Browse content similar to 21/09/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good afternoon, and welcome to Holyrood for live coverage of the | 0:00:14 | 0:00:19 | |
Scottish budget and Spending Review. Outside this building, it has not | 0:00:19 | 0:00:24 | |
just been raining this afternoon but persistently pouring. And in a | 0:00:24 | 0:00:28 | |
few minutes inside the chamber, I wonder if the Finance Secretary | 0:00:28 | 0:00:33 | |
John Swinney will be able to offer at brighter outlook for the public | 0:00:33 | 0:00:38 | |
finances in Scotland? So we will cover that's beach life. But you | 0:00:38 | 0:00:42 | |
may be in line for a bonus if you are able to stay with us this | 0:00:42 | 0:00:46 | |
afternoon, we are also going to keep up with developments at the | 0:00:46 | 0:00:50 | |
Liberal Democrat conference, including the speech of Nick Clegg. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:55 | |
So let's just concentrate on the Scottish budget. | 0:00:55 | 0:00:59 | |
And bring in the economic commentator, Alf Young. So what is | 0:00:59 | 0:01:03 | |
the trick for John Swinney this afternoon? It is a huge trade. He | 0:01:03 | 0:01:06 | |
has to do what he could have done last November before the election | 0:01:06 | 0:01:12 | |
but did not do. He has to tell us what the full scale and of the pain | 0:01:12 | 0:01:16 | |
on public spending is going to be. He has to do it against the | 0:01:16 | 0:01:20 | |
backdrop of big commitments he made in the election, two universities, | 0:01:20 | 0:01:25 | |
council tax freeze, the decline in real terms budget, which looks like | 0:01:25 | 0:01:30 | |
a decline for some time to come. And within all that, he has just | 0:01:30 | 0:01:35 | |
said that they can deliver more from less. He could do with a | 0:01:35 | 0:01:40 | |
little bit of magic, perhaps! We will talk more in a moment, but | 0:01:40 | 0:01:45 | |
lets cross live to Burningham, at the Liberal Democrat conference. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:52 | |
David Porter is their. Her here in Burningham, Nick Clegg is preparing | 0:01:52 | 0:01:58 | |
his end of conference speech to the Liberal Democrats. He will say that | 0:01:58 | 0:02:02 | |
being in coalition is not easy, but despite all the problems, it is the | 0:02:02 | 0:02:10 | |
right thing to do. As I said, we will cover Nick Clegg's speech live | 0:02:10 | 0:02:16 | |
during this programme. We are on air until 4pm. The first main event | 0:02:16 | 0:02:20 | |
is the Scottish budget speech, the Finance Secretary John Swinney is | 0:02:20 | 0:02:25 | |
preparing to address the chamber up the stairs at Holyrood. We will get | 0:02:25 | 0:02:30 | |
a little bit more on what we might expect from Alf Young. You | 0:02:30 | 0:02:35 | |
mentioned of course they headline election promises that the SNP made, | 0:02:35 | 0:02:40 | |
that swept them to victory back in May. Can John Swinney keep all | 0:02:40 | 0:02:44 | |
those promises, the five-year council tax freeze and all the rest | 0:02:44 | 0:02:48 | |
of it? He can keep them, but he will keep them in a declining | 0:02:48 | 0:02:52 | |
budget by sacrificing something else. Something has to give | 0:02:52 | 0:02:57 | |
somewhere. Money does not come from nowhere to fund your promises. And | 0:02:57 | 0:03:01 | |
he is also, in the light of the fragile economic situation we are | 0:03:01 | 0:03:07 | |
in, he has also got to try to shift some money into the capital budget. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:13 | |
Because the capital budget in particular has taken a big hit. | 0:03:13 | 0:03:21 | |
Let's hear what he has to save. Cameron Buttle is in the chamber. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:30 | |
You joined last as John Swinney - next 20 takes to his feet. | 0:03:30 | 0:03:34 | |
spending plans for the subsequent two years. The Spending Review | 0:03:35 | 0:03:38 | |
Falls after -- at a defining moment. It is a moment that is uniquely | 0:03:38 | 0:03:43 | |
challenging, with a fragile global economy and savage reductions in | 0:03:43 | 0:03:47 | |
the real value of the Scottish Budget. At the same time, it is a | 0:03:47 | 0:03:52 | |
hopeful moment. In the optimism that exists in our country and the | 0:03:52 | 0:03:56 | |
Trust placed by the people in this government. Throughout our first | 0:03:56 | 0:04:01 | |
time in office, we applied careful stewardship to public finances. We | 0:04:01 | 0:04:04 | |
have delivered savings above annual targets for each of the last three | 0:04:04 | 0:04:09 | |
years, which had been reinvested to strengthen public services in | 0:04:09 | 0:04:13 | |
Scotland and equip them for the challenges ahead. Yesterday, I | 0:04:13 | 0:04:17 | |
wrote to the convenor of the finance company -- committee to | 0:04:17 | 0:04:21 | |
advise Parliament that we have delivered efficiency savings of | 0:04:21 | 0:04:28 | |
over �2.2 billion in 2011, �673 million more than a target. I would | 0:04:28 | 0:04:32 | |
like to pay tribute to staff in the Scottish public sector for this | 0:04:32 | 0:04:38 | |
achievement. Over the last four years a minority government secured | 0:04:38 | 0:04:42 | |
parliamentary support for its budget, balance the budget in each | 0:04:42 | 0:04:45 | |
year and thereby demonstrated its financial competence. That is a | 0:04:45 | 0:04:50 | |
record of which we are proud. The impact of the recession since 2008 | 0:04:50 | 0:04:54 | |
has created a serious economic context for our actions in | 0:04:54 | 0:04:58 | |
government. We responded quickly and decisively with a detailed | 0:04:58 | 0:05:03 | |
recovery plan that help support 15,000 jobs across Scotland. We | 0:05:03 | 0:05:08 | |
have attracted major international companies to invest in Scotland and | 0:05:08 | 0:05:14 | |
support of jobs, particularly in their construction sector. We have | 0:05:14 | 0:05:16 | |
delivered the Small Business Bonus Scheme, which has removed or | 0:05:16 | 0:05:19 | |
reduced the burden for tens of thousands of businesses across | 0:05:19 | 0:05:24 | |
Scotland. It has established the Scottish investment bank which is | 0:05:24 | 0:05:28 | |
helping Scottish companies to access finance. These and other | 0:05:28 | 0:05:32 | |
measures we have taken have resulted in a recession that, while | 0:05:32 | 0:05:37 | |
damaging, was shorter than that experienced by the UK as a whole. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:42 | |
We are making progress towards economic recovery. Over the most | 0:05:42 | 0:05:46 | |
recent three month period, Scotland was the only part of the UK with | 0:05:46 | 0:05:52 | |
falling unemployment. Over the year, unemployment has fallen by 33,000 | 0:05:52 | 0:05:55 | |
in Scotland compared with an increase of 44,000 across the UK as | 0:05:55 | 0:06:01 | |
a whole. At the same time, employment levels have increased by | 0:06:01 | 0:06:07 | |
36,000 over the year. Scotland now has a highest employment rate of | 0:06:07 | 0:06:13 | |
any UK nation. So too does you give out lectures on gross, and on | 0:06:13 | 0:06:17 | |
presiding over stagnation, we say, learn a lesson from the record of | 0:06:17 | 0:06:20 | |
investment, job creation and balanced budgets being delivered in | 0:06:20 | 0:06:27 | |
Scotland. Now we face further financial challenges, as the | 0:06:28 | 0:06:36 | |
Westminster government has imposed heavy cuts. In 2011 to 2012, we had | 0:06:36 | 0:06:40 | |
been forced to reduce public spending by �1.3 billion compared | 0:06:40 | 0:06:46 | |
to last year. We have an �800 million cash reduction to lack | 0:06:46 | 0:06:51 | |
capital budget. Under the dance of the UK Government Spending Review, | 0:06:51 | 0:06:59 | |
between 2010 and 11 and 2014-15, we face real terms reductions of 9.2 % | 0:06:59 | 0:07:03 | |
and a real terms cut to lack capital budget of 36.7 %. We have | 0:07:03 | 0:07:07 | |
argued consistently that the UK Government is cutting spending too | 0:07:07 | 0:07:10 | |
far and too fast, and that its actions run the risk of damaging | 0:07:10 | 0:07:15 | |
the fragile recovery in Scotland and the UK. Against this backdrop, | 0:07:15 | 0:07:18 | |
we are determined to make the best use of the constrained resources | 0:07:18 | 0:07:22 | |
available to us, and to build on the progress we have made over the | 0:07:22 | 0:07:26 | |
last four years. Three in Scotland will steer a distinct course. We | 0:07:26 | 0:07:30 | |
are committed to prioritising capital investment, protecting | 0:07:30 | 0:07:34 | |
public sector employment and supporting household income says | 0:07:34 | 0:07:38 | |
key drivers of economic recovery. The programme for government sets | 0:07:38 | 0:07:40 | |
out how we want to continue to change our country for the better | 0:07:40 | 0:07:44 | |
at how we will take forward the manifesto that secured widespread | 0:07:44 | 0:07:50 | |
backing from the people of Scotland. The government's economic strategy | 0:07:50 | 0:07:53 | |
identified as priorities for driving growth. It highlights how | 0:07:53 | 0:07:57 | |
we will make full use of those economic levers, currently devolved | 0:07:57 | 0:08:01 | |
to the Scottish Government, with the aim of improving Scotland's | 0:08:01 | 0:08:11 | |
0:08:11 | 0:08:13 | ||
rate of sustainable economic growth. Many elements lie outside our remit. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:19 | |
For example, 90 % of Scottish tax rates Aachen trolled by Westminster | 0:08:19 | 0:08:23 | |
and I said without reference to economic circumstances here or | 0:08:23 | 0:08:27 | |
preferences and needs. We have made clear that our immediate | 0:08:27 | 0:08:30 | |
constitutional priority is to see economic teeth added to the | 0:08:30 | 0:08:34 | |
Scotland Bill, and we had made the case for new powers on corporation | 0:08:34 | 0:08:39 | |
tax, the Crown Estate and more expensive capital borrowing powers. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:44 | |
But with independence we could do much more. It would provide the | 0:08:44 | 0:08:46 | |
freedom to best thatcher you the unique opportunities in our economy, | 0:08:46 | 0:08:51 | |
to maximise our potential and put us on a par with other successful, | 0:08:51 | 0:08:58 | |
independent nations. But for the purposes of this Spending Review, | 0:08:58 | 0:09:01 | |
we must work within the existing financial and constitutional | 0:09:01 | 0:09:07 | |
framework, and today, I set out my plans for the future. I will focus | 0:09:07 | 0:09:11 | |
of the Spending Review, that is just accelerates its economic | 0:09:11 | 0:09:16 | |
recovery, deliver public sector reform and deliver a social wage | 0:09:16 | 0:09:21 | |
for the people. Vital to economic recovery is the size of our capital | 0:09:21 | 0:09:24 | |
investment. The government has agreed to take decisive action to | 0:09:24 | 0:09:27 | |
boost investment in the infrastructure of Scotland, | 0:09:27 | 0:09:31 | |
supporting jobs and promoting growth. The government is using | 0:09:31 | 0:09:37 | |
every lever available to it to maximise investment. We are taking | 0:09:37 | 0:09:40 | |
board at �2.5 billion pipeline of projects using the non-profit | 0:09:40 | 0:09:44 | |
distributing model, including major investments, such as the package of | 0:09:44 | 0:09:50 | |
improvements to the M eight, the Aberdeen peripheral route and the | 0:09:50 | 0:09:55 | |
new hospital for sick children. We are maximising the use of Network | 0:09:55 | 0:10:02 | |
Rail's regulatory rate to fund new rail projects. These include the | 0:10:02 | 0:10:08 | |
Glasgow Hospitals project. We are funding manifesto commitments to | 0:10:08 | 0:10:11 | |
deliver 30,000 new affordable homes over this Parliament. We have | 0:10:12 | 0:10:16 | |
decided over the period until 2015 to switch from resorts expenditure | 0:10:16 | 0:10:25 | |
to lack capital programme, a total of over it �750 million. We're | 0:10:26 | 0:10:29 | |
using innovative mechanisms such as the National Housing Trust to | 0:10:29 | 0:10:34 | |
secure additional sums and maximise investment. Taken together, these | 0:10:34 | 0:10:36 | |
steps will ensure that government supported investment continues to | 0:10:36 | 0:10:42 | |
grow, despite cuts in our capital budget. I am delighted to inform | 0:10:42 | 0:10:44 | |
Parliament that our capital programme makes funding available | 0:10:44 | 0:10:53 | |
to meet in full the government's commitments to upgrade the A et to, | 0:10:53 | 0:10:59 | |
to construct her Majesty's Prison in Grampian, and to support the | 0:10:59 | 0:11:06 | |
development of the V&A at Dundee. We are prioritising our investment | 0:11:06 | 0:11:10 | |
in Scotland's young people to enable them to achieve their | 0:11:10 | 0:11:14 | |
potential. This includes supporting 125,000 Modern apprenticeship | 0:11:14 | 0:11:19 | |
places during the lifetime of this Parliament, and delivering on our | 0:11:19 | 0:11:23 | |
commitment that every 16-19-year- old in Scotland to is neither in | 0:11:23 | 0:11:26 | |
work, part of a Modern apprenticeship scheme nor receiving | 0:11:26 | 0:11:30 | |
education is offered are learning more training opportunities. We | 0:11:30 | 0:11:35 | |
will also insure a reproach to procurement is used to create jobs | 0:11:35 | 0:11:39 | |
by insuring the recipients of public contract work deliver | 0:11:39 | 0:11:42 | |
training and apprenticeship opportunities. This Spending Review | 0:11:42 | 0:11:47 | |
settlement guarantees that the university sector in Scotland will | 0:11:47 | 0:11:50 | |
remain internationally competitive, and it closes the funding gap with | 0:11:50 | 0:11:57 | |
England in full. In addition to keeping our manifesto commitments | 0:11:57 | 0:12:01 | |
on free access to higher education, we will introduce a minimum income | 0:12:01 | 0:12:05 | |
for the lowest income students as we promised during the election | 0:12:05 | 0:12:10 | |
campaign of at least �7,000. Our priority for the Spending Review | 0:12:10 | 0:12:13 | |
period is to deliver on the ambition of next generation brought | 0:12:13 | 0:12:17 | |
bands to all by 2020, with a particular focus on rural | 0:12:17 | 0:12:22 | |
communities, and we expect significant process by 2015. We | 0:12:22 | 0:12:26 | |
will also ensure that businesses across Scotland have the skills and | 0:12:26 | 0:12:31 | |
aspirations to enable them to innovate and compete in global | 0:12:31 | 0:12:35 | |
digital economy is. Over the next four years, we will provide over | 0:12:35 | 0:12:38 | |
�62 million in funding for the digital economy, and broadband | 0:12:38 | 0:12:44 | |
infrastructure, and the believer in up to �25.5 million of investment | 0:12:44 | 0:12:47 | |
from EU funds, as well as additional funding from local | 0:12:47 | 0:12:52 | |
authorities and the private sector. We will continue to provide | 0:12:52 | 0:12:55 | |
business with the most generous package available anywhere in the | 0:12:55 | 0:13:01 | |
United Kingdom, worth �2.6 billion. We will continue with the small | 0:13:01 | 0:13:03 | |
business bonus scheme, which is helping tens of thousands of | 0:13:03 | 0:13:08 | |
businesses across the country, in tough economic times. I will bring | 0:13:08 | 0:13:14 | |
forward legislation to reform empty property relief from April 2013. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:18 | |
This will introduce incentives to brink vacant premises back into use, | 0:13:18 | 0:13:23 | |
reduce the prevalence of empty shops, and support the process of | 0:13:23 | 0:13:29 | |
urban regeneration. The government will embark on a review of the | 0:13:29 | 0:13:34 | |
operation of business rates in advance of the next revaluation in | 0:13:34 | 0:13:37 | |
2015. Key initiatives included in the government economic strategy | 0:13:37 | 0:13:42 | |
and funded in the Spending Review include introducing a enterprise | 0:13:42 | 0:13:46 | |
areas in Scotland to maximise their impact and attractiveness to | 0:13:46 | 0:13:55 | |
investors. For developing a read -- providing support, promoting | 0:13:55 | 0:13:59 | |
exports to capitalise on opportunities in growth markets, | 0:13:59 | 0:14:03 | |
particularly in emerging markets such as China and India, with an | 0:14:03 | 0:14:08 | |
ambitious target to deliver a 50 % increased by 2017, and increasing | 0:14:08 | 0:14:12 | |
our support for the development of the food and drink industry and its | 0:14:12 | 0:14:17 | |
exporting potential. Presiding officer -- Scotland has a | 0:14:17 | 0:14:22 | |
competitive advantage in terms of the low carbon economy, that is why | 0:14:22 | 0:14:25 | |
this economic strategy establish the transition to the low carbon | 0:14:25 | 0:14:29 | |
economy as a new strategic priority. That reflects the opportunity we | 0:14:29 | 0:14:32 | |
now have to secure further investment in jobs from this | 0:14:32 | 0:14:39 | |
growing sector, and the benefits of this change will be visible across | 0:14:39 | 0:14:45 | |
our communities. The fund will help leveraged private investment into | 0:14:45 | 0:14:49 | |
renewables, part of over �200 million of investment in renewable | 0:14:49 | 0:14:58 | |
such recommit to throughout this We are delivering on our climate | 0:14:58 | 0:15:05 | |
change targets. The further targets will shortly be in place until 2027. | 0:15:05 | 0:15:09 | |
Today we also publish our carbon assessment which set out spending | 0:15:09 | 0:15:15 | |
plans in terms of emissions. Investment in climate change is | 0:15:15 | 0:15:21 | |
bringing jobs and other benefits for communities. These are | 0:15:21 | 0:15:24 | |
demonstrated through the continuation of the hugely | 0:15:24 | 0:15:28 | |
successful climate challenge fund, the work of our energy assistance | 0:15:28 | 0:15:32 | |
package and the home installation scheme and our efficiency programme | 0:15:32 | 0:15:38 | |
has helped 800 businesses to reduce their waste and make better use of | 0:15:38 | 0:15:42 | |
resources. We will take forward our commitments manifesto which include | 0:15:42 | 0:15:47 | |
working to a 70 % target for recycled waste and a maximum of 5% | 0:15:47 | 0:15:52 | |
to be sent to landfill by 2025. We will press for the Scottish | 0:15:52 | 0:15:55 | |
Parliament to take on responsibility for the Crown Estate | 0:15:55 | 0:15:59 | |
Commission said that the resources generated in Scotland will stay in | 0:15:59 | 0:16:06 | |
Scotland. Of equal importance to the global agenda is the need to | 0:16:06 | 0:16:10 | |
insure actions we take to cut emissions also deliver benefits to | 0:16:10 | 0:16:14 | |
the people of Scotland. As I have mentioned, energy and resource | 0:16:14 | 0:16:19 | |
efficiency will be a priority, and assisting people and businesses to | 0:16:19 | 0:16:24 | |
be more efficient will tackle fuel poverty. We are working with energy | 0:16:24 | 0:16:28 | |
companies to strengthen their activities in Scotland and further | 0:16:28 | 0:16:32 | |
announcements will be made in due course. We aim to reduce impact on | 0:16:33 | 0:16:38 | |
transport, reduce congestion and support better public transport, | 0:16:38 | 0:16:40 | |
Active Travel and LOCOG and vehicles. This spending review | 0:16:40 | 0:16:44 | |
confirms an ambitious programme of delivery that we will take forward | 0:16:44 | 0:16:49 | |
over the life of this Parliament. However, the scale and breadth of | 0:16:49 | 0:16:53 | |
Westminster's cuts also mean we have been forced to make choices -- | 0:16:53 | 0:16:59 | |
tough choices. The equality statement published today sets at | 0:16:59 | 0:17:04 | |
the impact of our approach to continue to invest in building a | 0:17:04 | 0:17:09 | |
society where people achieve regardless of their background and | 0:17:09 | 0:17:15 | |
well -- and where barriers to opportunity got removed. To deliver | 0:17:15 | 0:17:18 | |
on our commitments we must strive for greater productivity, reduce | 0:17:18 | 0:17:22 | |
further the cost of Government, pursue a policy of peer restrained | 0:17:22 | 0:17:27 | |
and push forward our renewal of public services. We have taken a | 0:17:27 | 0:17:30 | |
strategic and collective approach to identifying our priorities and | 0:17:31 | 0:17:34 | |
savings. We are reducing organisational costs including a | 0:17:34 | 0:17:39 | |
reduction of 18% in the course of his Government's operating costs | 0:17:40 | 0:17:44 | |
over three years and with a requirement that all public bodies | 0:17:44 | 0:17:49 | |
will reduce the debt comparable cost. We will take forward the | 0:17:49 | 0:17:52 | |
recommendations in the MacLellan review of ICD infrastructure, | 0:17:52 | 0:17:57 | |
working with the Scottish futures Trust on our infrastructure | 0:17:57 | 0:18:06 | |
programme and building the approaches. We also need to ensure | 0:18:06 | 0:18:09 | |
we are the spending to the public appetite for services to be | 0:18:09 | 0:18:13 | |
delivered in ways convenient to them. The MacLellan review looked | 0:18:13 | 0:18:20 | |
at achieving better value for money from ICT Investment and in using | 0:18:20 | 0:18:24 | |
ICT for more effective sharing of services. In setting at the | 0:18:24 | 0:18:27 | |
Government's spending plans today, I expect every public sector | 0:18:27 | 0:18:30 | |
organisation to demonstrate how they will contribute to the | 0:18:30 | 0:18:35 | |
potential savings identified in a report of up to �1 billion in the | 0:18:35 | 0:18:38 | |
next five years. I have also considered the options for raising | 0:18:38 | 0:18:43 | |
additional income to help support investment. The updated | 0:18:43 | 0:18:48 | |
infrastructure investment plans will be published later in the | 0:18:48 | 0:18:52 | |
autumn, highlighting how we will improve asset management and | 0:18:52 | 0:18:55 | |
release savings. Building on the work of the Scottish features Trust, | 0:18:55 | 0:19:00 | |
we will take forward and asset management strategy for the central | 0:19:00 | 0:19:04 | |
Government to state to reduce its size by and his 25 % over the next | 0:19:04 | 0:19:08 | |
five years and achieve savings of around �28 million a year in | 0:19:08 | 0:19:14 | |
operating costs by 2016. Last year I had to at public sector workers | 0:19:14 | 0:19:17 | |
to bear some of the burden in dealing with the fall in public- | 0:19:17 | 0:19:21 | |
spending. We did that to protect employment in the public sector, | 0:19:21 | 0:19:25 | |
which is a valuable part of our economy and an essential foundation | 0:19:25 | 0:19:29 | |
of our public services. Public sector pay accounts for around 55 % | 0:19:29 | 0:19:32 | |
of the total Scottish resource budget and spending and decisions | 0:19:32 | 0:19:37 | |
in this area of vital to our overall financial position. A | 0:19:37 | 0:19:42 | |
public sector pay policies for 2012-13, published alongside the | 0:19:42 | 0:19:46 | |
spending review today, balance difficult decisions on tight peer | 0:19:46 | 0:19:49 | |
restraint with the need to sustain employment opportunities across the | 0:19:49 | 0:19:52 | |
public sector. To help maintain staffing levels, it is essential | 0:19:52 | 0:19:57 | |
that we continue to control pay growth and keep pay at an | 0:19:57 | 0:20:02 | |
affordable and sustainable level. The policy for 2012-13 therefore | 0:20:02 | 0:20:09 | |
extends the freeze on basic pay it and bonuses for a further year. In | 0:20:09 | 0:20:13 | |
implementing a basic pay freeze for all staff we have been able to | 0:20:13 | 0:20:17 | |
provide measures to support the lower paid. We will insure any | 0:20:17 | 0:20:20 | |
employee learning -- earning less than dredge �1,000 continues to | 0:20:20 | 0:20:26 | |
receive at least a �250 rise in net salary and I can announce that we | 0:20:26 | 0:20:30 | |
will be maintaining our commitment to the Scottish living wage, up | 0:20:30 | 0:20:37 | |
rating this to �7.20 an hour. Ministers will also be freezing | 0:20:37 | 0:20:43 | |
their own pay in 2012-13 for the fourth year in succession. My aim | 0:20:43 | 0:20:50 | |
is that 2012-13 will be the last year it of... And we may be able to | 0:20:50 | 0:20:55 | |
see modest increases in the year that followed. I express my | 0:20:55 | 0:20:57 | |
gratitude a game to the thousands of public-sector workers whose | 0:20:57 | 0:21:06 | |
commitment to their valuable work has continued. Our objective is to | 0:21:06 | 0:21:10 | |
protect public sector employment to support economic recovery. One of | 0:21:10 | 0:21:20 | |
0:21:20 | 0:21:24 | ||
the threats to that objective comes to -- from UK Government decisions. | 0:21:24 | 0:21:31 | |
The Government has made it clear that at a time of pressure, an | 0:21:31 | 0:21:35 | |
interruption in employee pension contributions is unwanted. But | 0:21:35 | 0:21:41 | |
should increases not be applied, the UK Government will decrease our | 0:21:41 | 0:21:45 | |
budget. That would reduce public sector employment and run contrary | 0:21:45 | 0:21:50 | |
to the direction of our employment policy. We believe that the UK | 0:21:50 | 0:21:53 | |
Government is taking the wrong course of action and we reiterate | 0:21:53 | 0:21:58 | |
our call for them to change direction. Should the UK Government | 0:21:58 | 0:22:01 | |
refused to change its position, the Scottish Government will have no | 0:22:01 | 0:22:05 | |
choice but to apply the increases in employee pension contributions | 0:22:05 | 0:22:11 | |
for NHS, teachers, police and fire schemes in Scotland. We were put in | 0:22:11 | 0:22:15 | |
place protections for the low-paid and we will leave the decision | 0:22:15 | 0:22:18 | |
making under the local Government pension scheme to those who manage | 0:22:18 | 0:22:23 | |
that scheme. We will not impose on local Government in Scotland what | 0:22:23 | 0:22:25 | |
the United Kingdom Government has imposed on us. | 0:22:25 | 0:22:33 | |
The pensions issue illustrates the need for this parliament and | 0:22:33 | 0:22:37 | |
Government to be responsible for our own resources and revenue | 0:22:37 | 0:22:41 | |
instead of being held to ransom by a United Kingdom Government that | 0:22:41 | 0:22:43 | |
the people of Scotland did not vote for. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:50 | |
Given the impact of these changes on public sector workers, the | 0:22:50 | 0:22:55 | |
Scottish Government makes clear we will continue in 2012-13 our policy | 0:22:55 | 0:22:58 | |
of no compulsory redundancies for those areas under our direct | 0:22:58 | 0:23:02 | |
control. Within this commitment, we will pursue agreements on flexible | 0:23:02 | 0:23:07 | |
working practices which will reduce costs while maintaining head count | 0:23:07 | 0:23:11 | |
and services. The people of Scotland attach the highest Bali to | 0:23:11 | 0:23:16 | |
the public services and the Government shares his view. -- | 0:23:16 | 0:23:24 | |
value. As we promised in our manifesto, we are protecting | 0:23:24 | 0:23:28 | |
national health service spending but allocating an additional �826 | 0:23:28 | 0:23:32 | |
million to the health revenue budget in Scotland over three years. | 0:23:32 | 0:23:37 | |
This means our commitment to pass on in full to the NHS and Scotland | 0:23:37 | 0:23:41 | |
-- in Scotland the benefit of the bonnet resource consequential from | 0:23:41 | 0:23:46 | |
the UK health settlement. As a result of this commitment and at a | 0:23:46 | 0:23:51 | |
time of real time reductions in the overall Scottish budget, the core | 0:23:51 | 0:23:57 | |
budgets that the health boards have to spend are protected in real | 0:23:57 | 0:24:05 | |
terms in each of the next three years. This will allow us to drive | 0:24:05 | 0:24:08 | |
forward continuous improvement in the quality of health care services | 0:24:08 | 0:24:13 | |
in the interests of our economy with the help of well-being and | 0:24:13 | 0:24:15 | |
communities across Scotland. We will continue to work in | 0:24:16 | 0:24:21 | |
partnership with local Government. We have discussed and agreed with | 0:24:21 | 0:24:27 | |
Cosla leadership and approach with national and local Government. The | 0:24:27 | 0:24:30 | |
settlement will allow local authorities to deliver it the | 0:24:30 | 0:24:36 | |
impact of shared... Including freezing the council tax, helping | 0:24:36 | 0:24:39 | |
families through to have economic times, funding police boards to | 0:24:39 | 0:24:44 | |
allow them to maintain 1000 additional police officers on our | 0:24:44 | 0:24:47 | |
streets, maintaining teacher numbers in line with pupil numbers, | 0:24:47 | 0:24:52 | |
and securing places for all probationers under the teacher | 0:24:52 | 0:24:56 | |
induction scheme and meeting the needs of our most vulnerable and | 0:24:56 | 0:24:59 | |
elderly through the NHS councils working together to improve adult | 0:25:00 | 0:25:08 | |
social care. The 2011-12 funding will be maintained, but with | 0:25:08 | 0:25:13 | |
additional resources to maintain teacher employment. Local | 0:25:13 | 0:25:16 | |
Government throughout the spending review will receive a larger share | 0:25:16 | 0:25:18 | |
of the funds controlled by the Scottish Government including | 0:25:18 | 0:25:25 | |
business rates and the position we inherited in 2007-2008. I also | 0:25:25 | 0:25:30 | |
confirmed that from 2012-13 onwards, the Government will honour its | 0:25:30 | 0:25:34 | |
commitment to ensure no local authority receives less than 85 % | 0:25:34 | 0:25:38 | |
of the average per-capita support of Scottish Local authorities. In | 0:25:38 | 0:25:42 | |
addition, I have to get a decision on the local Government capital | 0:25:42 | 0:25:45 | |
settlement that maintains their share of the total capital funding | 0:25:45 | 0:25:49 | |
across the period but will be re profiled over the main deck -- | 0:25:49 | 0:25:55 | |
remainder of this Parliament. We want to maximise the ability -- | 0:25:55 | 0:25:59 | |
availability of capital spending and recognise that local | 0:25:59 | 0:26:03 | |
governments have the power to borrow to supplement their budgets. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:07 | |
We will work with local governments to see to what extent this can be | 0:26:07 | 0:26:13 | |
used. The strong support for key public services and local | 0:26:13 | 0:26:17 | |
Government and the NHS provides the foundation for setting out the way | 0:26:17 | 0:26:21 | |
ahead in public service reform. The Government has pursued a vigorous | 0:26:21 | 0:26:26 | |
programme of efficiency and public service reform since 2007. We MORI | 0:26:27 | 0:26:34 | |
the work of the independent budget received. -- we appreciate the work. | 0:26:34 | 0:26:40 | |
Today, alongside the spending review, I am publishing a response | 0:26:40 | 0:26:44 | |
to the Christie Commission. These reviews have informed are decisions | 0:26:44 | 0:26:48 | |
for the future. We will lead an ambitious programme of Sir -- | 0:26:48 | 0:26:51 | |
public service reform that challenges the public sector in | 0:26:51 | 0:26:54 | |
Scotland to reshape, integrate and deliver better services to those | 0:26:54 | 0:26:59 | |
who use them, consistent with the recommendations of the Christie | 0:26:59 | 0:27:02 | |
Commission and with the requirement to deliver savings. Ministers have | 0:27:02 | 0:27:06 | |
already set out our plans for the creation of a single police and | 0:27:06 | 0:27:09 | |
single fire and rescue Service, as the best way to safeguard the vital | 0:27:09 | 0:27:13 | |
frontline services upon which communities depend. The case for | 0:27:13 | 0:27:17 | |
reform is clear. Single services for Scotland will retain local | 0:27:17 | 0:27:21 | |
services for local communities while giving all parts of Scotland | 0:27:21 | 0:27:24 | |
access to national expertise and assets whenever and wherever they | 0:27:24 | 0:27:30 | |
are needed. Estimated savings of �130 million per year can be | 0:27:30 | 0:27:34 | |
achieved by making sure money is spent on the front line and not on | 0:27:34 | 0:27:39 | |
unnecessary duplication across eight services. We have also | 0:27:39 | 0:27:43 | |
started a significant programme of reform of post 16 education, | 0:27:43 | 0:27:47 | |
putting learners at the centre. This will reflect our determination | 0:27:47 | 0:27:51 | |
to make the whole post 16 education system deliver better outcomes for | 0:27:51 | 0:27:55 | |
individuals, outcomes, and ultimately, the economy. They | 0:27:55 | 0:27:59 | |
reformed system will prioritise provision for young people, help | 0:27:59 | 0:28:02 | |
learners develop the skills employers need now for the future, | 0:28:02 | 0:28:07 | |
and support the development of businesses. As part of the public | 0:28:07 | 0:28:10 | |
sector reform agenda we will give full consideration to the proposals | 0:28:10 | 0:28:14 | |
from local Government to deliver savings by removing the need for | 0:28:14 | 0:28:18 | |
authorities to advertise public information, to strengthen their | 0:28:18 | 0:28:22 | |
constitutional role and to extend the duty of best value across the | 0:28:22 | 0:28:28 | |
public sector. We have also made clear our intention to integrate | 0:28:28 | 0:28:32 | |
health and social care services more closely to help other people. | 0:28:32 | 0:28:37 | |
There will be four themes to our public service reform agenda. First, | 0:28:37 | 0:28:42 | |
the improvement on outcomes for older people will seek an | 0:28:42 | 0:28:46 | |
integration of services driven by better collaboration. Building on | 0:28:46 | 0:28:51 | |
progress achieved in the last four years. We will sharpen the focus of | 0:28:51 | 0:28:55 | |
public services as a magnet for partnership and the bases for | 0:28:55 | 0:29:00 | |
stronger community participation in the design of local services. The | 0:29:00 | 0:29:02 | |
Government will drive for greater collaboration in services design | 0:29:02 | 0:29:06 | |
and collaborate at a local level, firmly in line with the focus on | 0:29:06 | 0:29:11 | |
improving outcomes we have taken forward since 2007 in joint work | 0:29:11 | 0:29:15 | |
with the local Government, the health service and the third sector. | 0:29:15 | 0:29:18 | |
Second, there should be greater investment in people who deliver | 0:29:18 | 0:29:21 | |
services, through enhanced workforce development, and we | 0:29:21 | 0:29:26 | |
reject the argument that suggests that public sector employment is a | 0:29:26 | 0:29:29 | |
drain on the nation's resources. We are certain that the work done by | 0:29:29 | 0:29:33 | |
public-sector workers is essential to underpin our national prosperity | 0:29:33 | 0:29:38 | |
and quality of life. We have done our utmost to safeguard frontline | 0:29:38 | 0:29:42 | |
posts by Pierre restraint and going forward, we are committed to the | 0:29:42 | 0:29:45 | |
further development of the public service workforce and its | 0:29:45 | 0:29:50 | |
leadership. Third, we have committed to creating an open and | 0:29:50 | 0:29:53 | |
rigorous performance culture within Scottish public services to create | 0:29:53 | 0:29:57 | |
greater clarity around objectives and a short clear lines of | 0:29:57 | 0:30:05 | |
accountability that stance of service will be improved. External | 0:30:05 | 0:30:11 | |
scrutiny such as audits in -- an inspection can assist local | 0:30:11 | 0:30:14 | |
authorities and partners to work together to deliver even better | 0:30:14 | 0:30:18 | |
outcomes. I have therefore written today to the Accounts Commission, | 0:30:18 | 0:30:23 | |
asking them to work with others to explore how best scrutiny activity | 0:30:23 | 0:30:33 | |
0:30:33 | 0:30:35 | ||
We must not lose sight of our duty to recruit our country for the | 0:30:35 | 0:30:40 | |
challenges ahead. That is why it Keast feature of this Spending | 0:30:40 | 0:30:42 | |
Review is setting up a long-term course for their country. The | 0:30:43 | 0:30:47 | |
decision of the people to give his government a parliamentary majority | 0:30:47 | 0:30:51 | |
provides us with the opportunity to take bold action for the future. | 0:30:51 | 0:30:56 | |
am delighted to announce that this Spending Review marks a decisive | 0:30:56 | 0:30:59 | |
shift towards preventative spending in Scotland, the 4th and final | 0:31:00 | 0:31:03 | |
element of our Public Service Reform agenda. Focusing on | 0:31:03 | 0:31:08 | |
preventing problems by intervening area is not only the right approach, | 0:31:08 | 0:31:12 | |
but too many of the social and other issues facing us today, as it | 0:31:12 | 0:31:18 | |
also secures better value for the taxpayer. It will help to tackle | 0:31:18 | 0:31:20 | |
inequalities and insure the sustainability of our public | 0:31:20 | 0:31:26 | |
services, as demand for a range of acute services reduces over time. | 0:31:26 | 0:31:30 | |
The government's shift to target investment in preventative approach | 0:31:30 | 0:31:35 | |
is that deliver better outcomes and value for money, in respect to the | 0:31:36 | 0:31:40 | |
parliamentary consensus. Our focus will be on supporting adult social | 0:31:40 | 0:31:45 | |
care, and tackling reoffending with specific funding that will only be | 0:31:45 | 0:31:49 | |
available for joint working across institutional boundaries and | 0:31:49 | 0:31:53 | |
sectors. Over the next three years, through joint work, preventative | 0:31:53 | 0:31:58 | |
spending initiatives will be boosted by a total of over �500 | 0:31:58 | 0:32:04 | |
million. In order to support for the shift to preventative spending, | 0:32:04 | 0:32:10 | |
I have looked to increase revenue for this purpose. Scotland's health | 0:32:11 | 0:32:14 | |
and social problems associated with alcohol and tobacco abuse are well | 0:32:14 | 0:32:17 | |
documented, and they are things we are addressed -- committed to | 0:32:17 | 0:32:22 | |
addressing. They affect their health of the population and create | 0:32:22 | 0:32:28 | |
additional burdens on policing and the NHS. As such, I propose that | 0:32:28 | 0:32:31 | |
the business rates paid by large retailers on tobacco and alcohol | 0:32:31 | 0:32:37 | |
will be increased by a supplement from the first will be able to 1012. | 0:32:37 | 0:32:42 | |
Four the estimated income this will raise will be used to contribute | 0:32:42 | 0:32:45 | |
towards the preventative send letters that will be taken forward | 0:32:45 | 0:32:48 | |
jointly with the Scottish Government, local authorities, the | 0:32:48 | 0:32:53 | |
NHS and the third sector. They will be complemented by the launch of | 0:32:53 | 0:32:58 | |
the Scottish Futures Fund which we promised at the election. We will | 0:32:58 | 0:33:02 | |
invest more than �160 million over their next three years, and a | 0:33:02 | 0:33:07 | |
further �90 million across the five components of this fund, to support | 0:33:07 | 0:33:11 | |
our key social environmental and economic objectives. The move to | 0:33:11 | 0:33:15 | |
preventative spending, the launch of the Scottish Futures Fund. These | 0:33:15 | 0:33:18 | |
are the actions of a government building a nation fit for the | 0:33:18 | 0:33:22 | |
future. At the heart of this government's work is our | 0:33:22 | 0:33:26 | |
partnership with the Scottish people. The social wage is one part | 0:33:26 | 0:33:30 | |
of our commitment to building a freer society. It means that in | 0:33:30 | 0:33:33 | |
that time of financial constraint for households, the government | 0:33:33 | 0:33:36 | |
seeks to give a helping hand. It means that where council tax is | 0:33:36 | 0:33:42 | |
frozen, prescriptions and personal care are free. Concessionary bus | 0:33:42 | 0:33:46 | |
travel is available and access to higher education is based on the | 0:33:46 | 0:33:50 | |
ability to succeed rather than the ability to pay. We all share a part | 0:33:50 | 0:33:53 | |
of the Scotland we want to be, despite the financial pressures | 0:33:53 | 0:33:59 | |
they face, we believe that to be the correct approach. The | 0:33:59 | 0:34:01 | |
government has had just -- published a budget that he quit | 0:34:02 | 0:34:07 | |
Scotland for the challenges that lie ahead. I stand ready to support | 0:34:07 | 0:34:11 | |
parliament's detailed scrutiny of these proposals. We have set out | 0:34:11 | 0:34:15 | |
her response to the challenges we face, making tough choices they | 0:34:15 | 0:34:19 | |
require. Our decisions are designed to equip Scotland for economic | 0:34:19 | 0:34:23 | |
recovery, sustainable public services and new opportunities for | 0:34:23 | 0:34:32 | |
our people. I commend the budget to parliament. | 0:34:32 | 0:34:37 | |
John Swinney delivering his draft budget there during these tough | 0:34:37 | 0:34:43 | |
economic times, promising to transfer more than �750 million | 0:34:43 | 0:34:45 | |
into the capital investment programme to support economic | 0:34:45 | 0:34:54 | |
recovery. Good afternoon. Let's get some instant reaction from our | 0:34:54 | 0:34:58 | |
guests in the studio, our business and economy editor, Douglas Fraser | 0:34:58 | 0:35:03 | |
and John McLaren from the Centre for Public Policy for the regions. | 0:35:03 | 0:35:09 | |
Douglas, you instant reaction to that budget? No big surprises | 0:35:09 | 0:35:12 | |
compared with what we had expected, and a lot of top spin about what | 0:35:12 | 0:35:16 | |
they're doing. I suspect there is a lot hidden in this, particularly | 0:35:16 | 0:35:20 | |
when you look at the increases for departments other than health. | 0:35:20 | 0:35:23 | |
Health is getting an increase in line with inflation, but it may not | 0:35:23 | 0:35:27 | |
be in line with all the inflation we are seeing over the next three | 0:35:27 | 0:35:31 | |
years. The other departments are going to Take That squeeze, and it | 0:35:31 | 0:35:36 | |
is putting an awful lot of emphasis on to higher you get efficiency in | 0:35:36 | 0:35:41 | |
order to deal with the squeeze they're going to have to take. It | 0:35:41 | 0:35:46 | |
looks like one area of controversy will be with the council. There | 0:35:46 | 0:35:50 | |
does not seem to be any new money to pay for this year's council tax | 0:35:50 | 0:35:59 | |
freeze. They had been encouraged not to increase it. That does not | 0:35:59 | 0:36:03 | |
look like the case this year. And they are being asked to use their | 0:36:03 | 0:36:08 | |
borrowing powers in order to fill some gaps in the capital budget. | 0:36:08 | 0:36:12 | |
John McLaren, a key point in the Budget. What were the other key | 0:36:12 | 0:36:18 | |
points? There is a pay freeze for one more year, which helps things, | 0:36:18 | 0:36:24 | |
but then, it says it is an end. Then he said we may be able to give | 0:36:24 | 0:36:31 | |
you some extra money after that. Additives like, how much? That is | 0:36:31 | 0:36:36 | |
the big unknown. But there are a number of areas where new money has | 0:36:36 | 0:36:42 | |
had to be found and moved. So the money from resource to capital | 0:36:42 | 0:36:50 | |
budget, more than 800 million for Health, but there has not been | 0:36:50 | 0:36:55 | |
anywhere that new money has come from. And so there is going to be a | 0:36:55 | 0:36:59 | |
squeeze elsewhere. At the moment, it is difficult to see where that | 0:36:59 | 0:37:04 | |
is. Perhaps it is just from the efficiency savings. Because that, | 0:37:04 | 0:37:09 | |
from the manifesto, was where most of the savings come from. But you | 0:37:09 | 0:37:13 | |
can find anything, including council tax freeze if you use those | 0:37:13 | 0:37:18 | |
efficiency savings. But what are they? Are a real? How do you insure | 0:37:18 | 0:37:22 | |
their happen? Douglas, the Conservatives were saying | 0:37:22 | 0:37:25 | |
efficiency savings should be monitored to see if they are true | 0:37:25 | 0:37:31 | |
and actual. And insisting there on the tax for retailers on alcohol | 0:37:31 | 0:37:37 | |
and tobacco use? For yes, one year ago, John Swinney proposed nearly | 0:37:37 | 0:37:44 | |
�30 million of additional tax. got knocked back because he did not | 0:37:44 | 0:37:47 | |
have a majority then to do so. He does not have a problem with that | 0:37:47 | 0:37:51 | |
now, but he does have a problem if retailers are told that tax is | 0:37:51 | 0:37:56 | |
going to go up. It is an odd signal to send when you are trying to | 0:37:56 | 0:38:01 | |
reduce tax. But if you are hitting tobacco and alcohol, that is what | 0:38:01 | 0:38:07 | |
he is going after this time. That involves the same people, the big | 0:38:07 | 0:38:11 | |
supermarkets. And he is clearly going to pursue them for that. Also | 0:38:11 | 0:38:18 | |
worth looking at his is invest to save - the preventative spending. | 0:38:18 | 0:38:21 | |
Everybody can agree that is a good thing to do, to keep somebody out | 0:38:21 | 0:38:26 | |
of prison 20 years by-now by making sure they get good schooling this | 0:38:26 | 0:38:31 | |
year. But that is very expensive. Your reward is 20 years from now a. | 0:38:32 | 0:38:36 | |
And this does not seem like an easy time to do that. He seems to be | 0:38:36 | 0:38:39 | |
freeing up money from elsewhere, we have yet to find out where, to make | 0:38:39 | 0:38:47 | |
that possible. Four we go back to the chamber. | 0:38:47 | 0:38:50 | |
The Scottish Government is passing on the painful stop the crucial | 0:38:50 | 0:38:54 | |
part of that is that once again, it is being passed on to local | 0:38:54 | 0:38:58 | |
authorities. The fight your council tax freeze, the pledge on police | 0:38:58 | 0:39:05 | |
numbers. The Christie Commission tells us that the gap between | 0:39:05 | 0:39:10 | |
revenue and demand for local authorities by 2016 will be �3 | 0:39:10 | 0:39:17 | |
billion. If councils are to meet the costs of the SNP's ledgers, it | 0:39:18 | 0:39:22 | |
will mean more council workers losing their jobs, further cuts in | 0:39:22 | 0:39:25 | |
service and the evidence of the last Parliament is that education | 0:39:25 | 0:39:30 | |
and social work budgets will be badly hit. It will mean more and | 0:39:30 | 0:39:37 | |
more public sector jobs going, it will mean some of the most | 0:39:37 | 0:39:40 | |
vulnerable in our communities being denied the services on which they | 0:39:40 | 0:39:44 | |
depend, and it will hit local education budgets, which are | 0:39:44 | 0:39:48 | |
crucial to our young people. The Scottish Government might think | 0:39:48 | 0:39:55 | |
this is a good political trick, but these will be cuts because of | 0:39:55 | 0:39:58 | |
decisions they have taken. And I have no doubt they will be resisted | 0:39:58 | 0:40:04 | |
strongly. We know there is great concern amongst her local-authority | 0:40:04 | 0:40:08 | |
leaders, at least amongst those who are allowed to be concerned about | 0:40:08 | 0:40:13 | |
the settlement. That is clear from the fact that there is no agreement | 0:40:13 | 0:40:17 | |
with local authority leaders that this settlement is adequate in a | 0:40:17 | 0:40:22 | |
number of key areas. On maintaining police numbers, all that has been | 0:40:22 | 0:40:26 | |
currently agreed is that there will be flat cash settlements for police | 0:40:26 | 0:40:30 | |
forces. No commitment that this will be enough to maintain numbers. | 0:40:30 | 0:40:35 | |
We have already voiced her concern that the loss of hundreds of police | 0:40:35 | 0:40:39 | |
Staffs. Despite the many statements made in advance of the elections on | 0:40:39 | 0:40:43 | |
Scottish Government policy on no compulsory redundancies, no such | 0:40:43 | 0:40:47 | |
agreement has been reached with local authorities. And there is | 0:40:47 | 0:40:52 | |
great concern amongst councils about Mr Swinney's plans to cut | 0:40:52 | 0:40:58 | |
their capital spending by �120 million, and �100 million in the | 0:40:58 | 0:41:01 | |
next two years, in the expectation that they will borrowed to fill | 0:41:01 | 0:41:05 | |
this gap over that period. I am a supporter of the Scottish | 0:41:05 | 0:41:08 | |
Government having borrowing powers at a higher level than those | 0:41:08 | 0:41:12 | |
proposed in the Scotland Bill, and at a faster rate. But in asking | 0:41:12 | 0:41:16 | |
local authorities to do that borrowing for them, Mr Swinney has | 0:41:16 | 0:41:20 | |
received no commitment this will actually happen. And given the | 0:41:20 | 0:41:23 | |
financial pressures local authorities are under, this cannot | 0:41:23 | 0:41:27 | |
be surprising, particularly because he has apparently not said if he | 0:41:27 | 0:41:30 | |
will reimburse councils for the substantial interest payments which | 0:41:30 | 0:41:35 | |
will accrue on those loans. We can only hope that this move will not | 0:41:35 | 0:41:38 | |
mean that and local infrastructure investment will be stalled or | 0:41:38 | 0:41:43 | |
cancelled. We do not believe this is a fiscal stimulus, but rather, a | 0:41:43 | 0:41:48 | |
slight of hand. This is of crucial importance, because one area of | 0:41:48 | 0:41:52 | |
agreement in principle between us is on the need to maximise spending | 0:41:52 | 0:41:58 | |
on infrastructure in order to stimulate economic growth. Richard | 0:41:58 | 0:42:02 | |
Baker their. Live coverage of the Scottish budget debate continues on | 0:42:02 | 0:42:08 | |
our website. We will go to the Garden Lobby, | 0:42:08 | 0:42:17 | |
where we can speak to Paul wheelhouse and Lewis MacDonald. | 0:42:17 | 0:42:24 | |
Good afternoon. Paul, first of all, let's take up on what Richard Baker | 0:42:24 | 0:42:28 | |
was saying. The local authorities had been left high and dry and are | 0:42:28 | 0:42:32 | |
having to borrow to fund his plans? For example, the council tax freeze | 0:42:32 | 0:42:39 | |
well stocked I would not make that linkage myself. I think it is clear | 0:42:40 | 0:42:42 | |
that in 2011 local government will have a higher share than they had | 0:42:42 | 0:42:48 | |
prior to coming into office in 2007, and in terms of borrowing powers, | 0:42:48 | 0:42:53 | |
we are anticipating the Scotland Bill will give us borrowing powers | 0:42:53 | 0:42:58 | |
to fund capital projects. It is too early to jump to conclusions that | 0:42:58 | 0:43:02 | |
local government is being punished. But you criticise Labour for | 0:43:02 | 0:43:07 | |
running up debt. It looks like this is what the SNP are doing. It looks | 0:43:07 | 0:43:12 | |
like John Swinney is pushing that pressure on to local councils so | 0:43:12 | 0:43:20 | |
that he can balance his books. on as John is a fitting description, | 0:43:20 | 0:43:25 | |
but what we are talking about here, there is obviously a severe drop | 0:43:25 | 0:43:29 | |
off in the capital budget and the Scottish Government has to work | 0:43:29 | 0:43:32 | |
with. And we are asking for a partnership between the Scottish | 0:43:32 | 0:43:35 | |
Government and local governments to ensure that vital projects can | 0:43:35 | 0:43:42 | |
Tintin youth -- continue. And we have an opportunity with the | 0:43:42 | 0:43:45 | |
introduction of borrowing powers later on in the turn of the | 0:43:45 | 0:43:49 | |
parliament to try and increase the capital funding we have available. | 0:43:49 | 0:43:58 | |
Lewis MacDonald, the haters could have been left by your own | 0:43:58 | 0:44:02 | |
government. Are you not impressed that John Swinney is doing a good | 0:44:02 | 0:44:08 | |
job in balancing the books? If no, because what I have seen so far or | 0:44:08 | 0:44:14 | |
shows that the way he is doing it... We need to see the detail. And when | 0:44:14 | 0:44:20 | |
we see an example of money being cut from the housing regeneration | 0:44:20 | 0:44:26 | |
programme, you have to ask whether indeed housing regeneration are | 0:44:26 | 0:44:30 | |
being given the priority they deserve. We have also a singer Cat | 0:44:30 | 0:44:37 | |
in the funding for further education, up also for capital | 0:44:37 | 0:44:42 | |
funding of Scottish Water, on the very day we have heard reports of | 0:44:42 | 0:44:46 | |
unsafe water delivery in the north of Glasgow a few months ago. There | 0:44:46 | 0:44:50 | |
are real concerns about where these cuts will hit, and when Paul | 0:44:50 | 0:44:53 | |
Wheelhouse talks about asking for a partnership with local government, | 0:44:54 | 0:44:57 | |
we have to ask the question, when used a partnership, do you mean it | 0:44:58 | 0:45:00 | |
you agree or do you mean that John Swinney tells the councils that | 0:45:01 | 0:45:08 | |
they are funding -- their funding will be be profiled by the Scottish | 0:45:08 | 0:45:12 | |
Government with no pay back from the Scottish Government for the | 0:45:12 | 0:45:15 | |
money. So, a while we do not know the detail, we are concerned by | 0:45:15 | 0:45:25 | |
0:45:25 | 0:45:26 | ||
What will happen with Labour council leaders across Scotland? | 0:45:26 | 0:45:30 | |
Last time Mr Swinney managed to insure the council tax freeze using | 0:45:30 | 0:45:35 | |
the carrot and stick method. think Labour council leaders will | 0:45:35 | 0:45:39 | |
be very concerned at what has been put in front of them and will want | 0:45:39 | 0:45:44 | |
to know first to the detail and second how their ability to deliver | 0:45:44 | 0:45:51 | |
public services for their communities will be affected. There | 0:45:51 | 0:45:55 | |
may be a degree of compulsion around that so-called partnership | 0:45:55 | 0:46:03 | |
approach. We also know because of the SNP are planning a five-year | 0:46:03 | 0:46:09 | |
council tax freeze, we are bound to wonder how that will allow public | 0:46:09 | 0:46:14 | |
services to continue to be funded towards the end of that period. | 0:46:15 | 0:46:23 | |
Paul, so many of the new SNP's have come from a local Government. What | 0:46:23 | 0:46:27 | |
do you make of that, about this compulsion and have divorced | 0:46:27 | 0:46:34 | |
partnership working? I do not think there is an enforced compulsion. | 0:46:34 | 0:46:40 | |
There is an incentive here for councils to conform to the council | 0:46:40 | 0:46:45 | |
tax freeze, because they are asking their employees and residents to | 0:46:45 | 0:46:51 | |
absorb the pay freeze for the forthcoming year. There is a | 0:46:51 | 0:46:55 | |
requirement then to introduce a social wage which we very much back | 0:46:55 | 0:46:59 | |
in the SNP. There is a responsibility for individual | 0:46:59 | 0:47:03 | |
families and those working in the public sector and we have a council | 0:47:03 | 0:47:06 | |
tax freeze which allows them to maintain their standard of living | 0:47:06 | 0:47:11 | |
without putting additional pressure on as a result of Westminster's | 0:47:11 | 0:47:18 | |
cuts. Thank you very much. There is one other major political event | 0:47:18 | 0:47:22 | |
taking place this afternoon. The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, | 0:47:22 | 0:47:25 | |
is due to address the party faithful at the Lib Dem conference | 0:47:25 | 0:47:30 | |
in Birmingham. He has spent the week trying to convince the public | 0:47:30 | 0:47:32 | |
that the Lib Dems are making a difference in Government. Let's | 0:47:32 | 0:47:37 | |
cross once again to of Westminster correspondent who is standing by | 0:47:37 | 0:47:42 | |
behind the conference hall. about a quarter of an hour, Nick | 0:47:42 | 0:47:46 | |
Clegg will be getting up to make that speech and what has he got to | 0:47:46 | 0:47:50 | |
say, and what type of a week has it been for the Liberal Democrats down | 0:47:50 | 0:47:54 | |
here in Birmingham? To answer those questions, I enjoyed by two | 0:47:54 | 0:47:58 | |
Scottish activists, Jenni Lang from Edinburgh and Callum Leslie from | 0:47:58 | 0:48:04 | |
Fife. Jenni, what has your leader got to do this afternoon to rebuild | 0:48:04 | 0:48:09 | |
the party's confidence in what has been a dreadful year for you in | 0:48:09 | 0:48:14 | |
electoral terms. The press seem to be quite bemused by the fact that | 0:48:14 | 0:48:18 | |
at this conference we have all been upbeat and there has not been a | 0:48:18 | 0:48:22 | |
sense of panic. He does not need to do much to build our confidence. | 0:48:22 | 0:48:28 | |
The number of people who have campaigned remember of -- a time | 0:48:28 | 0:48:34 | |
when poll ratings were down and there was no discernible support. | 0:48:34 | 0:48:38 | |
We are comfortable where we have to go and we know what we have to do. | 0:48:38 | 0:48:42 | |
I think the key now is looking forward and for the speech today, | 0:48:42 | 0:48:47 | |
it has got to be about looking forward and the positives we are | 0:48:47 | 0:48:53 | |
bringing to Government. Callum Leslie, you are from the Fife area. | 0:48:53 | 0:48:58 | |
How easily are you and your colleagues in the Liberal Democrats | 0:48:58 | 0:49:02 | |
about the body beamed in coalition with the Conservatives, and it | 0:49:02 | 0:49:06 | |
seems as far as Scotland is concerned, you pay a price for that | 0:49:06 | 0:49:12 | |
in May. There is no doubt be paid a price. The Liberal Democrats have | 0:49:12 | 0:49:16 | |
always paid a price for being the junior partner in a coalition. They | 0:49:16 | 0:49:22 | |
do not think we are finding it easy to be in the collision but we are | 0:49:22 | 0:49:31 | |
confident we were made -- we make the correct decision. The | 0:49:31 | 0:49:40 | |
electorate chose not to give any part in the majority. The message | 0:49:40 | 0:49:44 | |
he is going to get across this afternoon is, it is tough being in | 0:49:44 | 0:49:48 | |
coalition. It is right that we will have to come on with the reduction | 0:49:48 | 0:49:52 | |
plans for the deficit. Is that a message you can sell on the | 0:49:52 | 0:49:56 | |
doorsteps in Fife? That is definitely what we have to do and | 0:49:56 | 0:50:01 | |
that is how we go about regaining the support of voters. The | 0:50:01 | 0:50:05 | |
activists need to get back on doorsteps and spell at the | 0:50:05 | 0:50:10 | |
positives to local people. When we go back, it is because the Liberal | 0:50:11 | 0:50:16 | |
Democrats are in Government that the poorest families have been | 0:50:16 | 0:50:20 | |
lifted out of income tax. It is about selling those things. There | 0:50:20 | 0:50:23 | |
is a number of things that have happened because the Liberal | 0:50:23 | 0:50:27 | |
Democrats are in Government and would not have happened if it had | 0:50:27 | 0:50:31 | |
been a Conservative minority. Those things we can take to the doorstep. | 0:50:31 | 0:50:34 | |
We have to start being more confident in going out and telling | 0:50:34 | 0:50:40 | |
the good stories we have to tell. For Scotland, the big question is | 0:50:40 | 0:50:44 | |
independence referendum. What is your view on this? Your party seems | 0:50:44 | 0:50:48 | |
to be saying when it comes along they will fight against it. Should | 0:50:48 | 0:50:52 | |
your party be more proactive on that? My personal view is that we | 0:50:52 | 0:50:56 | |
should have done it in the previous Government, prior to the SNP having | 0:50:56 | 0:51:00 | |
the majority. At that point, the question would have been possibly | 0:51:00 | 0:51:04 | |
quite different to what we may get in this particular Government. Do I | 0:51:04 | 0:51:09 | |
think we should be independent? Absolutely not. Should be campaign | 0:51:09 | 0:51:16 | |
against it? Absolutely. Should we ask the questions? I am a Liberal | 0:51:16 | 0:51:19 | |
Democrat and I believe in the will of the people. They should be asked | 0:51:19 | 0:51:23 | |
the question. Karen, do you want to see a referendum sooner rather than | 0:51:23 | 0:51:31 | |
later? -- Callum. Yes but we need to see the SNP coming clean on the | 0:51:31 | 0:51:36 | |
costs and implications of independence. We really need to see | 0:51:36 | 0:51:41 | |
a bit more leadership from the SNP on this, to show they are fit to | 0:51:41 | 0:51:44 | |
govern and to give us a straight answer on the costs and | 0:51:44 | 0:51:49 | |
implications of independence. you very much. I will let you get | 0:51:49 | 0:51:52 | |
back into the conference now when the fight will be making that | 0:51:52 | 0:51:54 | |
speech probably in about ten minutes or quarter of an hour, | 0:51:54 | 0:51:59 | |
where he will be answering that specific question that still many | 0:51:59 | 0:52:03 | |
Liberal Democrats have, if we are in coalition, what are we in | 0:52:03 | 0:52:07 | |
coalition for? And secondly, how to have the will things be in the | 0:52:07 | 0:52:13 | |
weeks and months ahead? We will have that speech from Nick | 0:52:13 | 0:52:16 | |
Clegg lies. The political commentator Hamish Macdonell is | 0:52:16 | 0:52:24 | |
with me for the rest of the programme. What political message | 0:52:24 | 0:52:30 | |
is John Swinney trying to convey? With this budget there are two | 0:52:30 | 0:52:33 | |
distant stories. There is the number crunching and the economics | 0:52:33 | 0:52:37 | |
of it and then the politics. There is a fairly clear political thread | 0:52:37 | 0:52:41 | |
that runs all the way through this and it is to do with comparisons | 0:52:41 | 0:52:45 | |
and particularly comparisons with England. If you look at what he | 0:52:45 | 0:52:49 | |
says, he's saying, learn from us in Scotland. We are doing it right. It | 0:52:49 | 0:52:53 | |
took him just two minutes to mention how could the unemployment | 0:52:53 | 0:52:57 | |
statistics are in Scotland compared to England. Then he says, give us | 0:52:57 | 0:53:01 | |
more powers and we will do even better. Finally, he says our aim is | 0:53:01 | 0:53:05 | |
that Scotland will be in a better position than England. Come the | 0:53:05 | 0:53:08 | |
referendum, we will have the statistics to prove it so that the | 0:53:08 | 0:53:11 | |
public can then vote for independence. That is the political | 0:53:11 | 0:53:14 | |
thread running through it and that is a consistent theme we have seen | 0:53:14 | 0:53:20 | |
from the SNP. One of us talking to the SNP MSP earlier, I was | 0:53:20 | 0:53:23 | |
mentioning be honest John caricature all. Is John Swinney | 0:53:23 | 0:53:29 | |
able to blame London and then shift some of the blame on to local | 0:53:29 | 0:53:35 | |
councils to maintain his team come up -- clean-cut image? This is | 0:53:35 | 0:53:39 | |
where he has trouble all we in the future. There are couple of | 0:53:39 | 0:53:44 | |
constituencies at their way he has to try to sort it out. One thing is | 0:53:44 | 0:53:47 | |
the councils and there are things in the Budget which a lot of | 0:53:47 | 0:53:49 | |
councils will find very difficult to swallow. On the other hand, he | 0:53:49 | 0:53:54 | |
has the unions, and the Budget seems to be earning more on the | 0:53:54 | 0:53:57 | |
side of the unions, particularly the public sector unions, in terms | 0:53:57 | 0:54:02 | |
of things like pay and teacher numbers. On the other hand, he is | 0:54:02 | 0:54:05 | |
then probably coming in to fight the battle with cancer at the same | 0:54:05 | 0:54:13 | |
time. John McLaren, there is that incredible pressure on its John | 0:54:13 | 0:54:18 | |
Swinney in terms of the final budget allocation. Is he coping | 0:54:18 | 0:54:23 | |
with that pressure? He has to cope with it because he has to balance | 0:54:23 | 0:54:27 | |
his budget. It is inevitable he has to do that. We will have to wait | 0:54:27 | 0:54:31 | |
and see how these plans act. There are a lot of commitments made their | 0:54:31 | 0:54:36 | |
but we have not seen the details. He has said he will fully fund the | 0:54:36 | 0:54:39 | |
higher education gap. I do not think it is possible to know what | 0:54:39 | 0:54:47 | |
that is going to beat yet so that is a moot point. The local | 0:54:47 | 0:54:50 | |
Government is going to be an important one. He has only gone one | 0:54:50 | 0:54:57 | |
year ahead with the wages but that will be satisfactory and leave the | 0:54:57 | 0:55:03 | |
next two years Open. The ring back to the point about his attempt to | 0:55:03 | 0:55:07 | |
make Scotland look like it is in a better position than the UK. -- | 0:55:07 | 0:55:12 | |
going back. In terms of the economy. In a few months' time, when you | 0:55:13 | 0:55:16 | |
have more day debt, the data could look worse. The data is not even | 0:55:16 | 0:55:21 | |
that strong. If you look back two years, the UK has done better on | 0:55:21 | 0:55:24 | |
unemployment and in Scotland and the figures within Scotland are | 0:55:24 | 0:55:29 | |
very... Art, shall we say? There has apparently been a huge increase | 0:55:29 | 0:55:34 | |
in health and social workers, up 15 % of the last six months. I doubt | 0:55:34 | 0:55:40 | |
that that is true. So the position could shift quite quickly so that | 0:55:40 | 0:55:45 | |
strand of the argument could be weak. Thank you. We will be back | 0:55:46 | 0:55:51 | |
with you gentleman in a moment. Now on to our economics commentator Alf | 0:55:51 | 0:55:57 | |
Young, in the garden lobby. What do you make of the budget? I thought | 0:55:57 | 0:56:01 | |
it was complex in terms of trying to balance all these forces. There | 0:56:01 | 0:56:06 | |
were one or two surprises. I think the surprise at the end about new | 0:56:06 | 0:56:13 | |
spending on preventative measures balanced up by taking muzhik -- | 0:56:13 | 0:56:18 | |
money off sales of alcohol and that is back to the old Tesco tax which | 0:56:18 | 0:56:21 | |
they did not manage to get through last time. It will be interesting | 0:56:21 | 0:56:26 | |
to see how they do that in a way that does not have borderline cases | 0:56:26 | 0:56:32 | |
and complications about who pays it and whose does not. Also, some key | 0:56:32 | 0:56:35 | |
points and pate and pensions as well. Mr Swinney was saying the UK | 0:56:36 | 0:56:39 | |
Government is taking the wrong course of action when it comes to | 0:56:39 | 0:56:42 | |
public sector pensions, but he was saying they will have to follow | 0:56:42 | 0:56:45 | |
that course of action themselves if the UK Government did not change | 0:56:45 | 0:56:53 | |
their cause of action. Absolutely. Faced with the possibility of | 0:56:53 | 0:56:55 | |
losing over �8 million a month from their own budget, they have decided | 0:56:55 | 0:56:59 | |
to say that if the British Government goes ahead with it, that | 0:56:59 | 0:57:03 | |
will happen. So there is talk of another year of salary freeze and | 0:57:03 | 0:57:06 | |
donors freeze. People will have to pay more for their pensions and | 0:57:06 | 0:57:14 | |
that will have copies consequences in terms of living through the | 0:57:14 | 0:57:19 | |
biggest, longest living squeezed -- squeeze on living standards since | 0:57:19 | 0:57:25 | |
the 1920s in the UK. In that context, treating up workers in | 0:57:25 | 0:57:31 | |
that way we'll squeeze their living standards even more. It will be | 0:57:31 | 0:57:36 | |
interesting to see how they treat individuals rather than judging one | 0:57:36 | 0:57:40 | |
party's political pitch against another us. What did you make in | 0:57:40 | 0:57:44 | |
terms of the pledges when it comes to public sector workers would be | 0:57:44 | 0:57:48 | |
no compulsory redundancies, the pay freeze, and he did mention the | 0:57:48 | 0:57:52 | |
extra flexibility that would be required of them? I think a lot of | 0:57:52 | 0:57:57 | |
that is in the detail. What does he mean by flexibility and integration | 0:57:57 | 0:58:04 | |
and the other nice words he came away with? In general terms, I | 0:58:04 | 0:58:09 | |
think the message to public sector workers is that times are going to | 0:58:09 | 0:58:14 | |
be quite tough. Not having a compulsory redundancy scheme is one | 0:58:14 | 0:58:18 | |
thing but it did look at the Government's own Civil Service, I | 0:58:18 | 0:58:22 | |
was talking to a civil servant not long ago he was telling me that one | 0:58:22 | 0:58:26 | |
in six of the Scottish Government's own workforce has already gone, not | 0:58:26 | 0:58:29 | |
because of compulsory redundancy but there are other ways of making | 0:58:29 | 0:58:34 | |
the atmosphere such that the job is no longer needed, off you go. There | 0:58:34 | 0:58:42 | |
has been quite a big exodus already. Mr Swinney promised an extra �826 | 0:58:42 | 0:58:46 | |
million for the health budget in Scotland. I suppose he is ensuring | 0:58:46 | 0:58:50 | |
that in cash terms there is a real increase there? Yes, but doing that, | 0:58:50 | 0:58:54 | |
because it is such a big part of the overall budget, inevitably | 0:58:54 | 0:58:58 | |
other things will be hit and I have already had people saying that the | 0:58:58 | 0:59:02 | |
housing regeneration budget is going to be hit. I am involved in | 0:59:02 | 0:59:05 | |
that personally. I do not have the numbers yet but we have already | 0:59:05 | 0:59:10 | |
taken a pretty massive hit last time. If we take another massive | 0:59:10 | 0:59:13 | |
hit you wonder whether things like regeneration projects are possible | 0:59:13 | 0:59:17 | |
to deliver at all if the Government is not going to be committed to | 0:59:17 | 0:59:23 | |
them in the longer term. Thank you. Before we go live to Birmingham for | 0:59:23 | 0:59:27 | |
Nick Clegg's speech, I'm joined again by my guests in the studio, | 0:59:27 | 0:59:31 | |
Hamish Macdonell. What do you think Nick Clegg will tell delegates and | 0:59:31 | 0:59:35 | |
what kind of a week have they had in Birmingham? This is probably the | 0:59:35 | 0:59:39 | |
toughest speech he has had to deliver. He had a tough one last | 0:59:39 | 0:59:42 | |
year after they went into Government but this year, things | 0:59:42 | 0:59:47 | |
are even worse. The overall message will have to be, keep the faith, | 0:59:47 | 0:59:50 | |
stick with it. We have got liberalism in Government. He will | 0:59:50 | 0:59:53 | |
have to come out with lots of examples of the things the Liberal | 0:59:53 | 0:59:57 | |
Democrats have done to say, we are actually achieving things. Do not | 0:59:57 | 1:00:06 | |
listen to all the critics or the Michael Moore was promising to look | 1:00:06 | 1:00:11 | |
at trading and grows in Scotland. What can be done there in terms of | 1:00:11 | 1:00:16 | |
the UK Government trying to improve that in Scotland? There are a | 1:00:16 | 1:00:20 | |
number of things, economic powers that are still held at the Treasury | 1:00:20 | 1:00:26 | |
which could try and improve trade. But most of the powers that way are | 1:00:26 | 1:00:30 | |
now really in Scotland, whether it is to do with skills, or planning | 1:00:30 | 1:00:34 | |
regulations, things like that. There are some things that can be | 1:00:34 | 1:00:41 | |
done, but to be almost, it is the world's conditions that are the | 1:00:41 | 1:00:44 | |
most important thing, it is what is going to happen in the euro-zone | 1:00:44 | 1:00:49 | |
and in America, as well as in China, that will really drive whether | 1:00:49 | 1:00:54 | |
there is a recovery or not. These are things that can prepare you for | 1:00:54 | 1:00:59 | |
the recovery. Get you in a good position for when it comes. But the | 1:00:59 | 1:01:04 | |
recovery will be partly the bigger picture that will happen, not just | 1:01:04 | 1:01:08 | |
Scotland but the UK. Hamish, we have seen at the Liberal Democrat | 1:01:08 | 1:01:12 | |
conference they had been critical of the situation in Scotland, | 1:01:13 | 1:01:15 | |
warnings from the Scottish delegates that a referendum could | 1:01:15 | 1:01:20 | |
endanger a gross. Should the SNP be concerned about these warnings from | 1:01:20 | 1:01:24 | |
their opponents? Big business were obviously making the same. A couple | 1:01:24 | 1:01:30 | |
of weeks ago? I think the SNP would be worried about business saying it, | 1:01:30 | 1:01:33 | |
not the Liberal Democrats. They will just look at the polls and | 1:01:33 | 1:01:36 | |
think that the Liberal Democrats are suffering and they will not pay | 1:01:36 | 1:01:40 | |
much attention. I think one of the points that John was making, one of | 1:01:40 | 1:01:45 | |
the key points we have to get from Nick Clegg's speech is one of tone. | 1:01:45 | 1:01:50 | |
Does he adopt the same kind of tone as we saw from Vince Cable, or does | 1:01:50 | 1:01:54 | |
he tried to inject some positivity into it? Does he talk about the | 1:01:54 | 1:01:58 | |
referendum, does he talk about Scottish independence or try to | 1:01:58 | 1:02:01 | |
sell the more positive message, which is more difficult given the | 1:02:01 | 1:02:08 | |
circumstances we are in. So John McLaren, we are hearing some double | 1:02:08 | 1:02:11 | |
speak from the Liberal Democrats when it comes to Plan A and Plan B. | 1:02:12 | 1:02:16 | |
There was talk of a plan a plus, where they were promising �5 | 1:02:16 | 1:02:19 | |
billion of capital investment in broadband and transport projects | 1:02:19 | 1:02:25 | |
and so on. Other Liberal Democrats pushing for a move to Plan B, | 1:02:25 | 1:02:30 | |
whereas the Conservatives are happy to stick with Plan A? I think | 1:02:30 | 1:02:37 | |
Dannii Alexander, Vince Cable and Nick Clegg all must know how wedded | 1:02:37 | 1:02:43 | |
Jock -- Jack Osborne and David Cameron are to plan A, and that it | 1:02:43 | 1:02:46 | |
will undermine their credibility. They are probably looking at little | 1:02:46 | 1:02:50 | |
bits of money that have been underspent being spent on other | 1:02:50 | 1:02:55 | |
areas. But it seems as though the gap is getting bigger from the | 1:02:55 | 1:03:02 | |
IMF's figures yesterday. And that puts the pressure today, will they | 1:03:02 | 1:03:06 | |
have even more cuts to meet the target, not will there be a Plan B | 1:03:06 | 1:03:11 | |
with extra money. I cannot see there being, and less something | 1:03:11 | 1:03:17 | |
dramatically shifts, I cannot see there being a Plan B. Hamish, Alex | 1:03:17 | 1:03:22 | |
Salmond has been promising Plan MacB, that has been the Scottish | 1:03:22 | 1:03:26 | |
Government's proposal. In terms of that, how credible is that as a | 1:03:26 | 1:03:31 | |
substitute plan? I think that Plan MacB, as it has been dubbed, is | 1:03:31 | 1:03:35 | |
really about putting money into infrastructure projects and trying | 1:03:35 | 1:03:38 | |
to galvanise the economy by using public sector spending in areas | 1:03:38 | 1:03:43 | |
which can create jobs and create wealth. So what we have seen from | 1:03:43 | 1:03:46 | |
the Scottish Government today has been an attempt to use what they | 1:03:46 | 1:03:50 | |
would seek the minor levers they have round the edges to push money | 1:03:50 | 1:03:54 | |
into those areas. And if it works, and again this comes down to | 1:03:54 | 1:03:58 | |
statistics, we do not know where things will go, but if it works, | 1:03:58 | 1:04:02 | |
they can then say that Plan MacB is working and that it should be taken | 1:04:02 | 1:04:06 | |
down south. This could be embarrassing for the Coalition | 1:04:06 | 1:04:13 | |
Government if, as IMF were saying, if we slip into a further recession, | 1:04:13 | 1:04:17 | |
it the IMF were saying that they could maybe the have Plan B. Do you | 1:04:17 | 1:04:22 | |
think that is giving some succour to Alex Salmond? I think that any | 1:04:22 | 1:04:27 | |
chance he gets, he will raise the IMF and say, look, the IMF are | 1:04:27 | 1:04:32 | |
saying this, change course. George Osborne has shown no indication | 1:04:32 | 1:04:35 | |
that he is attempting more willing to change course. We will see that | 1:04:36 | 1:04:39 | |
when the Conservatives gather for their conference. But I expect him | 1:04:39 | 1:04:44 | |
to stick with the plan A, and try to see it through. His is not just | 1:04:44 | 1:04:48 | |
about economics, it is about ideology as well for the | 1:04:48 | 1:04:52 | |
Conservatives. John, do you think that has been difficult for the | 1:04:52 | 1:04:57 | |
Liberal Democrats this week, the mixture of ideology and economics? | 1:04:57 | 1:05:01 | |
Do you think delegates have found it uncomfortable? I think the | 1:05:01 | 1:05:04 | |
delegates have, but I think the delegates and some of the ministers | 1:05:04 | 1:05:08 | |
are in different places anyway. There has been a strain of the | 1:05:08 | 1:05:12 | |
Liberal Democrats that have been more conservative-minded in terms | 1:05:12 | 1:05:18 | |
of economics and finances than their normal party members. So I do | 1:05:18 | 1:05:21 | |
not think people like Vince Cable and Nick Clegg are more relaxed | 1:05:21 | 1:05:25 | |
with that position. They want other things on the social side put | 1:05:25 | 1:05:29 | |
forward. But I think they are reasonably relaxed about the | 1:05:29 | 1:05:33 | |
overall position in terms of the economy. Hamish come up we are | 1:05:33 | 1:05:38 | |
almost going to that speech. It has been a reasonably successful week | 1:05:38 | 1:05:43 | |
for them in terms of media coverage. Reasonably upbeat, things are | 1:05:43 | 1:05:47 | |
perhaps not so bad as they were when students were writing in | 1:05:47 | 1:05:54 | |
December. I think so, but I think they were starting from a low point. | 1:05:54 | 1:05:57 | |
I think what they do in the coalition has been driving things | 1:05:57 | 1:06:01 | |
behind the scenes. It is a question of whether they can afford to pull | 1:06:01 | 1:06:04 | |
themselves away from the Tories electorally, and if they do, would | 1:06:04 | 1:06:09 | |
they get stuffed? So I think that yes, it has not been a bad | 1:06:09 | 1:06:12 | |
conference, but they have had better ones in the past when they | 1:06:12 | 1:06:18 | |
were not in government. We are hearing from Chris Huhne about his | 1:06:18 | 1:06:23 | |
plan to tackle the big energy companies. Do you think the Liberal | 1:06:24 | 1:06:28 | |
Democrats had hit a positive note with that? Do you think that will | 1:06:28 | 1:06:32 | |
appeal to the public, Lower Terrace, making it easier for people to | 1:06:32 | 1:06:38 | |
switch? Yes, it will appeal to the public, things like that usually do. | 1:06:38 | 1:06:44 | |
It is how you go about doing it. And if at the same time they are | 1:06:44 | 1:06:48 | |
going to champion Moorgreen power, more renewables, at the minute, | 1:06:48 | 1:06:52 | |
there is a subsidy involved in that which would push energy prices back | 1:06:52 | 1:07:00 | |
up. So it is not a wholly convincing package. We are almost | 1:07:00 | 1:07:05 | |
going to the conference. Nick Clegg is just about to speak. There was | 1:07:05 | 1:07:10 | |
an amusing cartoon in The Times on Saturday, David Cameron and George | 1:07:10 | 1:07:13 | |
Osborne checking Liberal Democrat candidates before they went in. How | 1:07:13 | 1:07:17 | |
much of what the senior Liberal Democrats can say, how much to gain | 1:07:17 | 1:07:22 | |
liaise with the Conservatives? think they will liaise, but I think | 1:07:22 | 1:07:26 | |
David Cameron is pretty relaxed. He knows that this is Nick Clegg | 1:07:26 | 1:07:31 | |
talking to his mates as he has to, and he has to let off steam. And I | 1:07:31 | 1:07:37 | |
think the Conservatives know that. It is just running a few minutes | 1:07:37 | 1:07:41 | |
late. Are there any other points that Nick Clegg will try to put a | 1:07:41 | 1:07:45 | |
paw and -- across? Anything that he will try to hit home so that the | 1:07:45 | 1:07:50 | |
delegates go away with a spring in their step? What I will be looking | 1:07:50 | 1:07:54 | |
for is to see whether he mentioned anything on Europe. That is the | 1:07:54 | 1:07:58 | |
elephant in the room. You have a coalition where the Tories have | 1:07:58 | 1:08:02 | |
always been more sceptical about it, the Liberal Democrats have been in | 1:08:02 | 1:08:07 | |
favour. The euro is going through huge troubles, does he tackle that | 1:08:07 | 1:08:10 | |
head on and make a difference between what the Liberal Democrats | 1:08:10 | 1:08:15 | |
are doing, or does he leave that to one side as a difficult subject? I | 1:08:15 | 1:08:19 | |
will be interested to see on whether he touches on that issue of | 1:08:19 | 1:08:25 | |
Europe and the euro. We go to Birmingham, when Nick Clegg is | 1:08:25 | 1:08:35 | |
1:08:35 | 1:09:11 | ||
Thank you everybody. Thank you. Friends, his party, the Liberal | 1:09:11 | 1:09:19 | |
Democrats, we have now been in government for 500 days. Not easy, | 1:09:19 | 1:09:27 | |
is it? None of us thought it would be a walk in the park. But I | 1:09:27 | 1:09:33 | |
suspect none of us predicted just how tough it would turn out to be. | 1:09:33 | 1:09:43 | |
We have lost support, we have lost seats, and we lost a referendum. I | 1:09:43 | 1:09:49 | |
know how painful it has been to face anger and frustration on the | 1:09:49 | 1:09:54 | |
doorstep. Some of you may have even wondered, will it all be worth it | 1:09:54 | 1:10:03 | |
in the end? It will be. And today, I want to explain why. But above | 1:10:03 | 1:10:12 | |
all, I want to pay tribute to you. You're resilience, Your Grace Under | 1:10:12 | 1:10:19 | |
Fire. I had been genuinely moved by your spirit and your strength. | 1:10:19 | 1:10:27 | |
Thank you. And thank you above all for never forgetting what we are in | 1:10:27 | 1:10:34 | |
politics for. At the May elections, Alex Cole Hamilton, one of her | 1:10:34 | 1:10:40 | |
defeated candidates in Edinburgh, said that if losing was part | 1:10:40 | 1:10:44 | |
payment for ending child detention, then, as he said, I except it was | 1:10:44 | 1:10:53 | |
all my heart. That is the liberal spirit. And that is something we | 1:10:53 | 1:11:03 | |
1:11:03 | 1:11:06 | ||
will never lose. Five it is a spirit, it is the same as varied | 1:11:06 | 1:11:11 | |
that gave birth to our party 150 years ago, that kept us alive when | 1:11:11 | 1:11:17 | |
the other two parties tried to kill us off. Is there is that means, | 1:11:17 | 1:11:23 | |
however great our past, our fight will always be for a better future. | 1:11:23 | 1:11:29 | |
Downing Westminster, we had been vilified like never before. The | 1:11:30 | 1:11:33 | |
left and the right, they did not like as much in opposition, and | 1:11:33 | 1:11:38 | |
they like us a lot less now we are in government. The left accuse us | 1:11:38 | 1:11:43 | |
of being powerless habits, duped by a right-wing Conservative clique, | 1:11:43 | 1:11:47 | |
and the right to accuse us of being as sinister left-wing clique he had | 1:11:47 | 1:11:50 | |
duped powerless Conservatives. I wish they would make up their | 1:11:50 | 1:11:59 | |
minds! So yes, it has been hard. And adversity tests the character | 1:11:59 | 1:12:05 | |
of a party just as it tests any person. We have shown, you have | 1:12:05 | 1:12:13 | |
shown, immense strength. After being hit hard, we picked ourselves | 1:12:13 | 1:12:19 | |
up. And we came out fighting. Fighting to keep the NHS safe, to | 1:12:19 | 1:12:26 | |
protect human rights, to create jobs, for every family. Not doing | 1:12:26 | 1:12:35 | |
the easy thing. But doing the right thing. Not easy. But right. And as | 1:12:35 | 1:12:41 | |
for all those seats, let me tell you this. I will not rest, we will | 1:12:41 | 1:12:47 | |
not rest until we have won every single one of those seats back! And | 1:12:47 | 1:12:57 | |
1:12:57 | 1:13:11 | ||
Now these may not be easy times for us as a party. But more importantly, | 1:13:11 | 1:13:18 | |
these are not easy times for our country. Economic insecurity, | 1:13:18 | 1:13:24 | |
conflict, terrorism, disorder flaring up on our streets. Times | 1:13:24 | 1:13:30 | |
like these can breed protectionism and populism. So at times like | 1:13:30 | 1:13:36 | |
these are when liberals are needed most. Our party has fought for | 1:13:36 | 1:13:43 | |
liberal values for a 150 years, justice, optimism, freedom. We are | 1:13:43 | 1:13:53 | |
1:13:53 | 1:14:04 | ||
This conference centre is on the site of the old Bingley Hall, where | 1:14:04 | 1:14:08 | |
William Gladstone's did 130 years ago to found the National Liberal | 1:14:08 | 1:14:17 | |
Federation. He observed that day that Birmingham had shown it was no | 1:14:17 | 1:14:23 | |
place for weak-kneed liberalism. No change there, then! So we are | 1:14:23 | 1:14:30 | |
strong. We are united, true to our values, back in government, and on | 1:14:30 | 1:14:40 | |
1:14:40 | 1:14:47 | ||
In Government, your faced with hard choices every single day. The | 1:14:47 | 1:14:53 | |
question is how you make them. Some ask, how can we get a market to | 1:14:53 | 1:15:00 | |
work here? Others, had can this win has more votes? A few, what will | 1:15:00 | 1:15:05 | |
the press think? For liberals, the litmus test is always the national | 1:15:05 | 1:15:13 | |
interest. Not doing the easy thing but doing the right thing. And that | 1:15:13 | 1:15:18 | |
takes a certain type of character. One which we have seen on display | 1:15:18 | 1:15:22 | |
in the last few months and indeed the last few days, here in | 1:15:22 | 1:15:28 | |
Birmingham. Brave, principled, awkward, resolute, optimistic, | 1:15:28 | 1:15:32 | |
unstoppable, and I am not just talking about Paddy Ashdown! I am | 1:15:32 | 1:15:42 | |
1:15:42 | 1:15:44 | ||
talking about every single one of you in this for? -- in this hall! | 1:15:44 | 1:15:51 | |
But I think people still need to know more about the character of | 1:15:51 | 1:15:58 | |
our party. Not just how we govern but why. We proved something about | 1:15:58 | 1:16:03 | |
ourselves last year when we face a historic choice. Whether or not to | 1:16:03 | 1:16:08 | |
enter Government in coalition with the Conservatives. The easy thing | 1:16:08 | 1:16:13 | |
would have been to sit on the opposition benches throwing rocks | 1:16:13 | 1:16:17 | |
at the Government as it tried to get control of the public finances. | 1:16:17 | 1:16:22 | |
It might even, in the short run, have been more comfortable. But it | 1:16:22 | 1:16:27 | |
would not have been right. At that moment, Britain needed a strong | 1:16:27 | 1:16:33 | |
Government. Alistair Darling's recent book is called back from the | 1:16:33 | 1:16:40 | |
brink. In reality, Labour left us on the brink. Teetering on the edge | 1:16:40 | 1:16:46 | |
of an economic precipice. So be put aside party differences for the | 1:16:46 | 1:16:50 | |
sake of the national interest. -- so we put aside. People we for | 1:16:50 | 1:16:55 | |
politics, nation before party. And whilst other countries have been | 1:16:55 | 1:16:59 | |
riven by political bickering, we have shown that a coalition forged | 1:16:59 | 1:17:04 | |
in a time of an emergency could be a different type of Government, | 1:17:04 | 1:17:08 | |
because let me tell you this, you do not play politics at a time of | 1:17:08 | 1:17:13 | |
national crisis. You did not play politics with the economy, and you | 1:17:13 | 1:17:16 | |
never, ever play politics with people's jobs! | 1:17:16 | 1:17:26 | |
1:17:26 | 1:17:37 | ||
Are first big decision was, of course, to clear the structural | 1:17:37 | 1:17:44 | |
deficit in this Parliament, to wipe the slate clean by 2015. This has | 1:17:44 | 1:17:53 | |
meant painful cuts, agonisingly difficult decisions. Not easy. But | 1:17:53 | 1:17:59 | |
right. Because handing control of the economy to the bond traders, | 1:17:59 | 1:18:04 | |
that is not progressive. Burying your head in the sand, that is not | 1:18:04 | 1:18:09 | |
a liberal. Sadly our children with the nation's debt, that is not fair. | 1:18:09 | 1:18:14 | |
-- saddling up. Labour says the Government is going too far too | 1:18:14 | 1:18:22 | |
fast. I say, Labour would have offered too little, too late. | 1:18:22 | 1:18:32 | |
1:18:32 | 1:18:36 | ||
Imagined for a moment if Ed Miliband and Ed Balls had still | 1:18:36 | 1:18:42 | |
been in power. Gordon Brown's backroom boys when Labour was | 1:18:42 | 1:18:46 | |
failing to balance the books, failing to regulate the financial | 1:18:46 | 1:18:54 | |
markets, and failing to take on the banks. Ed Balls and Ed Miliband | 1:18:54 | 1:18:59 | |
behind the scenes, always plotting, lurking in the shadows, scheming, | 1:18:59 | 1:19:03 | |
never taking responsibility. And that this time of crisis, what | 1:19:03 | 1:19:08 | |
Britain needs is real leadership. This is no time for the backroom | 1:19:08 | 1:19:18 | |
1:19:18 | 1:19:23 | ||
boys. Labour's economy is based on bad | 1:19:23 | 1:19:30 | |
debt and false hope. Labour got us into this mess. And they are | 1:19:30 | 1:19:36 | |
clueless about how to get us out. Another term of Labour would have | 1:19:36 | 1:19:42 | |
been a disaster for our economy. So don't for a moment let Labour get | 1:19:42 | 1:19:49 | |
away with it. Do not forget the chaos, the fear of 2008, and never, | 1:19:49 | 1:19:53 | |
ever Trust Labour again with the economy. | 1:19:53 | 1:20:03 | |
1:20:03 | 1:20:08 | ||
Government is certainly a bit of a learning experience. You go on | 1:20:08 | 1:20:11 | |
these international visits. You have to exchange gifts with foreign | 1:20:11 | 1:20:16 | |
dignitaries. But what do you get them? When I met the French Prime | 1:20:16 | 1:20:22 | |
Minister for the first time, he had done his research, he had found out | 1:20:22 | 1:20:27 | |
what you I was born and presented me with a rev bottle of 1967 | 1:20:27 | 1:20:32 | |
branded. Might office told me he liked hiking, so what did I give | 1:20:32 | 1:20:42 | |
1:20:42 | 1:20:44 | ||
him? A bar of Kendal mint cake. But Government has also brought | 1:20:44 | 1:20:51 | |
difficult decisions. And of course, the most part wrenching for me for | 1:20:51 | 1:20:58 | |
all of us was on university funding. Like all of you, I saw the anger, I | 1:20:58 | 1:21:06 | |
understand it. I felt it. And I have learned from it. I know how | 1:21:06 | 1:21:11 | |
much damage this has done to us as a party. By far the most painful | 1:21:11 | 1:21:16 | |
part of our transition from the easy promises of opposition to the | 1:21:16 | 1:21:21 | |
invidious choices of Government. And probably the most important | 1:21:22 | 1:21:28 | |
lesson I have learned is this. No matter how hard you work on the | 1:21:28 | 1:21:35 | |
details of a policy, it is no good if the perception is wrong. We can | 1:21:35 | 1:21:40 | |
say until we are blue in the face that no one will have to pay any | 1:21:40 | 1:21:46 | |
fees as the student, but still people do not believe it. Once you | 1:21:46 | 1:21:51 | |
have left university, you will pay less a week in, week out, than | 1:21:51 | 1:21:56 | |
under the current system. But still people do not believe it. But the | 1:21:56 | 1:22:00 | |
support given to students from poorer families of will increase | 1:22:00 | 1:22:08 | |
dramatically. But still, people do not believe it. The simple truth is, | 1:22:08 | 1:22:13 | |
the Conservatives and Labour were both said on increasing fees. And | 1:22:13 | 1:22:19 | |
in those Sercombe stances, we did the best thing we could. -- in | 1:22:19 | 1:22:23 | |
those circumstances. Working tirelessly to ensure that anyone | 1:22:23 | 1:22:28 | |
who wants to go to university can. Freeing of part-time students from | 1:22:28 | 1:22:33 | |
upfront fees for the first time, ensuring there are repayments for | 1:22:33 | 1:22:40 | |
all graduates. -- insuring that repayments are more fair. But we | 1:22:40 | 1:22:45 | |
failed to explain this, to explain that there were no other easy | 1:22:45 | 1:22:49 | |
options, and we have failed so far to show that the new system will be | 1:22:49 | 1:22:58 | |
much, much better than people fear. So yes, lessons learnt. But the | 1:22:58 | 1:23:04 | |
most important thing right now is to get out there and show that the | 1:23:04 | 1:23:09 | |
university is for everyone. And we should all take a leaf out of Simon | 1:23:09 | 1:23:14 | |
Hughes's book. He has been busting a gut as the Government's advocate | 1:23:14 | 1:23:18 | |
for access, travelling the country, explaining the new system, finding | 1:23:18 | 1:23:23 | |
ways to get young people from all backgrounds to apply to university. | 1:23:23 | 1:23:27 | |
Simon did not like the decision we make, for reasons I respect. But | 1:23:27 | 1:23:31 | |
rather than sitting back, he has rolled up his sleeves and got on | 1:23:31 | 1:23:36 | |
with making the new system work. Simon, thank you. | 1:23:36 | 1:23:46 | |
1:23:46 | 1:23:58 | ||
Right now, of course, our biggest concern is the economy. The | 1:23:58 | 1:24:03 | |
recovery is fragile. Every worker, every family knows that. There is a | 1:24:03 | 1:24:09 | |
long, hard road ahead. Just in the last few days alone, we have seen | 1:24:09 | 1:24:13 | |
the financial storm in the eurozone, rising unemployment, falling | 1:24:13 | 1:24:18 | |
stockmarkets. So we were right to pull the economy back from the | 1:24:18 | 1:24:24 | |
brink. It is clearer now than ever that deficit reduction was | 1:24:24 | 1:24:28 | |
essential to protect the economy, to protect homes and jobs, because | 1:24:28 | 1:24:33 | |
deficit reduction lays the foundations for growth but on its | 1:24:33 | 1:24:38 | |
own it is not enough. And that is why we are already investing in | 1:24:38 | 1:24:44 | |
infrastructure, reducing red tape, the meeting -- promoting new skills, | 1:24:44 | 1:24:48 | |
getting the bank's lending. The average for the global economy has | 1:24:48 | 1:24:54 | |
got worse. So we need to do more. - - the outlook has got worse. We | 1:24:55 | 1:25:04 | |
1:25:05 | 1:25:11 | ||
will do more for growth and jobs. Because we are not in politics just | 1:25:11 | 1:25:16 | |
to repair the damage done by Labour, too glued back together the pieces | 1:25:16 | 1:25:24 | |
of the old economy. We are here to build a new economy. A new economy | 1:25:24 | 1:25:28 | |
save from casinos speculation. That is why a Liberal Democrat Business | 1:25:28 | 1:25:32 | |
Secretary is putting a firewall into the banking system, protecting | 1:25:32 | 1:25:37 | |
the people who have worked hard and saved. A new economy that | 1:25:37 | 1:25:46 | |
safeguards the economy -- safeguards the environment. The | 1:25:46 | 1:25:50 | |
world's first Green Investment Bank is being created. A new economy | 1:25:50 | 1:25:56 | |
where the lowest paid get to keep the money they earn and that is why | 1:25:56 | 1:25:59 | |
a Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury has put �200 into | 1:25:59 | 1:26:03 | |
the pocket of every basic rate taxpayer and taken almost one | 1:26:03 | 1:26:09 | |
million workers, most of them women, out of income tax altogether. | 1:26:09 | 1:26:19 | |
1:26:19 | 1:26:27 | ||
A new economy based on skills. And that is why one Liberal Democrat | 1:26:27 | 1:26:30 | |
Minister is creating a quarter of a million new apprenticeships and | 1:26:30 | 1:26:34 | |
another is investing in schools and early years education. A new | 1:26:34 | 1:26:38 | |
economy that works for families, when men and women can choose how | 1:26:38 | 1:26:43 | |
to balance work and home. That is where Liberal Democrats are | 1:26:43 | 1:26:47 | |
bringing in a shared parental leave and more flexible working, and a | 1:26:47 | 1:26:53 | |
new economy run for ordinary people, rather than big finance. After the | 1:26:53 | 1:26:56 | |
so-called masters of the universe turned out to be the masters of | 1:26:57 | 1:27:06 | |
1:27:07 | 1:27:07 | ||
destruction instead. Which is why, when we come to sell those bank | 1:27:07 | 1:27:13 | |
shares, I want to see a pay back to British citizens. Your money was | 1:27:13 | 1:27:18 | |
put at risk. Your money was used to bail out the banks. And so the | 1:27:18 | 1:27:25 | |
money made by the banks is your money, too. An economy for everyone. | 1:27:25 | 1:27:30 | |
In Scotland, Wales, in every part of the United Kingdom. For women | 1:27:30 | 1:27:37 | |
and men. Young, old. Town, country. North, south. A new economy for the | 1:27:37 | 1:27:47 | |
1:27:47 | 1:27:55 | ||
whole nation. Because as Liberal Democrats, we | 1:27:55 | 1:28:03 | |
act for the whole nation. In our long, proud Liberal history, we | 1:28:03 | 1:28:11 | |
have never, never served the media moguls, the union barons, all the | 1:28:11 | 1:28:16 | |
bankers. We do not serve and we will never surf the vested | 1:28:16 | 1:28:21 | |
interests. We are in nobody's pocket. | 1:28:21 | 1:28:31 | |
1:28:31 | 1:28:39 | ||
And that is why... And that is why why... | 1:28:39 | 1:28:49 | |
1:28:49 | 1:28:54 | ||
OK! I get it, you agree with that! That is why we can make decisions | 1:28:54 | 1:28:59 | |
in the national interest. It is not easy, but right. That is why we | 1:28:59 | 1:29:04 | |
speak up, first and loudest, when the establishment Metz the people | 1:29:04 | 1:29:10 | |
down. In the last three years, we have seen establishment | 1:29:10 | 1:29:14 | |
institutions exposed one by one. The City of London shattered by the | 1:29:14 | 1:29:19 | |
greed of bankers. The media corrupted by phone hacking. | 1:29:19 | 1:29:23 | |
Parliament shamed by expenses. I was brought up to know that it is | 1:29:23 | 1:29:31 | |
not polite to say I told you so. Well, I am sorry, we did. | 1:29:31 | 1:29:41 | |
1:29:41 | 1:29:46 | ||
In 2006, Vince Cable warned that the banks were recklessly | 1:29:46 | 1:29:53 | |
irresponsible. In 2002, when Tom McNally said that the government | 1:29:53 | 1:29:58 | |
must guard the public interest as assiduously as Mr Murdoch guards | 1:29:58 | 1:30:03 | |
his shareholder interests. And in 1996, when Paddy Ashdown said that | 1:30:03 | 1:30:08 | |
Parliament had become a rotten mess, a dishevelled, disfigured all | 1:30:08 | 1:30:13 | |
records of what was once called the mother of Parliament. Never one to | 1:30:13 | 1:30:23 | |
1:30:23 | 1:30:28 | ||
pull his punches! We to tell it like it really is. Because we are | 1:30:28 | 1:30:32 | |
in nobody's pocket. Of all the claims, or all the claims Ed | 1:30:32 | 1:30:40 | |
Miliband has made, the most writable -- risible is that his | 1:30:40 | 1:30:45 | |
party is the enemy off best interests. I mean, give me a break! | 1:30:45 | 1:30:48 | |
When we were campaigning for changing the banking system, they | 1:30:48 | 1:30:52 | |
were on their prawn cocktail offensive in the city! While we | 1:30:52 | 1:30:55 | |
have led the charge against the media barons, Labour has cowered | 1:30:55 | 1:31:02 | |
before them for decades. Two Juneau, the most shocking thing about the | 1:31:02 | 1:31:07 | |
news that Tony Blair is godfather to one of Rupert Murdoch's children | 1:31:07 | 1:31:16 | |
is that nobody was really shocked at all. And today, today Labour is | 1:31:16 | 1:31:23 | |
in hock to the trade union barons. After their government stipend, 95 | 1:31:23 | 1:31:29 | |
% of Labour's money comes from trade unions - most of it from just | 1:31:29 | 1:31:32 | |
four. Let me be clear, the values of trade unionism are as relevant | 1:31:32 | 1:31:37 | |
as ever - supporting workers and fighting for fairness at work. But | 1:31:37 | 1:31:42 | |
I do not think the unions should be able to buy themselves a political | 1:31:42 | 1:31:52 | |
1:31:52 | 1:31:58 | ||
party. Ed Miliband, Ed Miliband says he wants to loosen the ties | 1:31:58 | 1:32:03 | |
between Labour and the union barons who helped him to beat his brother. | 1:32:03 | 1:32:09 | |
OK, let's see him put his money where his mouth is. That's see if | 1:32:09 | 1:32:13 | |
he will support radical reform of party funding. Every previous | 1:32:13 | 1:32:17 | |
attempt has been blocked by the vested interests in the other two | 1:32:17 | 1:32:22 | |
parties. We are all stuck in a system that we know is wrong. We | 1:32:22 | 1:32:27 | |
have all been damaged by it. But if we learnt anything from the | 1:32:27 | 1:32:30 | |
expenses scandal, it is surely that if the system has broken, we should | 1:32:30 | 1:32:40 | |
1:32:40 | 1:32:52 | ||
not wait for the next scandal, we So whether it is securing the | 1:32:52 | 1:32:59 | |
economy, sorting the banks or cleaning up politics, we are making | 1:32:59 | 1:33:07 | |
the big, difficult decisions. Not easy. But right. And that is what | 1:33:07 | 1:33:13 | |
it means to be a party of national government again. Not just making | 1:33:13 | 1:33:21 | |
arguments, making change. In a coalition, we have two types of | 1:33:21 | 1:33:26 | |
power - the power to hold a coalition partners back, and the | 1:33:26 | 1:33:31 | |
power to move the government forward. So we can keep the | 1:33:31 | 1:33:35 | |
government to 11 will pass, and for the government in the centre ground. | 1:33:35 | 1:33:40 | |
We were absolutely right to stop the NHS Bill in its tracks. To | 1:33:40 | 1:33:44 | |
ensure change on our terms, no arbitrary deadlines, no backdoor | 1:33:45 | 1:33:50 | |
privatisation, no threat to the basic principles at the heart of | 1:33:50 | 1:33:55 | |
our NHS. We are right to stand up for civil liberties - no retreat to | 1:33:55 | 1:34:00 | |
the illiberal all populism of the Labour years. We are right to keep | 1:34:00 | 1:34:04 | |
insisting on a fair tax system, asking the most of the people who | 1:34:04 | 1:34:11 | |
have the most. And we will always defend human rights, at home as | 1:34:12 | 1:34:21 | |
well as abroad. The European Convention, the European Convention | 1:34:22 | 1:34:26 | |
on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act are not, as some would | 1:34:26 | 1:34:30 | |
have you believe, foreign in positions. These are British rides, | 1:34:30 | 1:34:35 | |
drafted by British lawyers, forged in the aftermath of the atrocities | 1:34:36 | 1:34:40 | |
of the Second World War. Fought for by Winston Churchill�. So let me | 1:34:40 | 1:34:45 | |
say something, really clearly, about the Human Rights Act. In fact, | 1:34:45 | 1:34:55 | |
1:34:55 | 1:35:18 | ||
I will do it in words of one So, France, we will always hold the | 1:35:18 | 1:35:23 | |
liberal line -- friends. But much more important, is the positive | 1:35:23 | 1:35:28 | |
power of government. Not just that - like stopping bad things, but | 1:35:28 | 1:35:35 | |
doing good things. Last year, I walked through the door of Number | 1:35:35 | 1:35:40 | |
Ten. But we all walked through a kind of draw together. To being, | 1:35:40 | 1:35:48 | |
once again, a party of national government. So we must now move | 1:35:48 | 1:35:51 | |
beyond the reflexes of opposition to the responsibilities of | 1:35:52 | 1:35:57 | |
government. And the opportunities of government, to. New social | 1:35:57 | 1:36:03 | |
housing, criminal justice reform, fixed-term, keeping our post | 1:36:03 | 1:36:09 | |
offices open, House of Lords reform, better mental health care, saver | 1:36:09 | 1:36:14 | |
banks, income tax down for ordinary workers, capital gains tax are for | 1:36:14 | 1:36:18 | |
the rich, compulsory retirement scrapped, pensions protected by a | 1:36:18 | 1:36:24 | |
triple lock, ID cards history, child detention ended. And just | 1:36:24 | 1:36:34 | |
1:36:34 | 1:36:36 | ||
look, just look at what we have announced in the last five days. | 1:36:36 | 1:36:40 | |
After decades of campaigning, thanks to Lynne Featherstone, equal | 1:36:40 | 1:36:45 | |
marriage, straight or gay, more powerful consumers over the energy | 1:36:45 | 1:36:50 | |
companies, calling time on rewards for failure in boardrooms. | 1:36:50 | 1:36:54 | |
Investing in education for girls in developing countries, new powers to | 1:36:55 | 1:37:02 | |
turn energy homes back into family homes -- empty homes. At �500 | 1:37:02 | 1:37:06 | |
million investment in growth. Liberal achievements from a liberal | 1:37:06 | 1:37:16 | |
1:37:16 | 1:37:30 | ||
And we have steered our commitments to act on the environment. The | 1:37:30 | 1:37:34 | |
polls tell us that climate change has dropped down people's list of | 1:37:34 | 1:37:39 | |
worries. But people have more immediate concerns. And I | 1:37:39 | 1:37:44 | |
understand that. So the politically convenient thing which had been to | 1:37:44 | 1:37:50 | |
put this off to another day. Instead, we have acted immediately. | 1:37:51 | 1:37:57 | |
Not easy, but right. Ambitious carbon targets, energy market | 1:37:57 | 1:38:02 | |
reform, councils generating renewable energy, a green deal to | 1:38:02 | 1:38:07 | |
make bills lower and homes warmer, car on catcher and storage, green | 1:38:07 | 1:38:13 | |
buses, trains and trams, the world's first ever Green Investment | 1:38:13 | 1:38:21 | |
Bank. Green achievements from agreeing party of government. Fey - | 1:38:21 | 1:38:31 | |
1:38:31 | 1:38:40 | ||
I have learned quite a bit in the last 500 days. About the | 1:38:41 | 1:38:45 | |
responsibilities of government, about the resilience of our party, | 1:38:45 | 1:38:50 | |
the integrity of our members. About her determination to do the right | 1:38:50 | 1:38:59 | |
thing. In government, every single day brings hard choices. And you | 1:38:59 | 1:39:04 | |
can very quickly lose your way, unless you are absolutely certain | 1:39:04 | 1:39:08 | |
of your calls, off why you were there and the first place. For | 1:39:08 | 1:39:16 | |
every one of us, in this court, we have strong political convictions - | 1:39:16 | 1:39:20 | |
human rights, political reform, responsible capitalism, fighting | 1:39:20 | 1:39:28 | |
climate change. But every one of us has a political passion, to. The | 1:39:28 | 1:39:35 | |
fire inside that drove us into politics in the first place. Let me | 1:39:35 | 1:39:43 | |
tell you about what I care most about. My passion is ensuring a | 1:39:43 | 1:39:51 | |
fair start for every child. I have a simple, unquenchable belief that | 1:39:51 | 1:39:56 | |
every child can do good things, great things, if only we give them | 1:39:56 | 1:40:02 | |
the opportunities they deserve. Equal opportunities. It sounds so | 1:40:02 | 1:40:08 | |
simple, doesn't it? Everyone agrees with that. But then, we allow | 1:40:08 | 1:40:14 | |
prejudice, tradition, class to crash one million hopes and dreams. | 1:40:14 | 1:40:19 | |
Watch young children's lives go off track, even before they go to | 1:40:19 | 1:40:26 | |
school. Sit idly by pub talent goes to waste. I have had all the | 1:40:26 | 1:40:32 | |
advantages you could dream of, good school, great parents. I was lucky. | 1:40:32 | 1:40:39 | |
But it should not be about luck. On Saturday, I met a group of young | 1:40:40 | 1:40:44 | |
people just arriving -- just after I arrived in Birmingham. They were | 1:40:44 | 1:40:49 | |
from a charity. They all came from difficult backgrounds. One young | 1:40:49 | 1:40:56 | |
woman, she told me that she only started to survive when she found | 1:40:56 | 1:41:03 | |
someone who simply believed in her. I want every child to believe in | 1:41:03 | 1:41:07 | |
themselves. Because in terms of opportunity, we are a nation | 1:41:07 | 1:41:13 | |
divided. Children from a poor background, a year behind in | 1:41:13 | 1:41:18 | |
language skills before the age of five. More young black men in | 1:41:18 | 1:41:27 | |
prisons than at big universities. In Hammersmith, more than half the | 1:41:27 | 1:41:32 | |
children leading state schools had two-legged University. But just 30 | 1:41:32 | 1:41:41 | |
minutes down the District lines to Tower Hamlets, just for % do. Odds | 1:41:41 | 1:41:47 | |
stacked against too many of our children. At deep injustice, when | 1:41:47 | 1:41:52 | |
birth his destiny. Sand that is why, that is why I had been leading the | 1:41:52 | 1:42:02 | |
1:42:02 | 1:42:13 | ||
charge for social mobility, for 44 but you know, people keep | 1:42:13 | 1:42:20 | |
telling me it is too hard. That it is futile to push for fairness into | 1:42:20 | 1:42:25 | |
their head winds of an economic slowdown. Or they say, it will just | 1:42:25 | 1:42:29 | |
take too long and I should find some politically convenient, quick | 1:42:29 | 1:42:34 | |
wins instead. I have also encountered fierce resistance from | 1:42:34 | 1:42:39 | |
those to do so well out of the status quo. But for liberals, the | 1:42:39 | 1:42:45 | |
only struggles worth having are the upper ones. Allowing schools to | 1:42:45 | 1:42:51 | |
move poorer children up the queue for admissions. Making universities | 1:42:51 | 1:42:55 | |
open their doors to everyone, making firms work harder to get | 1:42:55 | 1:43:00 | |
women on their boards, breaking open internships, all controversial, | 1:43:00 | 1:43:10 | |
1:43:10 | 1:43:19 | ||
So I am not backing down, I am not slowing down. Because this will not | 1:43:19 | 1:43:25 | |
be a liberal nation until every citizen can thrive and prosper, | 1:43:25 | 1:43:35 | |
1:43:35 | 1:43:35 | ||
until birth is no longer destiny, until every child is three to rise. | 1:43:35 | 1:43:45 | |
1:43:45 | 1:43:48 | ||
This summer or, we saw the consequences of a society in which | 1:43:48 | 1:43:54 | |
some people feel they have no stake at all. Nobody could fail to be | 1:43:54 | 1:44:00 | |
horrified by what we saw during the riots. These were not organised | 1:44:00 | 1:44:05 | |
campaigns for change. They were outbursts of nihilism and greed. I | 1:44:05 | 1:44:09 | |
will never forget the women I met in Tottenham he told me the close | 1:44:09 | 1:44:16 | |
shoes didn't wear the early possession she had left in the | 1:44:16 | 1:44:22 | |
world after her home was torched. But in every city, where trouble | 1:44:22 | 1:44:28 | |
broke out, most people did the right thing. So many more people | 1:44:28 | 1:44:31 | |
were out there to clean up the streets and went out to trash them | 1:44:31 | 1:44:36 | |
in the first place. In Manchester, I met a cafe owner who boarded up | 1:44:36 | 1:44:40 | |
her windows and started serving tea and coffee straight away to the | 1:44:40 | 1:44:46 | |
people who were helping to clear up. And here in Birmingham, for the | 1:44:46 | 1:44:56 | |
1:44:56 | 1:44:58 | ||
communities did together so in the Our emergency services, police and | 1:44:58 | 1:45:02 | |
courts all rose to the challenge. But we have to now ensure that the | 1:45:02 | 1:45:08 | |
offenders become ex-offenders. For good. Three after four had previous | 1:45:08 | 1:45:16 | |
convictions. So we have to push ahead, not step back from the | 1:45:16 | 1:45:19 | |
Government's rehabilitation revolution. Punishment matchsticks, | 1:45:19 | 1:45:25 | |
but changes behaviour, an end to the corrosive cycle of crime. -- | 1:45:25 | 1:45:30 | |
punishment that sticks. I once the perpetrators to book their victims | 1:45:30 | 1:45:35 | |
in the eye, to see the consequences of their actions and to put it | 1:45:35 | 1:45:40 | |
right. That is why there will be community pay back projects in | 1:45:40 | 1:45:45 | |
every city affected. Why we want -- are investing in drug recovery | 1:45:45 | 1:45:51 | |
wings in our prisons, tackling gang culture, community sentences. | 1:45:51 | 1:45:53 | |
Restorative Justice, liberal justice. | 1:45:53 | 1:46:03 | |
1:46:03 | 1:46:12 | ||
Let me say something else. The rioters are not the face of | 1:46:12 | 1:46:22 | |
1:46:22 | 1:46:23 | ||
Britain's young people. The vast majority of our young people are | 1:46:24 | 1:46:29 | |
good, decent and doing the best they can. Do not condemn all of | 1:46:29 | 1:46:34 | |
them because of the actions of a few. | 1:46:34 | 1:46:44 | |
1:46:44 | 1:46:49 | ||
What really struck me was how many -- has so many of those who did to | 1:46:49 | 1:46:53 | |
join the riots seemed to have nothing to lose. It was about what | 1:46:53 | 1:46:57 | |
they could get, here and now. Not what lies in front of them in the | 1:46:57 | 1:47:04 | |
years ahead. As if their own future had little value. Too many of these | 1:47:04 | 1:47:08 | |
young people had simply fallen through the cracks. Not just this | 1:47:08 | 1:47:13 | |
summer, but many summers ago, when they lost touch up with their own | 1:47:13 | 1:47:19 | |
future. And as so often, the people who have gone off the rails are the | 1:47:19 | 1:47:24 | |
ones who are struggling years earlier. Not least in making that | 1:47:24 | 1:47:29 | |
critical leap from primary to secondary schools. So today I am | 1:47:30 | 1:47:35 | |
launching a new scheme to help the children who need it most. In the | 1:47:35 | 1:47:40 | |
summer before they start secondary school, a two-week summer school | 1:47:40 | 1:47:44 | |
helping them to catch up in maths and English and getting them ready | 1:47:44 | 1:47:49 | |
for the challenges ahead. Because then we know this is a time when | 1:47:49 | 1:47:55 | |
too many children lose their way. So this is a �50 million investment | 1:47:55 | 1:48:05 | |
1:48:05 | 1:48:11 | ||
to help them along the right path. And that is why we have found the | 1:48:11 | 1:48:15 | |
money, even now, to invest in education. Protecting the schools | 1:48:16 | 1:48:21 | |
budget. A �2.5 billion people premium by the end of the | 1:48:21 | 1:48:27 | |
parliament. More investment in early years education. 15 hours for | 1:48:27 | 1:48:30 | |
all three and four year olds. New provision for the poorest two year | 1:48:30 | 1:48:37 | |
olds. Steps towards a society where nobody is enslaved by poverty, | 1:48:37 | 1:48:42 | |
ignorance or conformity. Towards a liberal society. These are | 1:48:43 | 1:48:49 | |
investments that will take years or even decades to pay off. By the | 1:48:49 | 1:48:55 | |
time the two year-olds we help next yet come to vote, I will be 60! It | 1:48:55 | 1:48:59 | |
is even possible that I will no longer be needed by then! Or at | 1:49:00 | 1:49:06 | |
least, that is what I told Miriam. So why are we doing its? When it | 1:49:06 | 1:49:12 | |
costs so much and take so long? Because investing early takes such | 1:49:12 | 1:49:16 | |
a huge -- makes such a huge difference, especially for the | 1:49:16 | 1:49:26 | |
1:49:26 | 1:49:39 | ||
poorest children. Not easy, but So, hold your heads up. Look our | 1:49:39 | 1:49:46 | |
critics squarely in the eyes. This country would be in the trouble | 1:49:46 | 1:49:51 | |
today -- deep trouble today if we have not gone into Government last | 1:49:51 | 1:49:55 | |
year, and Britain will be a there are nation tomorrow because we are | 1:49:55 | 1:50:01 | |
in Government today. -- A Ferrer nation. Never apologise for the | 1:50:01 | 1:50:06 | |
difficult things we are having to do. We are serving a great country | 1:50:06 | 1:50:14 | |
at a time of great need. Then there are no short answers, but we will | 1:50:14 | 1:50:19 | |
not flinch. Our values are strong. Our instincts are good. Reason, not | 1:50:19 | 1:50:29 | |
1:50:29 | 1:50:43 | ||
prejudice. Compassion, not greed. After the summer riots, message | 1:50:43 | 1:50:50 | |
boards sprang up. They became known as peace walls. And on the peace | 1:50:50 | 1:50:55 | |
wall in Peckham, there was a note that Simply Red, our home, our | 1:50:55 | 1:51:03 | |
children, our future. Six words that say so much more than 600 | 1:51:03 | 1:51:12 | |
speeches. Our home, our children, our future. Britain is our home. We | 1:51:12 | 1:51:18 | |
will make it safe and strong. These are our children. And we will tear | 1:51:18 | 1:51:24 | |
down every barrier they face. And this is our future. We start | 1:51:24 | 1:51:34 | |
1:51:34 | 1:51:41 | ||
building it today! Nick Clegg, the UK Liberal Democrat | 1:51:41 | 1:51:46 | |
leader and deputy Prime Minister, receiving a standing ovation from | 1:51:46 | 1:51:50 | |
the delegates in the hall there in Birmingham. He admitted it had been | 1:51:50 | 1:51:54 | |
a tough 500 days, lost seats, support and the referendum but he | 1:51:54 | 1:51:58 | |
said it would be worth it in the end, praised the delegates for | 1:51:58 | 1:52:02 | |
their grace under fire. He said he wanted to anchor the Government in | 1:52:02 | 1:52:05 | |
the central ground and the party had to hold their heads up as they | 1:52:05 | 1:52:09 | |
were walking -- working towards a fairer nation. There is Mr Clegg | 1:52:09 | 1:52:15 | |
with his wife, Miriam. Joining me is Hamish Macdonell, our | 1:52:15 | 1:52:19 | |
commentator for the afternoon. What themes was Nick Clegg trying to get | 1:52:19 | 1:52:22 | |
across? This was an interesting speech because usually when you get | 1:52:22 | 1:52:27 | |
a party leader, particularly those in Government, they try to set at | 1:52:27 | 1:52:31 | |
some kind of vision of the future, something that ties together the | 1:52:31 | 1:52:35 | |
themes of all the policies. This was nothing like a visionary speech. | 1:52:35 | 1:52:40 | |
It was mostly a really defensive speech. It was the most defensive | 1:52:40 | 1:52:44 | |
speech I think I have ever heard a party did deliver. It was all about, | 1:52:44 | 1:52:50 | |
this is why we are doing this. Trying to say, look, just stick | 1:52:50 | 1:52:56 | |
with us. It was half conciliatory and Croft defensive. Let's go back | 1:52:56 | 1:53:00 | |
to the first story recovered in the programme, the Scottish budget. We | 1:53:00 | 1:53:04 | |
are joined in the garden lobby by Gavin Brown from the Scottish | 1:53:04 | 1:53:09 | |
Conservatives and by the Scottish Lib Dem lever, Willie Rennie. -- | 1:53:09 | 1:53:13 | |
Leader. Willie Rennie, it looks like Mr Swinney has a tough | 1:53:13 | 1:53:16 | |
balancing act trying to operate within the spending constraints | 1:53:16 | 1:53:22 | |
laid down by the coalition Government. First, I would say that | 1:53:22 | 1:53:26 | |
Nick's speech showed an amazing amount of determination in | 1:53:26 | 1:53:32 | |
difficult times. I think his speech was fantastic. John Swinney's Today | 1:53:32 | 1:53:38 | |
was more about a paper shuffling exercise. He was trying to pass the | 1:53:38 | 1:53:42 | |
buck to others rather than expecting ability -- responsibility | 1:53:42 | 1:53:47 | |
himself. He had some choice is today to make on capital spending, | 1:53:47 | 1:53:51 | |
and he has cut that. He had dresses to make on Scottish Water | 1:53:51 | 1:53:57 | |
investments which we proposed, �1.5 million, but he has avoided that. | 1:53:57 | 1:54:03 | |
And he chose to cut council tax for five years, which any benefits | 1:54:03 | 1:54:10 | |
people in big houses. Gavin Brown, what is your reaction? John Swinney | 1:54:10 | 1:54:15 | |
is operating in the spending and the lead set by your colleague, | 1:54:15 | 1:54:24 | |
George Osborne. Is he doing well by funnelling beat money into public | 1:54:24 | 1:54:29 | |
spending? He has been aware of the spending envelope since the | 1:54:29 | 1:54:33 | |
spending review last year so when the manifesto was written they knew | 1:54:33 | 1:54:37 | |
how much they would have to spend for the next three or four years. | 1:54:37 | 1:54:43 | |
Where it spelt out today was it was not a budget for the economy. They | 1:54:43 | 1:54:47 | |
have said to judge them on the economy, yet they have cut the | 1:54:47 | 1:54:51 | |
enterprise agency's budgets, but the innovation budget, so the best | 1:54:51 | 1:54:56 | |
say is critical. Skills have been cut, higher at further education | 1:54:56 | 1:54:59 | |
has been cut. Housing has been slashed. So a lot of the things you | 1:54:59 | 1:55:03 | |
would think would make a difference to the economy has either been cut | 1:55:03 | 1:55:07 | |
or slashed. I do not think the rhetoric matches the reality. | 1:55:07 | 1:55:13 | |
Willie Rennie, what do you make about the council tax freeze? The | 1:55:13 | 1:55:16 | |
Local Government gets the same amount of money as last year but | 1:55:16 | 1:55:21 | |
may have to use their borrowing powers. I think they should reflect | 1:55:21 | 1:55:26 | |
upon the priority that they have set for the council tax. In really | 1:55:26 | 1:55:29 | |
difficult times, the Government should review its decisions, and | 1:55:29 | 1:55:33 | |
I'd been five years worth of council tax fees I do not think is | 1:55:33 | 1:55:37 | |
the right thing for just now and they should reflect on that and | 1:55:37 | 1:55:41 | |
perhaps cut that back to invest instead in the economy. So I think | 1:55:41 | 1:55:46 | |
the SNP should reflect on that. They have also taken the credit for | 1:55:46 | 1:55:49 | |
increased NHS spending but actually criticised local Government because | 1:55:49 | 1:55:54 | |
they are getting a cut. So they need to perhaps be a bit more | 1:55:54 | 1:55:57 | |
consistent with their positions. Gavin Brown, what do you make of | 1:55:58 | 1:56:02 | |
the fact that local authorities may have to borrow money themselves? | 1:56:02 | 1:56:06 | |
For some local authorities, that will be extremely difficult. It is | 1:56:06 | 1:56:11 | |
simply a case of the Scottish Government passing down the buck to | 1:56:11 | 1:56:16 | |
local Government. Not only is it the capital budget being cut but in | 1:56:16 | 1:56:24 | |
real terms, the revenue budget is being cut by about �1 billion, from | 1:56:24 | 1:56:29 | |
�8.5 billion to �7.5 billion over the course of the spending review, | 1:56:29 | 1:56:31 | |
despite the Cabinet Secretary saying it is probably going to be | 1:56:31 | 1:56:37 | |
flat. I do not think losing �1 billion is flat. Thank you for | 1:56:37 | 1:56:42 | |
joining us live from Holyrood. Let's round everything off for the | 1:56:42 | 1:56:45 | |
final time in the company of our two commentators. We are hearing | 1:56:45 | 1:56:50 | |
there from Gavin Brown talking about their not being a budget for | 1:56:50 | 1:56:55 | |
growth. Yes, with all these things, the devil will be in the detail and | 1:56:55 | 1:57:00 | |
we have not had the chance to go into those figures. But if what | 1:57:00 | 1:57:04 | |
he's saying is right and the enterprise and innovation budgets | 1:57:04 | 1:57:08 | |
are being cut, there is a pretty clear message here and what Johnny | 1:57:08 | 1:57:12 | |
-- John Swinney appears to be doing here is bidding money into the | 1:57:12 | 1:57:15 | |
constituencies he feels unease it, things like public-sector workers, | 1:57:15 | 1:57:20 | |
and taking it out of things he feels does not need it. Innovation | 1:57:20 | 1:57:26 | |
is one of them, councils is another, and the big supermarkets another. | 1:57:26 | 1:57:30 | |
John McLaren, you will be crunching these because overnight. Anything | 1:57:30 | 1:57:35 | |
jumping out at you so far? Yes, it will take a while to get through | 1:57:35 | 1:57:39 | |
the figures. Just looking at some of them, on health, for example, | 1:57:39 | 1:57:44 | |
the extra money was the money that was announced in January, so there | 1:57:44 | 1:57:47 | |
has been no increase since then even though inflation has gone | 1:57:47 | 1:57:54 | |
higher, so I am not sure how that stands up. And also, on higher | 1:57:54 | 1:58:02 | |
education funding, Roussel spending will still be lower in 2014-15 in | 1:58:02 | 1:58:09 | |
cash terms than in 2010-11. -- resource spending. I am not sure | 1:58:09 | 1:58:18 | |
how that meets the commitment given in the speech. Thank you. We will | 1:58:18 | 1:58:22 | |
be looking out for nought number- crunching tomorrow. You are | 1:58:22 | 1:58:26 | |
releasing that did tell tomorrow. And Hamish Macdonell, thanks for | 1:58:26 | 1:58:30 | |
your company here as well. That brings our political coverage to a | 1:58:30 | 1:58:36 |