:00:11. > :00:20.Welcome to Bristol. This is a special programme, Election
:00:21. > :00:23.Questions. The studio audience here tonight will be putting their
:00:24. > :00:26.questions to the current leader of the Green Party. Please welcome
:00:27. > :00:36.Jonathan Bartley, ladies and gentlemen. CLAPPING.
:00:37. > :00:45.Welcome to the programme. In the light of the tragic events last
:00:46. > :00:51.night, the reason may held a special meeting with Downing Street. --
:00:52. > :00:56.Theresa May. She said the country needs to change its position on
:00:57. > :00:59.terrorism. I just want to say my thoughts are very much with those
:01:00. > :01:08.that were hurt, those that were killed, and their families, last
:01:09. > :01:18.night. I want to pay tribute to the emergency services that did amazing
:01:19. > :01:22.work last night. I think... I watched what Theresa May said and I
:01:23. > :01:26.think she is right to call for a review. And I think that needs to
:01:27. > :01:33.have two very important aspects to it. The first is the Prevent
:01:34. > :01:36.strategy We have seen a certain degree of success in the Prevent
:01:37. > :01:40.strategy, the counterterrorism strategy the government has in the
:01:41. > :01:46.suing for a couple of years, but it is clearly toxic to some communities
:01:47. > :01:50.and is alienating some communities. Not building bridges and getting
:01:51. > :01:54.intelligence we need to be the second area I want to look at is
:01:55. > :02:00.police. 20,000 police officers have been lost since 2010. That has to be
:02:01. > :02:05.addressed. It is not just about police numbers, but police
:02:06. > :02:09.themselves. We set priorities for local policing. I know police
:02:10. > :02:13.officers cannot be in every place at every moment. They required the
:02:14. > :02:17.wonderful tradition we have in this country, policing by consent. We
:02:18. > :02:22.need intelligence from the community. I want to see that front
:02:23. > :02:27.and centre in the Theresa May review. You actually called the
:02:28. > :02:32.Prevent strategy xenophobic. Why is it xenophobic? It is xenophobic
:02:33. > :02:36.because it is alienating communities. We need to be clear
:02:37. > :02:40.that those tarnishing the Muslim committee with these atrocities,
:02:41. > :02:50.this was not the Muslim community, this is a perversion of Islam is. --
:02:51. > :02:56.community. I am sorry you said rubbish, I disagree with you. We
:02:57. > :03:01.will get to you in a moment and you can question him. It is alienating
:03:02. > :03:07.the very communities we need to be building bridges with. If you are
:03:08. > :03:11.building a family and you are worried about Islam
:03:12. > :03:19., what can you do? Will you bring it to the authorities' attention? We
:03:20. > :03:25.need evidence -based approach is. There is no clear answer as to why
:03:26. > :03:28.people become radicalised. We are just getting to the bottom of it.
:03:29. > :03:34.Theresa May raised the issue of changing the whole strategy. The
:03:35. > :03:41.first question. Following the attack last night, should we be armed to
:03:42. > :03:46.protect ourselves? The answer is... Knee-jerk reactions are not the best
:03:47. > :03:50.way to respond in a context like this. It is good the Prime Minister
:03:51. > :03:54.has started to talk about reviewing the strategy. We have armed police
:03:55. > :03:59.officers on the street. The question we have to face in this election,
:04:00. > :04:05.will we elect a government that will look at these issues about whether
:04:06. > :04:09.we arm police officers further? My instinct is let us see what comes
:04:10. > :04:13.out of this incident. The police reacted quickly in this example
:04:14. > :04:19.would be but we do need to arm all of our police, but let's see what
:04:20. > :04:23.happens. Does anyone want to come in on the back of what Jonathan Bartley
:04:24. > :04:29.has said in response to what he calls no knee-jerk reactions? You
:04:30. > :04:32.were booing at the beginning. I don't think it is a knee-jerk
:04:33. > :04:42.reaction. The BBC Two years ago carried out a survey of Muslims in
:04:43. > :04:45.this country. Two. They said 76% of Muslims in this country supports
:04:46. > :04:52.terrorist attacks in this country and hold our rant democracy in
:04:53. > :04:56.contempt. -- own. It needs to be sorted. I am not familiar with that
:04:57. > :05:00.survey. There are liberties and freedoms in this country I am
:05:01. > :05:04.passionate about protecting. I think that is what the terrorist want to
:05:05. > :05:08.do away with and that is what they want to attack to be when it comes
:05:09. > :05:13.to having a knee-jerk reaction which is to suddenly clamped down on civil
:05:14. > :05:17.liberties... Donald Trump elected in America. Having someone of that
:05:18. > :05:21.calibre elected in this country, it is out of the question. What could
:05:22. > :05:28.they do with powers to clamp down on civil liberties? Why have the Green
:05:29. > :05:31.Party not supported the terrorist legislation put forward by the
:05:32. > :05:36.government over the years? You are not prepared to take any action, are
:05:37. > :05:42.you? We are very much about scrutinising the government's plans
:05:43. > :05:50.and see what we are doing. That is what we have done. When you have
:05:51. > :05:53.groups like Liberty and the National Union of Teachers and civil society
:05:54. > :05:57.groups coming forward saying this is not working and lawyers are saying
:05:58. > :06:03.this is an attack on civil liberties. We have to be led by them
:06:04. > :06:09.and represent them. So you would not be in favour, for example, for
:06:10. > :06:13.taking away safe spaces on the Internet for extremists to publish
:06:14. > :06:18.some of their hateful ideology. Two issues come up about this.
:06:19. > :06:24.Politicians sometimes get nervous about technology, because they don't
:06:25. > :06:28.know much about it. Do you include yourself in that? I do include
:06:29. > :06:32.myself in that. We need to call providers of these services,
:06:33. > :06:38.platforms like Facebook, also publishes, we need to call them to
:06:39. > :06:42.account. We need to see details of what they kick down and when they
:06:43. > :06:49.take it down. Theresa May talked about that in her speech. 26% of
:06:50. > :06:57.Muslims agree with whatever. That is a large amount of people to be it is
:06:58. > :07:02.getting bigger by the minute. In 35 years, people are going to be
:07:03. > :07:08.shocked, the Muslim population, they will be the majority in this
:07:09. > :07:13.country. If we have two children and they have ten... That is a lot of
:07:14. > :07:17.assumptions. This is a perversion of Islam. It is not a problem Muslims
:07:18. > :07:24.have to deal with, it is a problem we all have to deal with. Look. I
:07:25. > :07:30.live in an area that is diverse. I live close to two mosques. I spend a
:07:31. > :07:33.lot of time going to them and talking to people. There are people
:07:34. > :07:37.in those mosques that hate what is going on as much as I do. I worry
:07:38. > :07:47.for their children as much as my children. But 74%! You still have
:07:48. > :07:53.26% of Muslims that agree with Islamic State and killing... I just
:07:54. > :07:57.do not accept that. Another question from the lady in the front row to be
:07:58. > :08:11.I have to say that first and foremost I completely empathise with
:08:12. > :08:17.people is fear of terrorism,.. This is not something restricted to a
:08:18. > :08:21.religion. Islamic State is indoctrinating criminal people to
:08:22. > :08:27.act in a way affecting our society now. But it is dangerous to apply a
:08:28. > :08:36.rigid framework just to one religion when in Norway future politicians
:08:37. > :08:43.were murdered and no one called him a terrorist because his skin is
:08:44. > :08:50.white. Thank you very much for that important point. One in four
:08:51. > :08:58.referrals in counter-terrorism procedures are from the far right
:08:59. > :09:02.terrorists. Was Jo Cox's murder a terror incident? Yes. It was done to
:09:03. > :09:08.inspire terror. Another subject after this. Islam has been here for
:09:09. > :09:16.600 years. It hasn't been a problem for 600 years. I am more interested
:09:17. > :09:24.in your view on Saudi Arabia and the Wahhabi influence and arms sales. I
:09:25. > :09:29.think foreign policy has been raised by Jeremy Corbyn and I think we need
:09:30. > :09:32.to take that into account. Yes, I want to see to make the Green Party
:09:33. > :09:39.wood and commercial arms sales to Saudi Arabia. CLAPPING. But the
:09:40. > :09:43.Green Party has been against pretty well every foreign intervention. You
:09:44. > :09:46.would not even support the idea of a drone taking out an extremist jihadi
:09:47. > :09:56.if they were British somewhere aboard. -- abroad. That could be
:09:57. > :10:01.illegal. You have to go buy a case-by-case basis. Those incidents
:10:02. > :10:03.do not happen in isolation. They have consequences far beyond that
:10:04. > :10:10.particular act and someone may replace them. But you would not
:10:11. > :10:13.support, if you had information... Depends on the situation. The next
:10:14. > :10:18.question. So, your party is proposing a four-day working week.
:10:19. > :10:23.What I want to know is what evidence do you have this will benefit the
:10:24. > :10:27.economy? It is a great question and I am glad you flagged it because it
:10:28. > :10:31.is something we need to talk about in this election because it is very
:10:32. > :10:35.short-term. We need to look at the long-term. Automation in 20- 30-40
:10:36. > :10:39.years that will take away millions of jobs to be what is interesting is
:10:40. > :10:43.we work and people will be watching this at home with that rising
:10:44. > :10:46.feeling in their stomach right now they have to go into work tomorrow
:10:47. > :10:50.morning on Monday. Think about that. You might not have to have that with
:10:51. > :10:55.me in government. How much would it cost? We want to phase it in over a
:10:56. > :11:00.long time. Amazon is already talking about doing it to be France is going
:11:01. > :11:04.to a 35 hour week. Flexible working. It won't happen overnight, but 100
:11:05. > :11:09.years ago, Gerald Ford, he said let's have a five-day week, not a
:11:10. > :11:17.six-day week. When you said it will not happen in a... It will...
:11:18. > :11:21.Slightly different, 100 years? Are people voting for something that
:11:22. > :11:25.will not happen? We need a bigger question about the economy. It will
:11:26. > :11:28.not happen overnight. But if companies say we have the lowest
:11:29. > :11:34.productivity in Europe, we work the longest hours, we are racking up a
:11:35. > :11:37.huge bill for the NHS in terms of stress and substance abuse because
:11:38. > :11:41.of overworking, it doesn't have to be like this. We need to think in
:11:42. > :11:46.new ways and have that session. Does anyone favour a four-day week? Do
:11:47. > :11:53.people in the audience think it is affordable? Back to that point about
:11:54. > :12:00.automation. This started 40 years ago. Back when I started work, there
:12:01. > :12:04.were jobs for typing. Now it is all done on a word processor to be going
:12:05. > :12:09.forward, we cannot create any more jobs. They are being taken by
:12:10. > :12:15.technology and robots. They build most of the car now. Can you tell me
:12:16. > :12:19.where these jobs are supposed to be coming from in the future? We will
:12:20. > :12:27.take a few more comments and then we will answer that. The gentleman in
:12:28. > :12:33.the first row. Do you think increased income will be a way
:12:34. > :12:37.forward? The idea is getting through. It is an idea that has
:12:38. > :12:43.come. Universal basic income. We can fix the welfare state which was set
:12:44. > :12:47.up in 1945 after a different set of assumptions. We are seeing a real
:12:48. > :12:51.attack on the welfare state by the government, dismantling it. On the
:12:52. > :12:55.other side it is not fit for purpose in many senses because of the
:12:56. > :13:00.assumptions it was based on. People are going to food banks because of
:13:01. > :13:03.problems with the benefits. How much would be? It depends on how much
:13:04. > :13:08.progressive taxation you want... You mean how much you want. Who would
:13:09. > :13:15.pay for this? Two it would be a change in the welfare state. In
:13:16. > :13:20.Ontario, Canada, places on the continent, they are doing this. That
:13:21. > :13:24.is how you have to do this. Iain Duncan Smith talk about Universal
:13:25. > :13:29.Credit. He fell 6-7 years behind schedule. You need to work out how
:13:30. > :13:34.it is affordable and do it. You are talking about a four-day week, but
:13:35. > :13:39.this country is run like a small business. Who will compensate small
:13:40. > :13:44.businesses having to pay the same wages but with less activity? The
:13:45. > :13:50.idea is you get more productivity per worker when you don't work such
:13:51. > :13:53.long hours. That is why companies are thinking this is a good thing.
:13:54. > :14:01.There is a bigger question to. 30 years ago when I was growing up not
:14:02. > :14:06.so long ago, we were told we would have huge growth in wages and be
:14:07. > :14:11.able to work less hours. We have had wealth and automation, but there is
:14:12. > :14:18.growing inequality. It does not have to be that way. CLAPPING. How do you
:14:19. > :14:22.explain the high levels of employment? There are criticisms
:14:23. > :14:27.that it may not be the right kind of employment. Are you saying high
:14:28. > :14:33.levels of employment are not desirable? That is what we have.
:14:34. > :14:39.Look at what we have at the moment. Zero-hours contracts, really low
:14:40. > :14:43.wages, insecure employment, access to tribunal is taken away because we
:14:44. > :14:46.cannot afford to go to them. What will happen with Brexit? Potentially
:14:47. > :14:50.with this government they will use it as an opportunity to once again
:14:51. > :14:54.have a fresh assault on the rights of workers. We are in a new age of
:14:55. > :15:00.insecurity. We have to do something different. Do you know what, there
:15:01. > :15:04.is the money, but it is in the wrong hands. It takes the political will
:15:05. > :15:12.to make something happen. CLAPPING. The gentleman here. The 35 hour week
:15:13. > :15:17.in France has been done for some years. The new president in France,
:15:18. > :15:22.Emmanuel Macron, wants to stop it. Why will it be successful here? I am
:15:23. > :15:26.not familiar with what Emmanuel Macron said about the 35 hour
:15:27. > :15:31.working week and what his reasons are for it. The idea of the working
:15:32. > :15:36.week being shorter is that there is a lot of wealth that we have not
:15:37. > :15:40.seen in this room. Big corporations are making excess profits.
:15:41. > :15:44.Corporation tax is going lower and low and they are getting more and
:15:45. > :15:48.more of the pie. We cannot see the benefits. We can have good jobs.
:15:49. > :15:53.That is the important thing the Green Party is also saying we need
:15:54. > :15:56.to transition the economy down the resilient local economies with money
:15:57. > :16:01.flowing through them rather than being sucked out by multinationals.
:16:02. > :16:06.The majority of the money saved flowing in the local economy but
:16:07. > :16:13.when it goes to a chain store it leaves the local economy. It makes
:16:14. > :16:21.sense to do this in the face of legalisation. You are talking about
:16:22. > :16:25.creating good jobs, and we all want them, but what will be Green Party
:16:26. > :16:29.do to create these? How will a four-day week as opposed to a
:16:30. > :16:33.five-day week create good jobs? It is good in opposition to say that.
:16:34. > :16:40.But what will you do? Rate question. How do you create good jobs? --
:16:41. > :16:45.Great. Renewable energy revolution and green industrial strategies. We
:16:46. > :16:50.can generate over six times, six times, our annual electricity
:16:51. > :17:00.consumption just from offshore renewables. Were going to put a ?30
:17:01. > :17:05.billion subsidy into nuclear power generating in the long-term 800 job.
:17:06. > :17:10.Take that subsidy and put it into renewable energy and rejuvenate the
:17:11. > :17:17.UK and create tens of thousands, not hundreds of thousands, of new jobs.
:17:18. > :17:30.A five-day working week? Why not push up the living wage. Have you
:17:31. > :17:34.talked to business about these? You get savings from a living wage
:17:35. > :17:40.because you get less in work benefits, increased tax and that
:17:41. > :17:50.money could be circulated to support businesses. The next question from
:17:51. > :17:56.Mitchell. You mentioned you want subsidies for nuclear power that is
:17:57. > :18:03.not contribute to climate change so how can you justify wanting to be
:18:04. > :18:08.green when we have a perfect solution generating huge amount of
:18:09. > :18:13.power? It is not really a perfect solution when you think about the
:18:14. > :18:17.massive investment. Locking into a deal that for years to come it is
:18:18. > :18:24.already more expensive than offshore wind. It keeps control in a small
:18:25. > :18:30.place and makes us security wise quite vulnerable. Will it be great
:18:31. > :18:40.like in my local community, you have a community project like Brixton
:18:41. > :18:46.Sola, get a return, you put solar panels generating clean energy and
:18:47. > :18:50.goes back into the community and profits put into it shall Asian and
:18:51. > :19:05.cutting fuel property. That makes sense. -- the community. One of the
:19:06. > :19:10.biggest problems for voters is the energy bills are going up and they
:19:11. > :19:23.do not like green subsidies on their bills. That is alive. From the pit
:19:24. > :19:28.of hell. ?6 billion this government subsidises the fuel. Every time the
:19:29. > :19:33.wholesale price of energy goes up, they put up their prices. They do
:19:34. > :19:38.not drop their prices when it goes down. We were told Robert says Asian
:19:39. > :19:49.was going to cut the bills. It has not. Time to bring back into public
:19:50. > :19:54.ownership. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE. You say it is cheaper to go
:19:55. > :20:01.renewable but is it any where near as nuclear power? The mass amounts
:20:02. > :20:06.of power we need because we cannot ask everybody to change their lives.
:20:07. > :20:12.When it stops being windy we don't get wind power, but we can all is
:20:13. > :20:20.smashed a couple of atoms into each other. With the greatest respect,
:20:21. > :20:24.that is a 20th century argument. Every house and community can be a
:20:25. > :20:33.powerhouse. I went to visit Cardiff Bay where we could have used of the
:20:34. > :20:42.bay to create a... You use the water to create as much power. It does not
:20:43. > :20:49.talk about consistency. You drop water when you need it. How much
:20:50. > :20:55.would it cost? Could not give you a figure at the top of my head. You
:20:56. > :21:02.develop policy that you haven't costed. At another note is in front
:21:03. > :21:09.of me but I can happily look it up. It is the right thing to do it in
:21:10. > :21:15.terms of accountability. It is not a panacea, it is something we should
:21:16. > :21:21.be moving towards. Let's look at Germany, we know it gives back to
:21:22. > :21:25.the community. Donald Trump has pulled America out of the Paris
:21:26. > :21:33.agreement, an agreement which was voluntary. Clear where you stand on
:21:34. > :21:38.that issue. What is the point of those international agreements? The
:21:39. > :21:45.point of the Paris agreement and when you had Theresa May on the
:21:46. > :21:49.debate on the details of the conversation with Donald Trump, I
:21:50. > :21:58.think that is such a weak, weak leadership. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
:21:59. > :22:05.Donald said eye leaving the Paris agreement but we are not. What would
:22:06. > :22:09.you have done. I cannot repeat it here. But I think you have to say
:22:10. > :22:20.this is totally an excerpt of all. It is economically Bilic at,
:22:21. > :22:24.scientific, politically illiterate. We have to work with other countries
:22:25. > :22:29.if we are to get those commitments. It sets a direction for local
:22:30. > :22:36.business and for those people making the transition. It was the big
:22:37. > :22:42.corporations that went to Trump and said you are throwing us of course.
:22:43. > :22:45.If we are going to make this transition we need American
:22:46. > :22:50.involvement at the table. The next question is whether the Green Party
:22:51. > :22:57.can enact any of the proposals in the manifesto. Should Green Party
:22:58. > :23:02.voters vote Labour to stop the Conservatives winning a majority?
:23:03. > :23:07.Your Progressive alliance has died on its feet. In 30 feet around the
:23:08. > :23:12.country we have stood aside. I proud that we look beyond tribal politics
:23:13. > :23:14.and we believe we should act in the interest of the country.
:23:15. > :23:23.APPLAUSE . You know what, in this election,
:23:24. > :23:27.where there is a Green candidate, I want you to be voting Green because
:23:28. > :23:33.I think we are at fault in the road. Paul Nuttall is taking the country,
:23:34. > :23:39.even though he does not have an MPs in Westminster, it is taking the
:23:40. > :23:44.country down the wrong road. They are pursuing an extreme Brexit which
:23:45. > :23:52.will take us in the wrong direction. The country which is inward looking.
:23:53. > :23:58.If you want an inclusive vision standing up for freedom of movement
:23:59. > :24:04.and making decisions about nuclear weapons, vote for the Green Party.
:24:05. > :24:10.This is what is at stake. Why are the other parties not be on
:24:11. > :24:16.progressive alliance? No one has signed up to it. You're standing
:24:17. > :24:25.outside in about 30 seats. It is the point in. I wrote to Jeremy Corbyn,
:24:26. > :24:32.Nigel Ty Roush but they did not reciprocate. -- Nigel Farage. I
:24:33. > :24:36.proud we showed that the leadership. How big a problem is it that your
:24:37. > :24:44.proposals in many ways are so similar to Jeremy Corbyn's? There is
:24:45. > :24:53.a common ground. Most of it. No, not most of it. Proportionate
:24:54. > :24:56.representation. Why is is spending ?110 million renewing nuclear
:24:57. > :25:01.weapons which is said he would never use which we could be giving a kiss
:25:02. > :25:10.of life to the NHS. You cannot tackle a pollution and... Y 80
:25:11. > :25:16.standing aside? We believe in this current contest, this government
:25:17. > :25:23.would decide bad for the future of Britain that we although painful
:25:24. > :25:30.need to do it. Your polling figures are extremely low. You are not
:25:31. > :25:35.cutting through. We know what is happening in this election. It is a
:25:36. > :25:40.very tactical. A broken system which pushes towards the two parties. When
:25:41. > :25:48.you have an extreme situation, with this government pursuing an extreme
:25:49. > :25:52.path, and to his credit, Jeremy Corbyn's bold manifesto shakes up
:25:53. > :25:59.the debate. We were the only ones saying is Derry is necessary and now
:26:00. > :26:08.Labour is also saying it. -- posterity. Someone sits in Bristol,
:26:09. > :26:14.very marginal. I respect some of the policies but it seems so close that
:26:15. > :26:23.voting Labour seems the reasonable thing to do. You can vote with your
:26:24. > :26:28.heart there. As greens, we will work with Labour if there is a minority
:26:29. > :26:33.Labour government where the risk common ground. In real life, when
:26:34. > :26:38.you seek common ground you work with other people to further the common
:26:39. > :26:47.interest and I do not know why he would you not do it in politics.
:26:48. > :26:52.Does that mean if you have MPs you would push a proportional
:26:53. > :27:01.representation system? When you get Green MPs in Parliament, we would
:27:02. > :27:07.hold Conservatives to account. If it is a Labour, we would push them
:27:08. > :27:12.towards the bold ideas like the four-day week, scrapping Trident, if
:27:13. > :27:22.you want a vote that matters you vote Green. Given that the Green
:27:23. > :27:31.Party are not going to be forming the next government, what different
:27:32. > :27:38.will it make to have some extra MPs? I will say probably I will not be
:27:39. > :27:45.walking into ten Downing St on the night. Thank you for being a
:27:46. > :27:53.realistic. It's a thousand 15, under a fair voting system, we would have
:27:54. > :28:07.had 24 - imagine 24 Caroline Lucas, it would shake up politics. By your
:28:08. > :28:16.logic, and I support it in part, how many Ukip would we have? I am a
:28:17. > :28:28.democrat. We are at the antithesis to Ukip. If you want to finish Ukip
:28:29. > :28:36.forever vote Green. That is all we have time for. Johnathan Bartley,
:28:37. > :28:42.please show your appreciation. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE. Thank you
:28:43. > :28:52.Johnathan Bartley to. That brings us to the end of our elections
:28:53. > :28:58.programmes. It listening to say good night from Bristol. -- leads me to
:28:59. > :29:00.say.