:00:26. > :00:29.Hello and welcome to the programme. Coming up this week: Alasdair
:00:29. > :00:33.McDonnell gives himself six months to get the SDLP back on track. Is
:00:33. > :00:39.it too tall an order? Can a Sinn Fein Culture Minister
:00:39. > :00:43.protect and promote the Irish Language?
:00:43. > :00:45.Would opposition save the smaller parties from the risk of oblivion?
:00:45. > :00:54.And are we all doomed? The implications of the expanding
:00:54. > :00:58.eurozone crisis. The new SDLP leader says the party
:00:58. > :01:01.will lose even more support if it hasn't shown itself to be fit for
:01:01. > :01:08.electoral battle at the end of six months. Alasdair McDonnell is with
:01:08. > :01:16.me. Congratulations on your election. Are you happy with the
:01:16. > :01:20.light? Very happy! Cheap shot, but I had to get that in. You said that
:01:20. > :01:27.all that was wrong with the party was they did not get enough votes.
:01:27. > :01:31.Yes, I believe that. Do you believe you have to be more organised or
:01:31. > :01:38.find a more distinct identity? have a very strong policies and a
:01:39. > :01:47.clear vision. We can have a united people living in peace, reconciled
:01:47. > :01:51.piece, living on this island. that is your existing identity, no
:01:51. > :02:00.one has bought it. You have lost half of your vote over 12 years.
:02:01. > :02:05.People have bought it. People wanted their -- The DUP and Sinn
:02:05. > :02:13.Fein to come in from the cold. They have allowed them to hijack the
:02:13. > :02:18.Executive system of Stormont. Stability is great, but there is a
:02:18. > :02:24.distinction between stability and paralysis. And that is what we have.
:02:24. > :02:28.How do you got about changing? People want us to start developing
:02:28. > :02:34.Stormont. I believe the reinvigorated SDLP will be in a
:02:34. > :02:40.position to challenge that and move on. How do you start your
:02:40. > :02:46.reinvigoration? By getting people to come to meetings? You have many
:02:46. > :02:50.branches which never meet. Firstly, I would start with our gaps and our
:02:50. > :02:54.shortcomings. We have places where we have lost Assembly seats and
:02:54. > :03:00.places where we should have won them. Then we can look at places
:03:00. > :03:06.where we should have more council seats. What about energy and drive?
:03:06. > :03:11.Let me finish. I have lined up many people across the party at local
:03:11. > :03:21.level to appoint a whole series of constituency representatives. If
:03:21. > :03:23.
:03:23. > :03:26.you like, so it or apprentice MLAs. I know we can fill the gaps. The
:03:26. > :03:30.people are there and they have said they want to do this. These are
:03:30. > :03:35.people who want to compete for a Assembly or council seat at the
:03:35. > :03:42.next election. Let empower them and led them lose. You talk about
:03:42. > :03:48.collective leadership. Will these local branches have the right to
:03:48. > :03:55.choose a potentially losing ticket? There is this dichotomy between
:03:55. > :04:00.strong central leadership and local decision-making. Which do you want?
:04:00. > :04:08.In the past, we have allowed a certain amount a drift to take
:04:08. > :04:12.place. We can no longer afford that. We must find -- recreated a
:04:12. > :04:16.situation and I hold my hands up to situations like West Tyrone where
:04:16. > :04:21.we shredded our world there with three candidates. That will not
:04:21. > :04:25.happen again under my watch. We will do research. We will prepare
:04:25. > :04:30.now for elections in three years' time. We will do the research and
:04:30. > :04:34.make a proper assessment, rather than allow our cells to drift into
:04:34. > :04:40.a selection convention after local level where the sums have not yet
:04:40. > :04:45.been done. You talk about emphasising the party's Social
:04:45. > :04:50.Democratic back ground. You talk about criticisms of the Tory cuts,
:04:50. > :04:55.for example. What policy can you come up with that old generate more
:04:55. > :05:01.money? The SDLP would just have to take what comes from Westminster,
:05:01. > :05:06.like any other party. Let me emphasise that social justice is at
:05:06. > :05:12.the very core of our values. We want to see social justice across
:05:12. > :05:17.the city and across northern Alan. We're under committed to that than
:05:17. > :05:23.most other parties. Others are looking for social justice for
:05:23. > :05:27.themselves. We're looking at it for everybody. Secondly, if we produce
:05:27. > :05:32.some tremendous financial papers over the last few years at show
:05:32. > :05:41.were money can be shifted within the block grant. We were told it
:05:41. > :05:45.was nonsense. Get the Minister for Finance picked up those ideas
:05:45. > :05:49.within 12 months. The ideas and the opportunities are there if.
:05:49. > :05:57.electorate did not give you the benefit of that. The electorate was
:05:57. > :06:02.looking for stability and wanted to stains it -- sustained stability.
:06:02. > :06:08.They wanted parties to comment to be house-trained and locked into
:06:08. > :06:15.the system. The problem is that that stability has become paralysis.
:06:15. > :06:19.No legislation is coming out of Stormont. People expect more. They
:06:19. > :06:23.deserve more. The economic situation out there is scary for.
:06:23. > :06:27.He will hold a conference on the economy. What good will that do?
:06:27. > :06:33.The economy is important to people. We will look at a whole range of
:06:33. > :06:37.people within the economy -- a whole range of things within the
:06:37. > :06:43.economy. I have spoken to the Minister for Agriculture in the
:06:43. > :06:49.South recently. Food production is a real opportunity here. China is
:06:49. > :06:53.eating all we can get their hands on. We can forget about food coming
:06:53. > :07:01.from Australia and New Zealand in the past. That has gone. Equally,
:07:01. > :07:05.Brazil. Agriculture and food production is already something of
:07:05. > :07:11.a success on the island. You don't really need to worry about that.
:07:11. > :07:18.Weekend double our food output. We have to double the production of
:07:18. > :07:21.food and dramatically increase the processing of food. This is acclaim,
:07:21. > :07:26.a green island. Whether north or south, we can produce the food that
:07:26. > :07:32.people across Europe will look at and say it is clean and healthy and
:07:32. > :07:37.he has all. That is what I want to do. But I want to look at renewable
:07:37. > :07:43.energy because energy prices, people will be given a choice of
:07:43. > :07:47.heating or eating next winter. A lot of our elderly people will see
:07:47. > :07:52.serious difficulties. Do you accept there is nothing you can do to get
:07:52. > :07:56.more money into Northern Ireland? Or of the parties have to follow
:07:56. > :08:04.what comes from the Treasury. It is not the fault of Sinn Fein and the
:08:04. > :08:09.DUP. I think they can do better. Firstly, make arguments with the
:08:10. > :08:15.Treasury. Secondly, in handling the money that they get. All we do is
:08:15. > :08:22.top slice it and strangle it and squeeze it to death. -- all they do.
:08:22. > :08:27.Peter Robinson has been to Downing Street many times. We have to make
:08:27. > :08:35.more robust and stronger arguments. There has been paralysis over
:08:35. > :08:39.corporation tax. Maybe we will, maybe we won't. We have to be
:08:39. > :08:43.creative and create strengths -- create opportunities for the
:08:43. > :08:47.businesses out there that are working. When you get the finance,
:08:48. > :08:54.I don't want to spend the rest of my life in a political system where
:08:54. > :08:58.all we're doing is fiddling around how we divide up a block grant. We
:08:58. > :09:04.have to be creative and show some initiative and ambition. There is a
:09:04. > :09:09.lot we can do in terms of job creation and job promotion. There
:09:09. > :09:14.is a whole array of things we can do around tourism, for instance.
:09:14. > :09:18.That is what Our economic conference will be about. Where
:09:18. > :09:23.does this put Irish unity in your list of priorities? In the list of
:09:23. > :09:28.my priorities, and or Irish unity is about reconciling the people
:09:28. > :09:35.across this island. That is about reconciliation in the north and
:09:35. > :09:43.then across everyone. How? It is about removing barriers. I want
:09:43. > :09:48.people in the North to go to Dublin whenever they like. We have a lot
:09:48. > :09:58.of fear or here which we have to demolish. Reconciliation is the key
:09:58. > :09:58.
:09:58. > :10:05.note. You talk about the Forum on a unity, but Sinn Fein were within
:10:05. > :10:10.striking distance of the presidency, for heaven's sake. They were within
:10:10. > :10:19.striking distance of nothing. He was expecting 20% of the vote and
:10:19. > :10:23.he got 13. They came third. Where did you come? We have a very clear
:10:23. > :10:28.focus on what our objectives are. We're out to reconcile people
:10:28. > :10:33.across the island, not to divide them. Not to create divisions which
:10:33. > :10:38.should not be there. We will work at that. There would be no tat is
:10:38. > :10:47.that the people have given us the remit to reconcile with in the
:10:48. > :10:52.north which means reaching out all the time to people. We want
:10:52. > :10:57.reconciliation and to bring people together. We will not beat people
:10:57. > :11:02.into a united Ireland. Your predecessor was the first to wear a
:11:02. > :11:08.poppy. Would you wear one? Are not at this stage. Many members wear
:11:08. > :11:12.them and some choose not to. I am happy if people want to wear them.
:11:12. > :11:22.I will pay my respects on Sunday. I don't think you have to wear a
:11:22. > :11:25.
:11:25. > :11:33.poppy for that. What about your ministers? I am confident in the
:11:33. > :11:40.person you mentioned. I cannot predict where we will be this time
:11:40. > :11:50.next year. What I intend doing is creating that collective leadership
:11:50. > :11:52.
:11:52. > :11:58.and talent base through other party. We have former leaders. Nine Deputy
:11:58. > :12:03.Leader and others. I intend to work with them. There are no plans for
:12:03. > :12:09.anyone to move. I will be forging the best possible team I can within
:12:09. > :12:14.the party. You are an MP and yet you have this colossal task ahead
:12:14. > :12:20.of you of reinvigorating the party. How and it can you serve the party
:12:20. > :12:26.and you Belfast constituent? constituents are happy. You have
:12:26. > :12:31.not started a job yet! I have a duty with me. I will continue to
:12:31. > :12:36.serve my constituents. I will be wherever I am needed and do
:12:36. > :12:41.whatever I need to do. I have good time management. Ultimately, my
:12:42. > :12:48.primary task is to lead and rebuild the SDLP. Beyond that, I will be
:12:48. > :12:56.wherever I am need it. Number one, the party. Number two, the
:12:56. > :12:59.constituency. My job is to sort out the SDLP, the leadership of the
:12:59. > :13:07.SDLP, first of all. The constituency will be well served
:13:07. > :13:10.within that. Congratulations again. Thank you.
:13:10. > :13:13.The idea of a joint UUP-SDLP opposition is so ridiculous you
:13:13. > :13:16.have to marvel at how many people - even within both parties - are
:13:16. > :13:20.discussing it. You might say stranger things have happened. The
:13:21. > :13:27.DUP and Sinn Fein share power. But they have to share to get power.
:13:27. > :13:30.They wouldn't share to get no power, and neither would anyone else. The
:13:30. > :13:34.UUP's Mike Nesbitt gave that game away this week when he said he'd
:13:34. > :13:38.like an opposition system, but not so his party could be in opposition.
:13:38. > :13:40.There are some places in the world, especially Africa, where you do get
:13:40. > :13:42.opposition coalitions. But only before an election. After the
:13:42. > :13:45.election, it's back to every opposition party for itself. Losing
:13:45. > :13:54.is a terrible basis for cooperating, and that's before you consider the
:13:54. > :13:57.unique problems of our two local losers. Now that everyone has
:13:57. > :14:00.conceded the principle of power- sharing, the SDLP and UUP are
:14:00. > :14:03.basically Sinn Fein and DUP-lite. If they walked out of the executive
:14:03. > :14:07.and caused enough of a crisis to get the rules changed, it wouldn't
:14:07. > :14:10.give us a new kind of politics. It would just give us a choice between
:14:10. > :14:13.two almost identical kinds of politics. And that's only if it
:14:13. > :14:16.worked, which of course it wouldn't. First, the UUP and SDLP can't cause
:14:16. > :14:19.a big enough crisis to get the rules changed. Stormont's rules
:14:19. > :14:23.only require the largest party from each side to show up. So you have
:14:23. > :14:33.to be top dog before you stick a spanner in the works. It won't work
:14:33. > :14:33.
:14:33. > :14:36.Second, even if by some miracle Sinn Fein and the DUP agreed to a
:14:36. > :14:39.formal opposition system, there's no way the UUP and the SDLP could
:14:39. > :14:42.manage it together. They can't even manage themselves separately. Some
:14:42. > :14:46.parts of the SDLP speak so rarely to each other you could almost call
:14:46. > :14:49.it a cell structure. And look at the UUP's recent history of cross-
:14:49. > :14:53.party deals, with the Tories or the PUP. That, rather than some bright
:14:53. > :14:55.new dawn, is how a deal with the SDLP would pan out. These are two
:14:55. > :14:59.parties with nothing in common except decline and desperation, as
:14:59. > :15:01.Sinn Fein and the DUP would have a field day pointing out. So why is
:15:01. > :15:04.anyone even discussing such a dreadful idea? It's not because
:15:04. > :15:09.Stormont's rules are unnatural and a more parliamentary democracy must
:15:09. > :15:12.evolve. Stormont is just a glorified county council. It can
:15:12. > :15:14.share power out to all parties as happily as your nearest town hall.
:15:15. > :15:17.In fact better cross-community power sharing is the supposed
:15:18. > :15:20.selling point of a UUP-SDLP pact. No, this idea is being discussed
:15:20. > :15:23.because the situation of both parties is so clearly hopeless that
:15:24. > :15:26.last chance options are now on the table. And a joint arrangement is
:15:26. > :15:29.seen as the last chance because their fate is so obviously
:15:29. > :15:34.connected. It's the logic of tribal politics, once one community stops
:15:34. > :15:37.splitting its vote, the other will soon follow. Alasdair McDonnell may
:15:37. > :15:42.have got the lights back on but he and Tom Elliot are wrestling with
:15:42. > :15:44.the dimmer switch of history. In the 50 years before the Troubles,
:15:44. > :15:47.Northern Ireland had one big unionist party, one big
:15:47. > :15:52.nationalists party and a rag-bag of independents and little parties in
:15:52. > :15:55.between. That's our natural state, and now we don't need a war and a
:15:55. > :15:59.peace party each, we're going back to it.
:15:59. > :16:01.The thoughts of Newton Emerson. It's six years since the St
:16:01. > :16:04.Andrew's Agreement promised an Irish Language Act. Successive DUP
:16:04. > :16:10.Culture Ministers stifled it, but can the latest Sinn Fein incumbent
:16:10. > :16:13.push it along? And with the bodies which foster the language
:16:13. > :16:22.themselves under financial threat, Julia Paul finds Irish in need of
:16:22. > :16:28.all the friends it can get. For next generation of our Irish
:16:28. > :16:31.speakers at school in Belfast. -- for next. For them, it's a way of
:16:31. > :16:38.life but in Northern Ireland, of the line was language has no legal
:16:38. > :16:42.statement -- status. This is a major part of the work at the Irish
:16:42. > :16:47.language organisation. People here have been arguing for an act for
:16:47. > :16:50.Northern Ireland since 2003. This is the only part of these islands
:16:50. > :16:54.where the primary indigenous language is not protected by
:16:54. > :17:00.legislation. What you have is an exceptional situation in relation
:17:00. > :17:05.to the protection of Irish. Domestic legislation would redress
:17:05. > :17:08.the situation, redress that anomaly. I think it would make it much
:17:08. > :17:12.easier for Irish because to understand what their rights are
:17:12. > :17:15.and to use those rights. It would make it easier for civil servants
:17:15. > :17:18.and public bodies to know what it is they have to do and to deliver
:17:18. > :17:23.their services and to do that in a way which is cost-effective and
:17:23. > :17:26.pre-planned. It was 2006, and the St Andrews agreement, when it was
:17:26. > :17:31.agreed that the government would bring forward legislation to
:17:31. > :17:35.promote the Irish language. In the the last Assembly, the department
:17:35. > :17:38.of culture, arts and leisure was held by the DUP. The party opposed
:17:39. > :17:48.the actor and as it needed cross- party support, plans were shelved.
:17:49. > :17:50.
:17:50. > :17:55.Now we have a Sinn Fein minister. What has changed? A code for member
:17:55. > :18:00.ask the question... Could the member asked the question and
:18:00. > :18:06.translate, please? Mr Deputy Speaker, I was in the process of
:18:06. > :18:10.asking a question when he interrupted me. I shall now
:18:10. > :18:15.translated as required by the Rules of the house. Would the member sit
:18:15. > :18:18.down, please? One of the ways of depoliticise the Irish language is
:18:18. > :18:22.to give the people the right they are asking for. After that there is
:18:23. > :18:27.no issue with it. One of the benefits of an Irish Language Act
:18:27. > :18:31.would be to ensure that Irish can no longer be used as a political
:18:31. > :18:35.football and both the Unionist parties have said that is what they
:18:36. > :18:40.would like to see. The minister did not want to do an
:18:40. > :18:44.interview but is understood to want to bring forward proposals for an
:18:44. > :18:48.act in the New Year. In the meantime, the economic situation
:18:48. > :18:53.has changed. The bodies that advocate for the Irish language and
:18:53. > :18:56.Northern Ireland are not funded by a... They are funded by the All
:18:56. > :19:00.Ireland body. That body is also looking to change the way it hands
:19:00. > :19:04.out funding. Out of seven organisations that could be
:19:04. > :19:08.affected in the North, 40 % of those organisations are now faced
:19:08. > :19:12.with closure. I think while the proposals will have a detrimental
:19:12. > :19:17.effect throughout the island, in the North it will be particularly
:19:17. > :19:23.bad. How can you put an Irish language if there is no voluntary
:19:23. > :19:28.sector left to do the work? It is not the only group under threat.
:19:28. > :19:32.Part of the work of the trust in Belfast is to promote the Irish
:19:32. > :19:39.language to the Unionist community. Basically, we will be disqualified
:19:39. > :19:43.from applying for funding because our work is mainly within Northern
:19:43. > :19:50.Ireland and we don't operate on an All Ireland basis. He did that for
:19:50. > :19:54.a very good reason. It is because we respond to the particular
:19:54. > :20:00.conditions in Northern Ireland. We do not believe that any All-Ireland
:20:00. > :20:04.based organisation would be able to have a board that includes people
:20:04. > :20:08.who are passionate about the Irish language but also a passionate
:20:08. > :20:11.about maintaining the link with Great Britain. We have both
:20:11. > :20:21.Unionist and nationalists on our board. That would not happen --
:20:21. > :20:25.happen in an All-Ireland body. There has to be a review. Currently,
:20:25. > :20:30.the organisation funds 19 other organisations across the island
:20:30. > :20:34.which takes 7.2 million of their 20 million euros budget. That budget
:20:34. > :20:38.is decreasing and they have to streamline. That could mean the
:20:38. > :20:43.funding just nine projects. Seven of which are based in the Republic
:20:43. > :20:46.of Ireland. Surely you must accept that it because we have no act in
:20:46. > :20:49.Northern Ireland to protect their his language, by withdrawing
:20:49. > :20:55.funding from those organisations that promoted, you are inevitably
:20:55. > :20:59.going to damage the Irish language sector. This organisation, since
:20:59. > :21:03.its inception, has taken into account the different circumstances
:21:03. > :21:07.north and south when drawing up schemes. We will continue to do so.
:21:07. > :21:12.Who will expect a successful applicants for any of the schemes
:21:12. > :21:15.to show that they can provide a service to the Irish lineage
:21:15. > :21:24.community and to the wider community in Northern Ireland. We
:21:24. > :21:28.have done so since our inception and will continue to do so.
:21:28. > :21:31.Irish medium schools, lessons are continuing, despite the debates
:21:31. > :21:37.about the status of the language. Those campaigning for an act say
:21:38. > :21:41.they will continue to do so as long as they have funding. The other
:21:41. > :21:44.propositions say they are consulting on that, unless that is
:21:44. > :21:50.resolved it looks as if there will be fewer jobs for Irish speakers in
:21:50. > :21:56.the future. The travails facing the Irish
:21:56. > :21:59.language. As Italy battles to save its economy from bailout, and
:21:59. > :22:02.Germany and France again raise the prospect of a two tier Europe, the
:22:02. > :22:05.whole European economy seems balanced on a knife edge. So are we
:22:05. > :22:12.all doomed? I'm joined from Dublin by the economist Charles Larkin.
:22:12. > :22:15.Welcome. Can we, on this island, sit in a relaxed mode and watch the
:22:16. > :22:21.crisis evolved in Italy or are we still in a visit to our next?
:22:21. > :22:27.are very much in the middle of this crisis and there is no way that
:22:27. > :22:31.Britain or Ireland can ignore it. The financial integration of both
:22:31. > :22:37.Ivan's is so complete in to the eurozone that if anything went a
:22:37. > :22:41.cropper on the Continent, it would have profound implications not only
:22:41. > :22:45.for Ireland as a member of the eurozone, under the stress, but
:22:45. > :22:49.also for Britain and its independent currency, the sterling,
:22:49. > :22:56.because of a bank exposure. worried should we be about the
:22:56. > :22:59.contagion reaching Italy and France? We should be concerned
:22:59. > :23:02.because the principal way they should deal with this sort of
:23:02. > :23:06.problem is through central banks and the central bank that acts as a
:23:06. > :23:10.lender of last resort. Effectively, it attempts to manage tie is the
:23:10. > :23:16.problem away. In the case of the European Central Bank, they put
:23:16. > :23:20.measured doses into the bond market to try to stop the contagion and to
:23:20. > :23:30.try to heal some of the winds in the Italian bond market but they do
:23:30. > :23:33.not have a legal mandate to continue this in... Not like the
:23:33. > :23:38.way in which the Bank of England would work in Britain. The
:23:38. > :23:44.contagion, ultimately, has to be For -- dealt with at a political
:23:44. > :23:48.level, a supranational level, and the European Commission, European
:23:48. > :23:54.Central Bank and ultimately the principal actor in this, the German
:23:54. > :23:58.government, and the Bundesbank, have to come up to her decision
:23:58. > :24:04.that is politically acceptable and as effective. Otherwise, we are
:24:04. > :24:09.looking at over one trillion Euros worth of Italian bonds having to be
:24:09. > :24:14.restructured, which is the concern of eminent Rooker -- economists
:24:14. > :24:19.around the world. Of course, the fear for Angela Merkel is that if
:24:19. > :24:24.Germany will not agree, or the German people are not happy about
:24:24. > :24:31.continually break -- bailing out other nations. Well, that is a
:24:31. > :24:36.double-edged sword because if they don't bail out the southern
:24:36. > :24:39.European nations, German banks are going to have massive exposure.
:24:39. > :24:44.Because the European system was designed to integrate the financial
:24:44. > :24:48.system of Europe, the result has been that all the countries are
:24:48. > :24:55.interconnected and the exposure of the banking sector in Germany is
:24:55. > :25:02.exposed to the Baltic, Ireland, Italy, Greece, the French banking
:25:02. > :25:05.sector is exposed to Italy and Greece. Ultimately, all of the
:25:05. > :25:10.banking sectors of Europe have decided that the only way to have
:25:10. > :25:15.saved culpable -- capital was to have sovereign bonds. They were
:25:15. > :25:19.supposed to be as good as gold. Unfortunately, this has not been
:25:19. > :25:26.found out to be true. There have been found out to be risky. Of the
:25:26. > :25:30.German government does not step in and allow changes to be -- to take
:25:30. > :25:37.place to German structures, that the ECB cannot make interventions,
:25:37. > :25:41.then the eurozone is facing an existential crisis. To be honest,
:25:41. > :25:46.that is the key question for Angela Merkel. Does she want to be the
:25:46. > :25:53.German premiere that is responsible for Europe by the falling apart or
:25:53. > :25:59.for Germany -- Europe facing taking on a fundamentally different
:25:59. > :26:04.character than what was envisaged - - envisioned inventive 59. She has
:26:04. > :26:07.been talking about bringing about greater integration to allow
:26:07. > :26:11.European central oversight over individual economies. That is
:26:11. > :26:15.surely terribly politically risky. We know how hard it was to get the
:26:15. > :26:20.Lisbon treaty through Ireland, to Holland as the British would surely
:26:20. > :26:24.insist on some kind of referendum if there were to be further change
:26:24. > :26:28.in prospect. Again, the whole exercise could simply fall apart.
:26:28. > :26:32.In the case of further integration, it is a question of fiscal
:26:32. > :26:37.integration and whether or not European capitals will allow a
:26:37. > :26:43.significant part of their political portfolio, which is the making of
:26:43. > :26:47.budgets, to be transferred to Brussels. In the case of Ireland,
:26:47. > :26:54.that has always happened in a de facto set its because our budgets
:26:54. > :26:58.are being dictated by the troika. For countries that have not
:26:58. > :27:01.undergone rescues, it is going to be a fundamental question to them.
:27:01. > :27:06.It will not be an easy thing for the capitals of Europe, including
:27:06. > :27:12.Germany, including France, to accept, that Brussels would have
:27:13. > :27:19.such an active and muscular role in tough fiscal policies of their
:27:19. > :27:23.national economies. Within the context of violent, it is the issue
:27:23. > :27:28.of the corporate tax rate ultimately that would be the
:27:28. > :27:35.concern for this economy and whether or not the 12.5 % rate of
:27:35. > :27:39.tax could survive any form of fiscal federalism. Thank you very
:27:39. > :27:49.much indeed. And that's where we leave it tonight. We'll do it again
:27:49. > :28:00.
:28:00. > :28:05.at the same times next week. I have a dream. We shall fight them
:28:05. > :28:13.on the beaches. Ask not what your country will do for you...
:28:13. > :28:19.Inspiring, heroic, eloquent? I'm struggling. I couldn't see Margaret
:28:19. > :28:29.Ritchie in the audience. She sacked her for but he retired on TV.
:28:29. > :28:29.