Browse content similar to 25/09/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good evening and welcome back to Brighton for a round-up of the | :00:11. | :00:16. | |
goings-on at the Liberal Democrat Conference today. It stopped | :00:16. | :00:20. | |
raining on the Lib Dems today and started blowing a gale. But there | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
was no comfort in the conference hall, where Danny Alexander told | :00:23. | :00:26. | |
them an extra �16 billion had to be found in election year 2015 and the | :00:26. | :00:31. | |
Welfare Bill wasn't immune from cuts. | :00:31. | :00:34. | |
Nick Clegg indicated his party could target the benefits of the | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
richest pensioners in its election manifesto. Elsewhere, is Alex | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
Salmond a stooge of Beijing? The leader of the Scottish Lib Dems | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
seems to think so. And we test the mood in the ranks | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
to see if the thought of a future partnership with Labour cheers up | :00:49. | :00:59. | |
:00:59. | :01:01. | ||
the poor rained upon, blown about, down in the polls, Lib Dems. | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
Here in the bar of the Grand Hotel, I expect these rather battle-weary | :01:04. | :01:10. | |
Lib Dems could use a bit of warming up. They know tackling the deficit | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
will take a lot of doing. One Minister told me today that he | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
would like the coalition to consider cutting the benefits of | :01:17. | :01:21. | |
the best-off pensioners now. But the coalition has already promised | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
to leave universal benefits alone. Nick Clegg has probably apologised | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
enough to be getting on with! What about after the election? What | :01:29. | :01:34. | |
about the best-off pensioners? Nick Robinson spoke to the Deputy Prime | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
Minister. You will have to cut the welfare | :01:37. | :01:42. | |
budget in part to meet those savings? Yes, I don't think it will | :01:42. | :01:46. | |
be possible to set the welfare budget entirely aside. It | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
constitutes a third of total of public spending. We won't do what | :01:50. | :01:55. | |
has been suggested by some which is scoop out almost all of that amount, | :01:55. | :02:00. | |
�10 billion worth, from welfare alone. We need to ask people who | :02:00. | :02:05. | |
have far more considerable means, are much wealthier than normal | :02:05. | :02:09. | |
people, to make an additional contribution. Will you stop the | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
better-off pensioners getting top- ups to their incomes that they | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
don't need? On winter fuel allowance, free bus passes, free TV | :02:16. | :02:19. | |
licences, there is a debate to be had in the next Parliament - we | :02:19. | :02:24. | |
have ruled it out in this coalition agreement - there is a question | :02:24. | :02:30. | |
mark about whether it is right that Peter Stringfellow or Alan Sugar | :02:30. | :02:37. | |
have available to them free bus passes subsidised by normal workers | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
paying taxes. What about people who are not hugely wealthy, but are | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
better off - doctors, senior teachers, police officers? I start | :02:44. | :02:49. | |
at the top. It seems to me, as a matter of principle, not right that | :02:49. | :02:56. | |
when we are taking housing benefit away from some people, we are not | :02:57. | :02:59. | |
asking Alan Sugar and Peter Stringfellow - I don't know whether | :02:59. | :03:05. | |
they receive those benefits - we are not saying that other taxpayers | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
are not going to subsidise those free benefits to you. Don Foster is | :03:10. | :03:15. | |
not a millionaire and he says this coalition, now, not maybe some time | :03:15. | :03:24. | |
in the future, should take money away from people like him? He is | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
wrong. It is not going to happen during this Parliament. What I'm | :03:28. | :03:32. | |
talking about is people who are very, very wealthy indeed, who | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
receive through the generosity of millions of ordinary taxpayers in | :03:35. | :03:41. | |
this country free bus passes, free TV licences, winter fuel support, | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
winter payment support, even though they frankly don't need it. If, as | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
seems unlikely, the Conservatives agree to your mansion tax, how many | :03:50. | :03:56. | |
more billions of savings, cuts or tax rises, would you still have to | :03:56. | :04:00. | |
find? Considerably more billions. A mansion tax... �14 billion in one | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
year? A mansion tax is not going to fill the blackhole. This is the | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
whole point. No single measure will when you are dealing with the | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
enormity of this difficult task of filling the blackhole left to us by | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
Gordon Brown and Ed Balls. I think what you are saying to party and | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
country at this conference is, "We have grown up, we are being more | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
candid with you." Isn't the honest thing to say, "It won't come from | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
mansions and it won't come from oligarchs and it won't come from | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
millionaires. Ladies and gentlemen, it is tough, but it will come from | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
you"? You are missing a point. In polls, as in life, your values are | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
reflected in where you start. When you have a difficult decision, | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
where do you start? Who do you first ask to make a sacrifice? You | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
are right, there is a difference between myself and my Conservative | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
colleagues in Government, for reasons that you will need to ask | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
them, they don't want to ask people who live in mansions worth �5 | :04:57. | :05:01. | |
million to pay a 1% levy on the value of mansions over �2 million. | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
Personally, I think there are millions of people in this country | :05:05. | :05:10. | |
who can barely imagine what it means to live in a mansion worth �2 | :05:10. | :05:13. | |
million. It is worth that the Liberal Democrats are saying that | :05:13. | :05:17. | |
as we move to this debate, we are saying we will start by asking them | :05:17. | :05:23. | |
to make the first sacrifice. Nick Clegg talking to Nick Robinson. Mr | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
Clegg's close colleague, David Laws, is saying there is no point in | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
cutting the benefit of rich pensioners because it would not | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
raise much cash. Ever fancied running a country? Be careful what | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
you wish for! Yesterday, Vince Cable managed to convince the party | :05:38. | :05:42. | |
that they were right to tackle the deficit. Today, Danny Alexander | :05:42. | :05:48. | |
brought home just how tough that was going to be. Thanks to the | :05:48. | :05:54. | |
Liberal Democrats taxes are getting fairer. Our tough budget | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
negotiations mean that next year 24 million people will benefit from | :05:59. | :06:04. | |
the largest-ever increase in the tax-free amount. The income tax cut | :06:05. | :06:08. | |
was by far the most important measure in the Budget and the | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
working people of this country will have over �3 billion more of their | :06:13. | :06:19. | |
own money to spend next year as a result. A cleaner working full-time | :06:19. | :06:25. | |
on the minimum wage will see their tax bill halved thanks to the | :06:25. | :06:33. | |
Liberal Democrats. APPLAUSE Very soon, very soon no-one will pay | :06:33. | :06:38. | |
income tax at all until they are earning more than �10,000, thanks | :06:38. | :06:48. | |
:06:48. | :06:48. | ||
to the Liberal Democrats. APPLAUSE We promised it in our manifesto. We | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
campaigned for it and we had the courage to go into coalition to | :06:52. | :06:57. | |
deliver it. At the next election, we will promise to raise that | :06:57. | :07:02. | |
figure yet further to �12,500 so that you don't pay any income tax | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
until you are earning more than a full-time salary on the minimum | :07:07. | :07:15. | |
wage. APPLAUSE Despite all the difficulties, and challenges in the | :07:15. | :07:20. | |
years that lie ahead, in the last two years we have resecured for | :07:20. | :07:27. | |
this country a very precious commodity - credibility. No-one now | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
doubts that Britain is a nation that can pay its way. We have | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
rebuilt the confidence in this nation's ability to pay its way in | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
the world. We can now put that credibility to work for the British | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
people. There could not be a worse time to argue that we should | :07:42. | :07:51. | |
abandon our plan. APPLAUSE As we overwhelmingly agreed in this hall | :07:51. | :07:55. | |
yesterday, we won't do it. It is the foundation for everything else. | :07:55. | :08:04. | |
It is the foundation for jobs and prosperity in the future. APPLAUSE | :08:04. | :08:09. | |
Last autumn, we were faced with a worsening forecast from the | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
independent office of budget responsibility. Rather than add | :08:12. | :08:19. | |
more cuts now, we decided to take another two years to do the job. | :08:19. | :08:25. | |
That was right. The pragmatic response to things getting worse. | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
But fellow Liberal Democrats, that decision has consequences, too. It | :08:29. | :08:33. | |
means we are now committed to further deficit reduction into the | :08:33. | :08:40. | |
next Parliament. Let me be clear. I will not sacrifice this party's | :08:40. | :08:45. | |
independence by binding us to detailed spending plans deep into | :08:45. | :08:51. | |
the next Parliament. APPLAUSE there is one thing we must do. We | :08:52. | :08:57. | |
have to set a detailed budget for Government for the years 2015/16. | :08:57. | :09:05. | |
We will be in Government for the first five weeks of it at least. | :09:05. | :09:13. | |
APPLAUSE That means setting out specific plans for the �16 billion | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
of savings that are needed in that year. It also means setting out how | :09:17. | :09:21. | |
we, as Liberal Democrats, would make the further tough choices | :09:21. | :09:26. | |
needed beyond that. Nick and I will negotiate hard to get this right, | :09:26. | :09:32. | |
to make choices that are shaped by our liberal values and driven by | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
our Liberal Democrat priorities. We will simply not allow the books to | :09:36. | :09:45. | |
:09:46. | :09:48. | ||
be balanced in a way that hits the poorest hardest. APPLAUSE But at | :09:49. | :09:54. | |
�220 billion, welfare is one-third of all public spending. Despite our | :09:54. | :10:02. | |
painful reforms, it is still rising. We will have to look at it. But | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
that cannot, must not, and will not be the only place we look. We | :10:06. | :10:11. | |
insist that the difficult choices must be fairly shared, that those | :10:11. | :10:19. | |
who can afford more must contribute more. APPLAUSE At our conference | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
two years ago I announced an extra �900 million and told you by the | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
end of the Parliament it would deliver �7 billion a year in | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
revenues. Last year, I reported back that we were on track for an | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
additional �2 billion and this year, I can announce that we are on track | :10:35. | :10:41. | |
to raise an additional �4 billion. Fairer taxes, in tough times, it | :10:42. | :10:47. | |
means everyone playing by the same rule book and everyone paying their | :10:47. | :10:52. | |
fair share. The vast majority of taxpayers in this wealth bracket do | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
pay their fair share. We have this message to the small minority of | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
wealthy people who don't play by the rules. We are coming to get you | :11:00. | :11:10. | |
:11:10. | :11:10. | ||
and you will pay your fair share. APPLAUSE In the summer I shut down | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
the scandalous situation where thousands of public sector workers | :11:13. | :11:18. | |
were being paid in a way that potentially allowed them to pay too | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
little tax. Rules are now in place to stop that happening. Based on | :11:22. | :11:26. | |
the simple principle that if you are being paid public money, you | :11:27. | :11:31. | |
should pay your taxes. But it cannot be right that similar rules | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
don't apply to companies doing business with the Government, too. | :11:34. | :11:39. | |
If you want to work for us, you should play by our rules. | :11:39. | :11:48. | |
Taxpayers' money should not be funding tax dodgers. So I have... I | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
have tasked HMRC and the Cabinet Office to come up with a workable | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
solution to this problem and we will set out more details later | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
this year. And we need to get wealthy individuals to pay a fairer | :12:00. | :12:07. | |
share, too. In this country, we tax work, effort, income too highly. | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
And unearned wealthy far too little. You can move your money offshore, | :12:12. | :12:16. | |
but you can't move your mansion. That is why we want a mansion tax. | :12:16. | :12:23. | |
It is simple. It is fair. It is unavoidable. An extra levy on high- | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
value property would get more money from those who can afford it. It | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
would ensure that the burden of the next round of deficit reduction is | :12:31. | :12:36. | |
shared more fairly. We will continue to argue for it within | :12:36. | :12:42. | |
Government. APPLAUSE Danny Alexander speaking earlier today. | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
We are all in it together! Not that you would know, the green and proud | :12:46. | :12:49. | |
of it Liberal Democrats were in the same Government as a lot of | :12:49. | :12:53. | |
Conservatives when it comes to climate change. Andrew Neil spoke | :12:53. | :13:01. | |
to Ed Davey. At the weekend, you talked about | :13:01. | :13:07. | |
"the Tory Tea Party tendency which didn't want to spend money on green | :13:07. | :13:13. | |
power". Who were you thinking of? Well, there is a number of people | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
on the Conservative backbenches who never believed that climate change | :13:17. | :13:22. | |
is an issue, have always opposed the green agenda and I believe we | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
need to stand up to that. The Prime Minister made it very clear by | :13:26. | :13:29. | |
making sure that when he was opposition leader that the | :13:29. | :13:33. | |
Conservative Party voted for the Climate Change Act and indeed, | :13:33. | :13:37. | |
George Osborne campaigned when he was running the election campaign | :13:37. | :13:45. | |
on a slogan of "vote plue, go green" and this will -- "vote blue, | :13:45. | :13:51. | |
go green" and this will be the greenest Government ever. It is not | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
just Conservative backbenchers, is it, your own Energy Minister is | :13:56. | :14:02. | |
part of the Tea Party tendency when it comes to green issues, isn't he? | :14:02. | :14:08. | |
He told BBC News in 2009 that renewable energy needs to pass the | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
twin test of environmental and economic sustainability and wind | :14:13. | :14:23. | |
:14:23. | :14:25. | ||
power fails on both accounts. He is Not at all. I worked with John | :14:25. | :14:29. | |
before, and got on with him incredibly well. I am delighted | :14:29. | :14:34. | |
that he is in my department. We are already working on a range of | :14:34. | :14:42. | |
issues. When he and others who studied renewables, they will see | :14:42. | :14:48. | |
that they can be cost-effective and important for preventing a reliance | :14:48. | :14:53. | |
on carbon in our economy. But what you stand for and what you believe | :14:53. | :14:59. | |
cannot be the same as Mr Hayes saying wind power fails on both | :14:59. | :15:06. | |
accounts. You don't agree with that. He said it. The he said it in 2009. | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
I am sure he will look at the evidence now. Meaning he didn't | :15:10. | :15:16. | |
look before? I don't know whether he looked before. When you are a | :15:16. | :15:22. | |
minister, you look at an awful lot, and the evidence is clear. How is | :15:22. | :15:28. | |
your secret plot to get the Lib Dem leadership coming on? It is so | :15:28. | :15:33. | |
secret that I have not heard about it. So I am delighted to have yet | :15:33. | :15:41. | |
another opportunity to deny that story. So you have not also gone on | :15:41. | :15:47. | |
a special new diet because you ate too many pies in the pie factory? | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
was in the pie factory many years ago. I take that sort of story with | :15:51. | :15:57. | |
a pinch of salt and a large glass of Rioja. Bat will not work for the | :15:57. | :16:04. | |
diet! Maybe we should both -- we should both go on a diet, Andrew. | :16:04. | :16:09. | |
maybe you should also be standing the leadership. Would you consider | :16:09. | :16:14. | |
being Lib Dem leader? We have the best Liberal Democrat leader we | :16:14. | :16:20. | |
have ever had. I am immensely proud of him. Better than Lloyd George? | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
Well, he was a Liberal leader. We have a Liberal Democrat leader. | :16:24. | :16:30. | |
Nick Clegg would measure up well to Lord George -- Lloyd George. He has | :16:30. | :16:33. | |
been our most successful leader for decades, and he is doing an | :16:33. | :16:39. | |
incredibly brilliant -- difficult job brilliantly. This leadership | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
talk that you and others in the media love to focus on, it is just | :16:43. | :16:46. | |
not kicking off here in the conference. There is not a single | :16:46. | :16:52. | |
MP any of you lot have found who is against Nick Clegg's the leadership. | :16:52. | :16:57. | |
We are a united party. You should be asking the other parties about | :16:57. | :17:02. | |
how much they are united. We will, don't worry. If Mr Clegg is doing | :17:02. | :17:07. | |
such a brilliant job, why do the polls show him as the least popular | :17:07. | :17:13. | |
party leader since Michael Foot? well, both Nick and the Liberal | :17:13. | :17:18. | |
Democrats are not doing well in the polls. That is self-evident. But | :17:18. | :17:23. | |
some polls show us doing better, and you tend not to report those. | :17:23. | :17:28. | |
An ICM poll put us on 80% this week. People are selective in the | :17:28. | :17:33. | |
evidence they use. The es Liberal Democrats may be | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
lagging behind in the polls, but for some parties, life is much | :17:36. | :17:41. | |
tougher, like the Scottish Liberal Democrats. Michael Moore, the | :17:41. | :17:46. | |
Secretary of State for Scotland and Willie Rennie were both on the | :17:46. | :17:50. | |
platform today. Willie Rennie was out to pick a fight. Last year in | :17:50. | :17:57. | |
Scotland, people were writing us off. Perhaps even some of our | :17:57. | :18:04. | |
supporters right here wondered how a group of five MSPs cut by two- | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
thirds in the elections could make an impact on the Scottish political | :18:07. | :18:12. | |
scene. Although our opponents will always to write us, I can tell you | :18:12. | :18:15. | |
that they are privately fizzing in that the Liberal Democrats will | :18:15. | :18:21. | |
just not disappear. Well, I am not actually sorry to disappoint them. | :18:21. | :18:27. | |
As history shows, we have a bit more staying power than that. We | :18:27. | :18:35. | |
will make the Liberal case. Unlike Alex Salmond, who does not. He | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
likes to court the rich and powerful. The cosy relationship | :18:39. | :18:44. | |
that he has fostered with those with vested interests runs counter | :18:44. | :18:50. | |
to the values that Scotland holds dear. He was asked to write a | :18:50. | :18:57. | |
column in the first edition of the new Sun on Sunday. In it, he said | :18:57. | :19:02. | |
that News International was not the only company involved in phone | :19:02. | :19:09. | |
hacking. It is a familiar argument that many mothers used when | :19:09. | :19:14. | |
defending their errant son. He was not the only one that did it. There | :19:14. | :19:20. | |
were others as well. Alex Salmond's defence of Rupert Murdoch's empire | :19:20. | :19:26. | |
revealed a politician who was prepared to do anything to get the | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
support of the media, even if it meant betraying the phone hacking | :19:30. | :19:37. | |
victims. We saw the same in the summer. The Dalai Lama came to | :19:37. | :19:41. | |
Scotland, and we learnt that the Chinese government was going around, | :19:41. | :19:47. | |
telling everybody not to meet him. People in Scotland didn't listen to | :19:47. | :19:55. | |
them for bow to the pressure. Except for one man, the First | :19:55. | :19:59. | |
Minister. He submitted to pressure from the Chinese in a way that I am | :19:59. | :20:09. | |
:20:09. | :20:11. | ||
so proud that our deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, did not. It | :20:11. | :20:18. | |
actually seems that if you have got �1 billion or a billion people, the | :20:18. | :20:24. | |
First Minister will do whatever you want. We have shaped a fairer | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
country, a fairness dividend delivered by Liberal Democrats for | :20:28. | :20:37. | |
all of Scotland and all of the UK. And in making these changes, we | :20:37. | :20:41. | |
will also strengthen Scotland within the UK. There are those in | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
the Scottish National Party who see devolution as a stepping stone to | :20:45. | :20:50. | |
independence. But they are wrong. Devolution is about strengthening | :20:50. | :20:55. | |
Scotland within the UK. Independence is about taking | :20:55. | :21:01. | |
Scotland out of it. So I, we, stand up for devolution and against | :21:01. | :21:11. | |
:21:11. | :21:12. | ||
independence. And when referendum day comes, Liberal Democrats will | :21:12. | :21:18. | |
be at the forefront of the campaign to keep our UK family together. Of | :21:18. | :21:22. | |
course, the issue of independence cannot be resolved until a | :21:22. | :21:26. | |
referendum agreement is reached between Scotland's two governments. | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
I have said from the outset that any referendum must be legal, fair | :21:30. | :21:36. | |
and decisive. It should be made in Scotland for the people of Scotland. | :21:36. | :21:42. | |
But a referendum run from the Scottish parliament, fulfilling the | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
SNP's election pledge, could only happen if we could reach an | :21:45. | :21:50. | |
agreement on devolving power. As Liberal Democrats, it is not in our | :21:50. | :21:53. | |
nature to be nationalists. We believe in a fair society where | :21:53. | :21:59. | |
what unites us is stronger than what divides us, whether nations of | :21:59. | :22:03. | |
our country come together and invest in good times and bad in our | :22:03. | :22:08. | |
common goals and interests. Let's sort out the process and move on to | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
the argument. Let's get the referendum started, and let's show | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
the people of this country that Liberal Democrats in government's | :22:16. | :22:22. | |
stand for a fairer Scotland and a stronger United Kingdom. Michael | :22:22. | :22:25. | |
Moore there. Vince Cable told his party yesterday that we were | :22:25. | :22:29. | |
heading for yet another hung parliament. So, with the Lib Dems | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
prefer to cuddle up with Labour after 2015? Adam Fleming took his | :22:33. | :22:38. | |
mood box out to try to find out. Today, we are asking Liberal | :22:38. | :22:41. | |
Democrat delegates who they would like to share power with at the | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
next -- if the next election results in a hung parliament. Do | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
they want to be in a coalition with the Tories or Labour? For got to be | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
Labour. We have already been in collision with the Tories, and it | :22:54. | :22:59. | |
is sensible that we are in coalition with Labour next. | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
have come for the Tories. Yes, because Labour screwed up the | :23:03. | :23:09. | |
country so much last time. Certainly not the Tories. Earth I | :23:09. | :23:14. | |
guess I will put it in Labour being the least worst of the other two. | :23:14. | :23:19. | |
Very optimistic. I don't trust either of them as far as I can | :23:19. | :23:24. | |
throw them. Then act it out eloquently with the ball. What | :23:24. | :23:30. | |
would be your ideal coalition arrangement? Greens. A green-Lib | :23:30. | :23:40. | |
Dem minority government. Wouldn't that be about 57 MPs? Why not? | :23:40. | :23:43. | |
would you rather be in coalition with at the next election if it is | :23:43. | :23:53. | |
:23:53. | :23:54. | ||
a hung parliament? What message are you trying to send with that? | :23:54. | :24:03. | |
not about coalitions after 2015, it is about being in power after 2015. | :24:03. | :24:09. | |
It is going pretty slowly this time. Vince, do you want to do the balls | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
this year? You did it last year. I will lend some money to your | :24:13. | :24:20. | |
business bank. I will give you a tenner if you take one of my balls. | :24:20. | :24:26. | |
Is it a tricky one? Well, have a look. Who is your preferred | :24:26. | :24:31. | |
coalition partner? Can I have two balls? I would hurl the ball at | :24:31. | :24:38. | |
both of them. Put one in each. scrupulously impartial. Who is your | :24:38. | :24:48. | |
preferred coalition partner next time? Go away. As a minister, you | :24:48. | :24:55. | |
have to juggle many balls. might say that, I couldn't possibly | :24:55. | :25:05. | |
:25:05. | :25:05. | ||
comment. Yes, Minister. We don't have a preferred coalition partner, | :25:05. | :25:10. | |
as you know, so I will put it back. That was exhausting, getting this | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
many balls. But the majority have gone in that direction, towards | :25:14. | :25:22. | |
Labour. I just like getting MPs to Sables, basically. I know. Balls, | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
balls, balls. Adam Fleming. A back in the conference hall, | :25:26. | :25:31. | |
George Osborne's plans for regional public sector pay were held up, | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
chewed over and comprehensively spat out by the Liberal Democrats | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
when the time came to vote. To me, fairness means spreading our wealth | :25:39. | :25:44. | |
more widely. It is unfair and a liberal to suck money out of those | :25:44. | :25:51. | |
poorest communities. Regional pay would do that. So instinctively, as | :25:51. | :25:55. | |
Liberal Democrats, we must know that regional pay is wrong. But | :25:55. | :26:00. | |
apparently, George Osborne does not. He wants to allow government | :26:00. | :26:03. | |
departments to depress public sector salaries in regions across | :26:03. | :26:09. | |
the UK, to open the possibility of postcode pay. The motion we are | :26:09. | :26:14. | |
discussing today a poses the expansion of regional pay. | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
private and that sector workers in our most deprived regions are | :26:17. | :26:23. | |
paying tax so that the taxpayer employed workers in other regions | :26:23. | :26:27. | |
can enjoy a lifestyle they can't. That is not simply unfair, that is | :26:28. | :26:34. | |
absolutely unjust. But we are not only tea party of fairness, we are | :26:34. | :26:38. | |
the party of localism. And to deny local public sector commission has | :26:38. | :26:43. | |
the right to negotiate local rates of pay flies in the face of our | :26:43. | :26:46. | |
policy on local democracy, accountability and the | :26:46. | :26:51. | |
decentralisation of power to the regions. I understand the emotion, | :26:51. | :26:55. | |
the idea that we will cut wages. If I believe regional pay would do | :26:55. | :27:00. | |
that, I would be as angry and emotional as the proposals are. | :27:01. | :27:05. | |
However, the time has come for us to recognise that as a party that | :27:05. | :27:11. | |
supports localism, if we intend to promote regional diversity, we must | :27:11. | :27:16. | |
also allow our local government units to adapt to the local | :27:16. | :27:22. | |
conditions. We already struggled to attract into areas like mine people | :27:22. | :27:29. | |
to come and fill posts in hospitals, teachers and other public-sector | :27:29. | :27:32. | |
workers. If they thought the cost of coming to North Devon was that | :27:32. | :27:36. | |
they would see their wage cuts, they simply would not come. | :27:36. | :27:42. | |
contrast, our workers will go elsewhere, where they will get | :27:42. | :27:45. | |
higher pay and face lower cost. We have been asking ourselves this | :27:45. | :27:50. | |
week, what can we do to make a difference in government? We have | :27:50. | :27:54. | |
been told me about fairness. We can start right here, right now, by | :27:54. | :27:58. | |
taking a stand against this and making it clear to our colleagues | :27:58. | :28:04. | |
in the coalition that up with this we will not put. That is it for | :28:04. | :28:08. | |
tonight. Tomorrow on the conference floor, we will hear from the | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
business minister and the main event, the deputy prime minister, | :28:11. | :28:16. | |
Nick Clegg. It is a big moment. No one imagines he can turn around his | :28:16. | :28:20. | |
or his party's fortunes with a single speech, but this party is | :28:20. | :28:25. | |
still behind him, but the most part. But they want and need a good | :28:25. | :28:28. | |
performance from their leader. And he will not be making any more | :28:28. | :28:32. |