:00:00. > :00:17.Welcome to our first Today at the Tory Party Conference
:00:18. > :00:20.in Birmingham, where it fell to the Chancellor to put the weekend's
:00:21. > :00:23.shenanigans - a defection and a resignation - behind them,
:00:24. > :00:30.George Osborne promised to balance the budget in the next parliament
:00:31. > :00:34.with a two-year freeze in benefits paid to people of working age.
:00:35. > :00:36.And he pledged to "put a stop" to the "extraordinary lengths" some
:00:37. > :00:41.And after two Tory defections to UKIP, with maybe more to come,
:00:42. > :00:51.who do the faithful here prefer - UKIP or the Liberal Democrats?
:00:52. > :00:57.Fer or their coalition partners the Liberal Democrats.
:00:58. > :00:59.I I happen to like Nigel Farage. I shared a few beers with him. Doesn't
:01:00. > :01:04.mean I share the same politics. The Chancellor's job this morning
:01:05. > :01:07.was to rescue this conference from a So he talked up the economy,
:01:08. > :01:11.rounded on Ed Miliband for not mentioning the deficit and promised
:01:12. > :01:14.a further crackdown on welfare - this time a two-year freeze
:01:15. > :01:17.from 2016 on working age benefits, This most political
:01:18. > :01:23.of chancellors clearly wants this to be a dividing line with Labour
:01:24. > :01:29.in the coming election. To leave behind a past
:01:30. > :01:33.of spending beyond our means, a past Record numbers of new firms,
:01:34. > :01:50.business growth, faster The fastest fall in unemployment
:01:51. > :01:56.on record. Our long-term economic
:01:57. > :02:03.plan is working. In fact, millions of people who,
:02:04. > :02:16.because of what we have done Who because of what we have done
:02:17. > :02:24.together now run their own business. Who because of what we've done
:02:25. > :02:27.together are providing And everyone in this hall
:02:28. > :02:32.should be proud of that. I don't stand here marvelling
:02:33. > :02:40.at how much we have done. On the contrary, I am humbled
:02:41. > :02:44.by how much more we have to do. The debts that need reducing,
:02:45. > :02:47.the small businesses that need The infrastructure
:02:48. > :02:54.that needs building. The better future
:02:55. > :02:56.for Britain that needs securing. We here resolve we will finish
:02:57. > :03:00.the job that we have started. That is what
:03:01. > :03:09.our party has always done. Apply our values and ideas to the
:03:10. > :03:12.challenges of the age and to march Ed Miliband made a pitch
:03:13. > :03:27.for office that was so forgettable Welfare spending makes up a third
:03:28. > :03:44.of the entire Government budget. We are going to live
:03:45. > :03:47.in a country where the elderly have dignity in retirement,
:03:48. > :03:49.and the vulnerable and people with But we can't afford to live
:03:50. > :03:59.in one where we spend ?100 billion on welfare payments for people
:04:00. > :04:06.of working age. And we have such debts,
:04:07. > :04:13.and even with the reforming decisions that Iain Duncan Smith
:04:14. > :04:15.and I have taken, benefits have risen more than earnings
:04:16. > :04:18.since Labour's great recession. That is not sustainable for any
:04:19. > :04:21.nation, and it is not fair either. Working age benefits in Britain will
:04:22. > :04:28.have to be frozen for two years. This is
:04:29. > :04:30.the choice Britain needs to take, to protect our economic stability,
:04:31. > :04:43.and to secure a better future. The fairest way to reduce welfare
:04:44. > :04:46.bills is to make sure that benefits are not rising faster than
:04:47. > :04:49.the wages of the taxpayers who are We will replace jobseeker's
:04:50. > :05:02.allowance, reform housing benefit and take
:05:03. > :05:17.the benefit cap we have reduced introduced down to ?23,000,
:05:18. > :05:36.because families out of work should Prf prv the Chancellor wants to
:05:37. > :05:39.tackle technology companies who try to avoid paying tax. I think we know
:05:40. > :05:52.who he is talking about. And it is this pro-business
:05:53. > :05:54.Conservative Chancellor who says to some of the biggest technology
:05:55. > :05:57.companies in the world this today. You are welcome here in
:05:58. > :05:59.Britain with open arms. You have the advantages of our
:06:00. > :06:02.skilled population to work for you. Broadband connections to deliver
:06:03. > :06:04.your service, and our NHS to So while we offer some
:06:05. > :06:09.of the lowest business taxes in the world, we expect those taxes
:06:10. > :06:12.to be paid, not avoided, and some technology companies go to
:06:13. > :06:15.extraordinary lengths to pay little If you abuse our tax system,
:06:16. > :06:24.you abuse the trust of the British people, and my message to these
:06:25. > :06:26.companies is clear. Low taxes
:06:27. > :06:31.but low taxes that are paid, part of There is one final
:06:32. > :06:40.choice we should make. A choice this party
:06:41. > :06:42.of progress always makes. And that is to trust people
:06:43. > :06:52.with their own money. That is why in my budget this year I
:06:53. > :06:55.apply that philosophy with far-reaching new freedoms in the way
:06:56. > :06:58.people can access their pensions. Now these freedoms are based
:06:59. > :07:01.on the simple idea that people know better how to spend their own money
:07:02. > :07:07.than governments do. This party, that gave people
:07:08. > :07:10.the right to buy their own home, is the party that is now giving people
:07:11. > :07:23.ownership of their own pension too. There are still rules that say you
:07:24. > :07:27.can't pass on to the next generation any of your
:07:28. > :07:33.pension pot when you die, without Now I could choose to
:07:34. > :07:39.cut this tax rate. Instead, I choose to
:07:40. > :07:42.abolish it all together. People who have worked
:07:43. > :07:52.and saved all their lives will be able to pass on their hard-earned
:07:53. > :07:55.pensions to their families tax free, The children and grandchildren
:07:56. > :08:10.and others who benefit will get the same tax treatment on this
:08:11. > :08:13.income as any other, but only Freedom for people's pensions,
:08:14. > :08:18.a pension tax established, passing on your pension tax free,
:08:19. > :08:20.not a promise for the next Conservative Government,
:08:21. > :08:22.but put into place and delivered Now we are eight months away
:08:23. > :08:39.from one of the most important We can face it with confidence,
:08:40. > :08:44.for we go to the people For five years Britain has pursued
:08:45. > :08:52.a clear economic policy. When all of Europe there has been
:08:53. > :08:55.crisis and uncertainty Britain has Now we seek a new mandate,
:08:56. > :09:05.as the party of jobs and security and a strong Prime Minister,
:09:06. > :09:07.against the party offering higher And we are going to offer political
:09:08. > :09:21.resolve and economic competence, a confident future for Britain
:09:22. > :09:24.as the most prosperous country We are going to say to the British
:09:25. > :09:27.people choose jobs. Choose the Conservative,
:09:28. > :09:40.choose the future. George Osborne
:09:41. > :09:52.addressing conference. Straight after his speech,
:09:53. > :09:54.I spoke to Matthew Hancock, the Business Minister,and asked him
:09:55. > :09:56.about the fairness of freezing on working age benefits when wages
:09:57. > :10:11.were stagnant or falling. We are talking here about a cash
:10:12. > :10:16.freeze in the amount of benefits, because we think that is the fairest
:10:17. > :10:21.way to tackle the overspending on welfare that has grown up over the
:10:22. > :10:30.last few decades. Real take home pay for the bottom 10% of earners was
:10:31. > :10:36.?7361 in 08. It is now round 7,00 pounds. It has fallen. Real take
:10:37. > :10:41.home pay and you know are going to cut real benefits. You are taking
:10:42. > :10:45.that measure, from the great recession, and as the Chancellor
:10:46. > :10:50.said in his speech, there is a very strong link between having a
:10:51. > :10:54.recession as a country, and people's pay, and absolutely, because of the
:10:55. > :11:00.recession, undoubtedly, on average, pay has fallen. We although that.
:11:01. > :11:04.Real take home pay? Do you know why? When there is a recession
:11:05. > :11:06.Real take home pay? Do you know why? economy shrinks and it is the
:11:07. > :11:11.accumulation of the financial income of everybody in it. O so the real
:11:12. > :11:17.take home pay of people is fall, why you hitting them with a benefit us
:11:18. > :11:21.cut? You have muddled it up. Because, no, no, let me answer your
:11:22. > :11:25.question. You said, that they, it is falling, that is not what the
:11:26. > :11:29.figures show. It has fallen, absolutely, and we had Labour's
:11:30. > :11:34.great recession and boy are we not going to let them forget it, but we
:11:35. > :11:39.are turning this round, it is not easy, but the best thing we can do
:11:40. > :11:45.to support people on low pay is cut their income taxes, and if you say a
:11:46. > :11:52.two earner couple, with a family, on ?13,000 each per year, you will lose
:11:53. > :11:56.round ?400 because of this but you will gain over ?1100 because of the
:11:57. > :12:00.tax measures we have taken. That means you are overall better off.
:12:01. > :12:05.You have cut the top tax rate for the rich, the best payers and now
:12:06. > :12:12.you are going to give this huge middle class benefit to people with
:12:13. > :12:17.big pension, you are abolishing the 55% tax.
:12:18. > :12:23.That is not true. Not only are the, the best, the most well paid paying
:12:24. > :12:29.the highest proportion of the tax stake than they have in recent time
:12:30. > :12:36.bus the change to pensions is about making sure that it pays to save, so
:12:37. > :12:43.bheedge pay... Why did you introduce the 55% tax rate? It was 85% before
:12:44. > :12:47.that. You increased it to 55% for most people. Why it is wrong to do
:12:48. > :12:52.it now? That is not quite right. It was 85 for some and 35 for some. Now
:12:53. > :12:56.we have got rid of it all together. The biggest guessing game is who
:12:57. > :13:03.might be the next Tory defector to UKIP and when that might be. I spoke
:13:04. > :13:06.to an MEP Daniel Hannan, he is close friends with Douglas Carswell, and
:13:07. > :13:10.Mark Reckless, the two Tory defectors so far. Before we hear
:13:11. > :13:15.from him, let us thatter from Giles, he took our mood box out among the
:13:16. > :13:21.party faithful, to find out who they would prefer as coalition partners.
:13:22. > :13:24.UKIP or the Liberal Democrats? Ask any Conservative at this conference
:13:25. > :13:29.what they want after 2015 and they will say a majority. If they don't
:13:30. > :13:32.get it some would prefer to be in a minority Government. If they had to
:13:33. > :13:40.do a deal with another party, who would it be? Who would they refer,
:13:41. > :13:44.the Liberal Democrats or UKIP? It is social liberalism, UKIP are a
:13:45. > :13:49.dangerous party, their policies are not right for Britain. There was a
:13:50. > :13:56.definite choice there, why is that? O I feel UKIP is closer to us, being
:13:57. > :14:00.two centre-right party, we share several similarities. What is
:14:01. > :14:03.interesting, there is a binary choice, UKIP or the Liberal
:14:04. > :14:08.Democrat, is the number of people who go I don't want to answer that
:14:09. > :14:12.and go scurrying up through there. If you had to choose... Liberal
:14:13. > :14:18.Democrats I am afraid. Why are you afraid? I am very definite. I don't
:14:19. > :14:22.like UKIP. A lot of their people are dodgy just doesn't feel comfortable
:14:23. > :14:24.to me. I consider myself a right-wing
:14:25. > :14:34.Conservative but I am pro Europe, and that is why I am sceptical to
:14:35. > :14:39.UKIP. I'd rather dive naked into a barrel
:14:40. > :14:46.of wasps than deal with either. I do not know what they deal with, so I
:14:47. > :14:50.would not vote for UKIP. I happen to like Nigel Farage, I have shared
:14:51. > :14:53.some beers with him but it does not mean I share the same politics. He
:14:54. > :15:00.is a good bloke but he has different politics. I have a lot more in
:15:01. > :15:08.common with UKIP than the Liberal Democrats. Joining UKIP with the
:15:09. > :15:15.backward step. -- would be. We have got a lot done with them. Are you
:15:16. > :15:21.suggesting that with a UKIP publishing, they would not be a
:15:22. > :15:29.pushover? Yes. There are so many problems and that is why you asked
:15:30. > :15:34.me a! Can we look at your T-shirt? They are easier to control than
:15:35. > :15:38.UKIP. UKIP will not get a decent number of seats in the House of
:15:39. > :15:45.Commons. That is surprising because in Doncaster I was told that if we
:15:46. > :15:49.asked this question, they would walk it. They have not. That is either
:15:50. > :15:54.because the sort of Tory who likes UKIP is not here or they are wrong.
:15:55. > :16:00.A third of these people are those who say they are closer to us, but
:16:01. > :16:11.two thirds of that is better the devil you know, better the devil you
:16:12. > :16:15.do not. were not just colleagues, you are close personal friends, so
:16:16. > :16:20.you must have known they were going to jump ship. They are friends and
:16:21. > :16:25.it is a difficult situation for me. I think they have made a mistake I
:16:26. > :16:30.will not disown my friendship with them. They have acted on principle
:16:31. > :16:35.and wrestled with the decision. To turn your back on the relationships
:16:36. > :16:41.you have built up is not something you do frivolously. They have done
:16:42. > :16:49.lots of soul-searching. You say you will not defect, but he said he
:16:50. > :16:53.would not defect either. IU fibbing? I am not fibbing and I have
:16:54. > :17:00.explained at length stop the War two possible parties in government. One
:17:01. > :17:04.will cancel the referendum and do what it did when it would last in
:17:05. > :17:10.office. Unemployment will rise, the deficit will rise, it will cancel
:17:11. > :17:19.the welfare reforms, the education reforms, it is a pity. There are
:17:20. > :17:25.good patriotic people voting Conservative, but as things stand,
:17:26. > :17:35.because of the split, it looks like Ed will be Prime Minister with 35%
:17:36. > :17:39.public support. You give our viewers the guarantee that you will not
:17:40. > :17:47.defect to UKIP on this side of polling day? Yes. Why not? Had the
:17:48. > :17:51.Conservative Party not offered a referendum, I would have found it
:17:52. > :17:58.difficult to fight the last election as a Conservative. The issue that
:17:59. > :18:06.animates me and a lot of people in the Tory party is being able to be a
:18:07. > :18:10.free country, trading with Europe, but also embracing the wider
:18:11. > :18:14.opportunities of other continents. It seems the only way we will settle
:18:15. > :18:17.that issue is with a national referendum. The tragedy will be is
:18:18. > :18:26.if we do not get that referendum because of UKIP. But they both claim
:18:27. > :18:32.that this referendum is preordained to deliver a yes vote, and even if
:18:33. > :18:40.it is just small changes that David Cameron gets comic he will come to
:18:41. > :18:44.-- that David Cameron gets comic he will come to the British people and
:18:45. > :18:49.say he has changed. I do not think the British people will fall for the
:18:50. > :18:56.same trick that Harold Wilson told. Ultimately, it will not be me or you
:18:57. > :18:59.who decides this, but it will be the British people. It is clear from
:19:00. > :19:03.what the Prime Minister has said that what we will end up with is
:19:04. > :19:09.something very close to the existing terms. We have had 40 years to get
:19:10. > :19:23.used to the EU, and the question we will face is, will we remain part of
:19:24. > :19:29.it? Are we happy to be part of that united Europe? Or are we going to
:19:30. > :19:33.raise our eyes to more distant horizons and embrace the
:19:34. > :19:39.opportunities that come to us as a global nation, linked by our history
:19:40. > :19:43.and drug free to every other cabal ego -- linked by our history and
:19:44. > :19:46.geography to every archipelago? The afternoon was devoted to
:19:47. > :19:49.a bevy of Secretaries of State including the Work and
:19:50. > :19:51.Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith and the Communities and Local
:19:52. > :19:53.Government Secretary Eric Pickles. They like this sort of thing at Tory
:19:54. > :19:58.conferences. I can announce that we will
:19:59. > :20:06.accelerate the delivery of Universal Credit from the New Year. It will be
:20:07. > :20:12.for every single community across Great Britain and secure national
:20:13. > :20:16.delivery. At the same time, I will deliver that life change at a local
:20:17. > :20:19.level, strengthening community partnerships, helping vulnerable
:20:20. > :20:25.households, getting people on to a job quicker, and staying in work
:20:26. > :20:29.longer. Not just helping the economy, and reducing child poverty
:20:30. > :20:37.as well. I think we have to go further if we are to help families.
:20:38. > :20:44.I have long believed that where parents have fallen into damaging
:20:45. > :20:49.spirals of drug addiction or debt, we need to find ways of safeguarding
:20:50. > :20:59.them, and more importantly, their families. Their children. Ensuring
:21:00. > :21:06.their basic needs are met. That means benefits should go to support
:21:07. > :21:24.the well-being of their families, not to feed their destructive
:21:25. > :21:31.habits. Today, I can stand here and announce to you that I am going to
:21:32. > :21:34.start testing prepaid cards onto which we will make benefit payments
:21:35. > :21:40.so that the money that people receive is spent on the needs of the
:21:41. > :21:45.family, finally helping, I believe, to break that cycle of poverty for
:21:46. > :21:48.families on the margin. This is a change for those families that we as
:21:49. > :22:00.a Conservative government will be proud of all stop more and more
:22:01. > :22:08.public servants are losing patience with trade union members. The
:22:09. > :22:14.ballots have been used to justify strike action that risks destroying
:22:15. > :22:17.jobs and damaging the economy. A Conservative government will
:22:18. > :22:30.legislate to outlaw strikes where less than half the eligible members
:22:31. > :22:36.have voted. It just is not right. It is not right that an
:22:37. > :22:41.unrepresentative trade union should be able to close schools, bring the
:22:42. > :22:46.underground to a standstill, when they can't even persuade half of
:22:47. > :22:53.their members to vote. The time for that has gone and we will legislate
:22:54. > :22:56.on that. We will also end the nonsense of strikes being called on
:22:57. > :23:04.the basis of a ballot that could be months out of date. This summer, the
:23:05. > :23:06.NUT closed schools using a strike mandate that was two years out of
:23:07. > :23:15.date. We will call time on that abuse as well. The time has come for
:23:16. > :23:25.change. The time has come for English vote on English laws. --
:23:26. > :23:28.votes. We can be proud that a Conservative Prime Minister, David
:23:29. > :23:33.Cameron, is determined to deliver fairness to England, and to all of
:23:34. > :23:44.the nations of the United Kingdom. APPLAUSE Of course it is not a
:23:45. > :23:49.surprise that Labour do not get it. After all, it was my department,
:23:50. > :23:55.under John Prescott, who thought the electorate could be palmed off with
:23:56. > :24:03.regional government. The public saw right through that empty offer and
:24:04. > :24:07.rejected it. Whatever the problem, any solution that involves taxpayers
:24:08. > :24:16.funding more politicians is definitely not the answer. You know,
:24:17. > :24:24.we want a quality for England. Labour want jobs for the boys.
:24:25. > :24:27.Tory MP Brooks Newmark resigned as a junior minister after sending
:24:28. > :24:30.an explicit photo of himself to someone he believed was a young
:24:31. > :24:36.Inevitably it was a tabloid sting - the woman was a male reporter
:24:37. > :24:40.I asked the new Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Sajid Javid if the
:24:41. > :24:56.I am very sad for him. Brooks Newmark is a good man, a good friend
:24:57. > :25:00.of mine and I think he made the right decision to leave office, but
:25:01. > :25:04.the question of whether it is entrapment or not is not a question
:25:05. > :25:13.I can answer. But you are the Minister for media, you must have a
:25:14. > :25:18.view. It is precisely because of that that it would be inappropriate
:25:19. > :25:21.for me to comment. It is also possible the Brooks Newmark may take
:25:22. > :25:27.legal action and it will be a decision for the courts. The courts
:25:28. > :25:33.may do that but he has not gone to the courts yet. Can you see any
:25:34. > :25:37.public interest in what the newspaper did? I cannot comment on
:25:38. > :25:41.this because I do not want to prejudice any legal action,
:25:42. > :25:49.especially given my role as being responsible for media policy. Do you
:25:50. > :25:53.welcome a referral of this case to the new press standards
:25:54. > :25:58.organisation? That is up to the organisation. I understand there has
:25:59. > :26:01.been a referral already. The organisation is therefore that and
:26:02. > :26:07.if it has been made, and they want to look at it, then they should. It
:26:08. > :26:15.is independence. Do you have a view? I do not want to get in involved --
:26:16. > :26:20.involved. Is there any point in having responsibility for the media
:26:21. > :26:24.if you cannot comment? Yes, there is that if something goes in front of
:26:25. > :26:27.the courts, I respect that. Anything could go in front of the courts,
:26:28. > :26:34.Minister. Then you could not comment on anything! There are strong
:26:35. > :26:43.rumours that this could go in front of the courts.
:26:44. > :26:45.Pork pies, black pudding, Norfolk turkeys and apples.
:26:46. > :26:47.The Environment Secretary, Liz Truss, pledged to
:26:48. > :26:51.She told conference it was a "disgrace" that we import large
:26:52. > :26:54.numbers of apples, pears and cheese at a time when "we have never had it
:26:55. > :27:00.I want to see as eating more British food in Britain. At the moment, we
:27:01. > :27:22.import two thirds of all of our apples. We import nine tenths of all
:27:23. > :27:29.the bar pairs. -- our pears. We import two thirds of our trees. That
:27:30. > :27:32.is a disgrace. From the apples to the orchards of nursery rhymes, this
:27:33. > :27:37.fruit has always been part of Britain. It has been part of our
:27:38. > :27:46.country. I want our children to grow up, knowing the taste of British
:27:47. > :27:54.apple. Of Cornish sardines, of Herefordshire pairs, of Melton
:27:55. > :28:03.Mowbray pork pies, and of course black pudding. -- pears.
:28:04. > :28:08.APPLAUSE Under Conservative government, Britain will lead the
:28:09. > :28:15.world in food, farming and the environment. In a fortnight, I am
:28:16. > :28:18.going to Paris for the world's largest food trade fair and I will
:28:19. > :28:29.dig up British products. APPLAUSE -- big up. In December, I
:28:30. > :28:35.will be in Beijing, opening up new pork markets.
:28:36. > :28:37.That's it for today in Birmingham on the day George Osborne created
:28:38. > :28:40.what he hopes will be a clear dividing line with Labour
:28:41. > :28:42.by linking further cuts in welfare with deficit reduction.
:28:43. > :28:45.Tomorrow morning, one of the Conservative's most popular figures
:28:46. > :29:02.addresses the party faithful, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson.
:29:03. > :29:04.We'll also hear from the Home Secretary, Theresa May and in
:29:05. > :29:09.the afternoon, it's the turn of the Education Secretary Nicky Morgan and
:29:10. > :29:11.The Daily Politics Conference Special will be on BBC2