorry about your circumstances. Where are

they? Madam, they are there. These are independently assessed figures.

This is not just me. If we had longer, I could give you examples of

other patients who have also suffered these delays. I have had a

woman who got so fed up, she discharged herself and went home,

and she was living on paracetamol. She then called me and she has died

now because she didn't get chemotherapy in time. She was left

waiting three months. With cancer, that can mean life or death. That

doesn't reassure me. For me, voting for you is like signing my death

warrant! That is how I feel. That certainly isn't the case. There are

millions of other people who are not speaking up. Because the people who

are speaking up telling you how bad it is and you not listening.

Isolated incidents... No, they are not isolated. While I sympathise

your circumstances, on a general basis, there are millions of people

who are not speaking up because they are having good treatment in the

NHS. As somebody who has been a parliamentarian for 14 years, I have

had people coming to my surgeries... Try being in the system for 14 years

and then try telling me that. The NHS is in crisis. The Liberal

Democrats want to go back to basic principles. When the NHS was

founded, it was on the principle that everybody pays in and those of

us who are unfortunate enough to get ill have a service that will be

equal for everyone. We have proposed that we will put a penny on income

tax that everyone will pay. If you are unfortunate enough to need it,

then you will benefit. John Nicholson, the former NHS chief, has

said that the Liberal Democrats have the only credible plan to fund the

NHS. And what we would do with that 1p on income tax is ring-fence it.

That would provide service for the NHS, social care, no more dementia

tax and mental health services. That is in the short term. Longer term,

we want to have a cross-party commission that will take the

politics out of the NHS and stop it being a political football. 6

billion will be raised from a penny on income tax every year. Leanne

Wood? Plaid Cymru has a plan to invest in 1000 doctors and 5000

nurses. We have also put together a cancer plan to reduce waiting times.

One element of that plan was to allow people to access read drugs

and treatments. We worked on that with a campaigner and his wife.

Sadly this week, he passed away. We owe it to him and his family to keep

that campaign going. But there is a major question facing his wife now

that he has passed, and that is the question of benefit cuts. To those

families where a parent has died. Rebecca is now very concerned about

the money she will be able to access, and all those families in

the UK who, on top of this incredible worry about providing for

children in the absence of a parent, have extra money worries on top. It

shows that the Conservatives to be callous and pernicious with their

benefit reforms. The NHS is a passionate subject for so many of

you. Let me get a few more comments. I am a member of the community on

mental health issues. The way you are talking is just lip service. I

have been on a waiting list since September. When you talk about the

increase in funding, why am I not seeing it? On top of that, within

the black and minority ethnic community, there are still stigma

around mental health issues. I would ask you all as members of

minorities, what you have done. One in four people suffer from mental

health issues. We can only tackle things if we talk about subjects

which are taboo. Bob Dylan, Ukip? Congratulations on speaking up. The

National Health Service is underfunded. We have a person in

charge, Jeremy Hunt, who has said he wants to privatise the National

Health Service. Privatisation started under Labour. Paul Nuttall

wants to privatise the NHS too. He has said he doesn't. I am talking

about what I am saying. . Paul Nuttall is your party leader,

bright? The National Health Service has been good to me and my parents.

They looked after my dad when he had a stroke. My mum was in a

wheelchair. So I have admiration for all the staff who work in it and

work long hours. If I was a doctor or nurse in today's NHS, I wouldn't

want to work on it, it is so stressful. I have seen people

leaving in droves. I don't think you answered the question, Bob. The

gentleman was asking about mental health.

Ukip would invest money from the City. I wasn't asking about

politics, I ask you, what can we do to get rid of the stigma surrounding

mental health in BAME communities? My friend was going to ask another

question. What are you going to do about mental health student

suicides? Student suicides have grown 50% in the last ten years. How

many more times are we going to watch our friends and family take

their own lives because they are on a waiting list? I have lost my best

friend in 2015 due to suicide. Bristol universities have lost over

six young people. These are people who are 18 to 25. Only after six

young people have committed suicide, only then has a mental health review

been launched. Why do we have to wait until people kill themselves to

looked a review? You can give me all this lip service, saying we are

investing all this money into the NHS, but where is this money? Where

are the nurses, where are mental health services? How many more

people are going to die at the hands of this government? And all the

other parties, claiming you are going to put money in, I am fuming.

I'm not going to wait for any parties to tell me they are going to

put more funding in. I'm not going to which for more people to die. I

am going to harass you all until something gets done about this

mental health crisis. I am not going to lose any more friends. And I am

not going to see more people on Facebook saying they are not going

to be here any more. How would you feel if you lost your friends and

family? We have a couple of minutes left. We are running out of time. We

will get everyone talking after the show has finished. One more

question. When will the British electorate be ready to vote for an

Asian Prime Minister? We thought we would end with a light question.

Khalid Mahmood. When were the political parties be in a position

to elect a leader who can then be Prime Minister? We don't operate an

American system. Until we get the political parties to elect somebody

as a leader, then they will become the Prime Minister. Liberal

Democrats? The Liberal Democrats have nine MPs, as you know. Sadly,

we lost a lot in the previous parliament. No narration or black.

Absolutely, because we don't have safe seats like Labour or the

Conservatives, where you can parachute in Asian candidates. If we

did have an Asian MP and he was on the right calibre, this is not about

tokenism. If they were of the right calibre, they would surely become

Prime Minister. But it would need you to elect Liberal Democrat MPs.

Bob Dylan of Ukip? Hopefully sooner rather than later. The Conservatives

have had two women prime ministers. I am confident that the first Asian

Prime Minister will be in the Conservatives. Leanne Wood? I would

like to say as soon as possible. That is it from us here in

Birmingham with the Asian Network's election debates. A week from today,

the polls were open. You will be voting for the politicians and MPs

who will represent us in Parliament and of course the Prime Minister.

Apologies to our audience for not being able to ask all your

questions. For now, from me, the audience and our panel of guests,

goodbye. To survive in politics, you have to

be bold, and one such bold man was Chief Magistrate Mr Brascan Crosby.

He was a champion of the liberty of the press at a time when publishing

reports of the Muntari debates was considered a breach of the

privileges of the House. Printers were frequently punished. In 1771,