Nick Clegg's Marr interview - Summary
Here are the main points from Nick Clegg’s interview. This is a beefed-up version of the summary I filed earlier, and it includes a line from Clegg’s interview with John Pienaar on Radio 5 Live.
- Clegg said that the Lib Dems would propose tax rises for the wealthy going beyond the mansion tax. Further details would be unveiled before the election. Later party sources made it clear that he was talking about new tax increases, not just ideas that the Lib Dems have already floated, but which have not received much attention, such as their plan to cut pensions tax relief. Clegg said:
[Lib Dem plans to cut the deficit would involve] a mixture of the following components: clamping down on tax evasion and tax avoidance, significant additional savings in Whitehall. There will need to be some additional savings but not nearly on the totally implausible scale that the Conservatives have said in the welfare budget and then there will need to be some tax increases as well which fall on the wealthiest in society.
- He said the broadcasters should come up with fresh proposals for the leaders’ debates. Last week he indicated that he was prepared to accept the plans already on the table.
-
He said PMQs should be scrapped. Talking on Radio 5 Live, he said:
Of course it’s ridiculous. The whole thing should be scrapped. It’s an absolute farce.
- He said he would not join a coalition including Ukip. Asked if he said he would serve in a cabinet with Nigel Farage, he said no. And he came close to ruling out being in a coalition involving the SNP. Asked if he would sit in a cabinet with them, he said he would “find it very difficult to imagine the circumstances” in which he could do that.
- He said he did not accept predictions that the Lib Dems would lose half their seats at the election. They would do better than the pundits expected, he said. When told that the Iain Dale (among others) has predicted that the Lib Dems will lose half their seats, he said:
Iain Dale will have to eat his words, because I really don’t think that’s going to happen. He’s a good man but some of his predictions are getting a bit silly.
- He said he supported giving more powers to the security services to protect national security “as much as any chisel-faced securocrat”. But he reaffirmed his opposition to the communications data bill. Storing details of everyone’s internet use was unBritish, he said, because it involved treating everyone as guilty.
I’m legislating now for new powers. We did it in the summer, and new powers will need to be put on the statue book in the next parliament. I will advocate them as much as any chisel-faced securocrat. Absolutely: I want to keep us safe. It’s ludicrous, this idea that people who care about our freedom don’t care about our safety. What I will not do, because it’s not proven, and many people, not just me, said it, was an overstretch that said every single man, woman and child across the whole country should have data about what they get up to online [stored].
- He said he wished coalition’s tuition fee system had been called a graduate tax because, in practice, that is what it was. It would have saved the Lib Dems a lot of bother if they had used that label, he said.
If you really must know, what we’ve actually introduced is a graduate tax. I wish we’d called it a graduate tax at the time which would have saved us a lot of heartache.
- He said he was “appalled” by the treatment of the blogger in Saudi Arabia who is being lashed for mocking Islam and that the government had protested strongly to the Saudis about this.
- He said Labour and the Conservatives wanted to “airbrush out any other voices in British politics and return to business as usual between the red team and the blue team.”
-
He said he was proud of the Lib Dem record.
I’m a Liberal Democrat and I’m incredibly proud of what we have one in this government. We wouldn’t have the recovery now if we hadn’t stepped up to the plate, we wouldn’t have the tax cuts we have now benefiting millions of working people if it wasn’t for the Liberal Democrats, we wouldn’t have the expansion of apprenticeships on the scale this country’s never seen, a fairer pension system, the pupil premium, the life-chances of the poorest kids in primary school improved in a way that has never happened before.
I’ve taken the quotes from PoliticsHome.
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
Updated
Here’s the Labour party verdict on Clegg’s interview.
Clegg and the Lib Dems are the party of broken promises #marr #marrshow
— Labour Press Team (@labourpress) January 18, 2015
Lib Dems said they backed fair taxes then cut tax for millionaires while raising it for everyone else pic.twitter.com/4UN6rGJD4k
— Labour Press Team (@labourpress) January 18, 2015
Nick Clegg said he backed a mansion tax then Lib Dems voted against it http://t.co/oNjI03ZOpj #marr #marrshow
— Labour Press Team (@labourpress) January 18, 2015
Libs Dems voted to triple tuition fees after promising to scrap them #marr #marrshow pic.twitter.com/x1agXZN7dJ
— Labour Press Team (@labourpress) January 18, 2015
Lib Dem promises for the future are undermined by their actions in government #marr #marrshow
— Labour Press Team (@labourpress) January 18, 2015
Natalie Bennett's Marr interview - Summary
Here are the main points from Natalie Bennett, the Green party leader’s, interview on the Marr show.
-
Bennett said anti-austerity policies had failed.
The poor, the disadvantaged, the young cannot continue to be made to pay for the error and the fraud of the bankers. And austerity has failed even in its own terms. It’s the wrong direction; we need to invest in the future.
-
She said the Greens favoured a citizen’s income - guaranteeing everyone a minimum level of income.
In terms of what we need to do broadly across the economy, we need to make rich individuals and particularly multinational companies pay their taxes. Under this government, corporate tax take is down 14%. And in terms of the citizen’s income, it’s worth saying that what that would do is as soon as you’re earning any sort of reasonable amount of money the tax system takes that back.
But what the universal citizen’s income offers is a sense of security. No one needs to live in fear; no one needs to think ‘I’ve just been sanctioned, I cannot put food on the table, I’m going to lose my house next week’. We have to get away from that insecurity and fear.
- She said the Greens would fund this from a wealth tax on people worth more than £3m.
-
She said immigrants were being blamed for problems caused not by immigration, but by government policies.
When people say to me on the doorstep ‘I’m concerned about immigration’ and I say ‘what are you really concerned about?’, they usually say three things: low wages, expensive housing, or crowded schools or hospitals – all of those things are caused by failed government policies; they’re not caused by immigration.
-
She said the Greens would not join a formal coalition with other parties. But they might support a minority government on a confidence and supply basis, allowing them to vote against policies like Trident, she said.
I’ve taken the quotes from PoliticsHome.
Lib Dem sources say that, when Nick Clegg was talking about the Lib Dems planning to unveil further plans for tax rises on the wealthy, going beyond the mansion tax (see 10.39am), he was not just talking about measures like cutting pension tax relief that the party has already announced.
But Clegg did make it clear in his interview that the the Lib Dems would not be proposing to put up income tax or VAT.
Nick Clegg's Marr interview - Snap summary
I’ve beefed up the snap summary that was here earlier. You’ll find it at here, at 11.37am.
Updated
The BBC’s Nick Robinson says Nick Clegg has changed his stance on TV debates.
First wobble on TV debates- Clegg says broadcasters should come up with new proposals. Last week said should stand firm & empty chair PM
— Nick Robinson (@bbcnickrobinson) January 18, 2015
Nick Clegg is also doing a stint on John Pienaar’s show on Radio 5 Live.
Deputy Prime Minister,@nick_clegg is live on Pienaar's Politics now. Watch: http://t.co/Hgm0pT3CrF
— John Pienaar (@JPonpolitics) January 18, 2015
I will be monitoring it that too.
Q: Do you think these TV debates will happen?
Yes, says Clegg.
Q: With David Cameron?
Clegg says that is up to the Conservatives.
It is inevitable that, in a fragmented political environment, “the red team and the blue team” will want to squeeze the others out.
Bennett asks Clegg if he will write to the broadcasters saying the Greens should be included.
Clegg says the broadcasters need to come forward with different proposals.
Q: Will you tell them to invite the Greens?
Clegg says it is not for him to tell the broadcasters what to do.
The moment we try to dictate to the broadcasters what they should do, we make a big mistake, he says.
He says Bennett can make the case for the Greens. He will make the case for the Lib Dems.
And that’s it. I’ll post a summary soon.
Q: You seem to get on better with David Cameron than Ed Miliband?
Clegg says he tries to have cordial relations with both of them.
But he disapproves of Labour’s “flaky” approach to the economy, as much as he disapproves of the Conservatives approach to social justice.
Q: The Tories are saying you will lose on cabinet seat for every 10 seats you lose.
Clegg says he does not know anything about that.
Q: Are you going to stay after the election?
Clegg says he is a campaigning politician. The Lib Dems have disrupted the two main parties. They don’t like that. But the Lib Dems have put the country first.
Q: What do you feel about the case of the Saudi blogger being lashed?
Clegg says he is “appalled”. The government is protesting strongly. It is “abhorrent” that the Saudis are acting like this.
The main interview is over, but we’re going to get a sofa moment with Clegg and Bennett shortly, I think.
Q: You could lose half your MPs and still end up choosing who forms the next government. That’s wrong, isn’t it?
Clegg says he does not accept the prediction that they will lose half their seats.
They will do so much better than the pundits are predicting.
Q: If so, are you able to say you will step down as leader if you lose half your seats?
Clegg says he is not a soothsayer. But he spends more time in key seats than the pundits do.
The voters face an invidious choice. The Tories are lurching to the right, and Labour are lurching to the left. The Lib Dems can ensure we finish the job of economic recovery, but in a fair way.
Q: Would you sit in a cabinet with Nigel Farage and Ukip?
No, says Clegg.
Q: Would you sit in a cabinet with the SNP?
Clegg initially resists answering this, but, when pressed, says no.
Updated
Q: There is a black hole in student finance. Are you attracted by the idea of a graduate tax?
Clegg says the coalition’s tuition fee policy is, in effect, a graduate tax. He says he wished they had called it that. It would have saved a lot of bother.
Clegg says the Lib Dems favour using higher council tax bands to raise their mansion tax money.
Q: You want to get rid of the structural deficit by 2017-18. That will cost £30bn. Where would you get the money?
Clegg says from a mixture of areas: tackling tax avoidance and evasion; savings in Whitehall; some savings from welfare; and tax rises for the wealthy.
But, Clegg says, there is a big difference between his plans and the Conservatives’. The Conservatives would raise all their money from welfare cuts on the working-age poor.
Q: You would have to raise more in than you would just from the mansion tax.
Yes, says Clegg.
Q: So would you raise income tax or VAT?
No, says Clegg.
He says the Conservatives would impose savage cuts. That would affect things like education.
Q: So you will commit yourself, in clear terms, to tax rises before the election.
Yes, says Clegg.
Q: A lot of people will say, if the experts say they want these powers, they should have them.
Clegg says what Lord West said on this issue on the Marr show last week was deeply ill-informed. A joint committee that looked at the draft data communications bill said the proposed regime was too clunky.
He says he is legislating now for new powers for the security services. The government is doing this now.
He says is favours new powers for the security services as much as any chisel-faced securocrat.
But he says he does not support the plans to retain everyone’s data. We must protect the values of being an open society.
Nick Clegg's interview
Andrew Marr is interviewing Nick Clegg now.
Q: The Sunday Telegraph has interview Jonathan Evans, the former head of MI5, says the security services need more powers. What is your problem with the communications data bill.
Clegg says he agrees with Evans about the state needing to access the communications of people who want to do us harm.
But the communications data bill is a different proposal. It is for the indiscriminate retention of everyone’s data for a year.
In the next parliament we will have to legislate on this, because the emergency legislation passed last summer lapses.
It is not very British to retain everyone’s data for a year.
Bennett says the Greens favour a citizen’s income. That would give people a sense of security.
Q: And you would have to raise more in tax to pay for this?
Bennett says they have already announced plans for a wealth tax, that would be levied on people worth £3m or more.
The main Bennett interview is over. But Marr says we’ll hear from her again before the end of the programme.
Natalie Bennett's interview
Andrew Marr is interviewing Natalie Bennett, the Green party leader, now.
He starts by observing that she is the only female party leader to replace another woman (Caroline Lucas). And he asks her to confirm that the Greens want a referendum on the EU. They do, she says.
She says austerity in the EU is the wrong direction.
Q: But, unlike Ukip, you don’t think immigration is a problem.
Bennett says, when people complain about immigration, they are normally unhappy about overcrowded services. Those problems are caused by government, not by immigration, she says.
Q: You think growth is not the be all and end all. If we are going to be poorer, what should we spend less money on.
Trident, says Bennett. Or extra runways in the south east. But the Greens are in favour of spending more on things like housing, she says.
Q: Would Trident be an red line for you in coalition talks?
Bennett says she is not talking about red lines at the moment.
Q: But you could be in a government supporting Trident?
No, says Bennett. She says they would not go into coalition. But they might support a government on a confidence and supply basis.
Nick Clegg has made mental health a priority, setting new government waiting time targets for mental health patients.
But, in the Sunday Mirror, Luciana Berger, the shadow public health minister, accuses him of choosing easy targets that are being met already, and claims that overall spending on mental health has deteriorated.
When ComRes asked people whether they felt favourable or unfavourable towards 12 political parties and leaders, Nick Clegg came bottom.
On the plus side, he was only just below Ed Balls.
Interesting ComRes poll has Conservative Party less unfavourable than Cameron or Labour pic.twitter.com/42KamVoRbe
— Tim Montgomerie ن (@montie) January 17, 2015
Andrew Marr opens his show by saying that, although the Lib Dems may get hammered at the election, they could still end up as “kingmakers”, deciding whether or not David Cameron or Ed Miliband gets to form a government.
He’s also got Natalie Bennett, the Green party leader, on the show. I’ll cover her interview in detail too.
Here’s a taste of what’s on the newspaper front pages, courtesy of Nick Sutton’s #tomorrowspaperstoday Twitter service.
Observer front page: Isis 'using British female jihadists to incite terror acts' #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/NWkWXaS1PJ
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) January 17, 2015
Sunday Times front page: Pupils 'at risk from Islamic extremists' #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/LQC78I1rZu
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) January 17, 2015
Mail on Sunday front page: Two Eds hid truth about global crash #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/KR4AnknOvF
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) January 17, 2015
Sunday Telegraph front page: Convicted terror leader with link to Paris who we cannot deport #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/dnvSjJQpdk
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) January 17, 2015
Independent on Sunday front page: A failure of justice #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/mDxIRHkK5F
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) January 17, 2015
Saturday's Sun front page: Price Fighter #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers #cbb pic.twitter.com/7nnIBpXSFO
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) January 16, 2015
The three GB polls I mentioned earlier don’t look good for the Lib Dems. A separate poll of voters in Scotland presents an even bleaker picture for the party.
Sunday Times Scottish Poll: SNP 41% Labour 31% Conservatives 14% Ukip 7% Lib Dems 3% Others 3% (Panelbase. 1,007 voters. January 9th-14th)
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) January 17, 2015
Nick Clegg is doing his start-of-year interview on the Andrew Marr show this morning. And he’s got an announcement to promote; the Lib Dems are committing themselves to eliminating child illiteracy by 2025. They are the only party explicitly committed to ring-fencing the education budget, and Clegg is saying they would try to achieve their child literacy goal partly by increasing spending on the pupil premium at nursery level. He says:
We are raising the bar on what children should be able to achieve by the age of 11 and want all children to get over the bar by 2025. We are the only party who can make this commitment because, astonishingly, we are the only party committed to protecting the education budget from cradle to college in the next five years.
Astute readers will note, of course, that the Lib Dems may not be in a position to commit themselves to anything after the general election. Opinium, ComRes and YouGov all have polls in the Sunday papers today. And they all have the Lib Dems on 7 points.
The Marr show starts at 9am, but the Clegg interview will not start until about 9.30am. I will be covering it live, and then providing reaction and a summary.
And, before it starts, I’ll flag up some of the other stories in the Sunday papers that may come up.
If you want to follow me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
