Murnaghan 9.09.12 Interview with Simon Hughes, Deputy Leader of the LIberal Democrats
ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS
DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Well let’s get more on the Paralympics and of course the reshuffle which was meant to refresh the government, doubts of course lingering about how successful that has been with murmurings of discontent among some Liberal Democrats. Well joining me from London South Bank is the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Simon Hughes and I want to talk first – and a very good morning to you Mr Hughes – I want to talk first about the Olympics and the Paralympics and the feel good factor which I know you are part of there on London South Bank, you will tie in that big fireworks display which will take place as part of the South Bank Festival with the Paralympics closing ceremony. Do you think when it’s all done and dusted it is going to be back to business as normal when it comes to politics, arguments about growth and in-fighting in the coalition?
SIMON HUGHES: Well we can’t go having this wonderful summer of sport except that I hope the addition of possibly some remaining medals today pushing ourselves back into second place which would be fantastic. I think we are all going to be hoping that Andy Murray does it at the fifth attempt over the water in the finals of the American Open, so let’s hope we have a really fantastic finale and you’re right, there will be the finale in the stadium, there will be the finale on the streets with the last bit of the marathon and there will be a finale behind me on the South Bank where the Thames Festival will come to a firework end after its final this evening, so London will have had a great celebration. Will things go back to more like normal? Yes, more like normal but there are legacies that can’t be escaped. There is the legacy of respect and understanding of disability, I heard Justin King talk about that and it has clearly been a phenomenal transformation. There is the legacy for the East End and regeneration, that can’t be undone, it wasn’t undone after Manchester had the Commonwealth Games, after Cardiff back in the old days had the old Commonwealth and Empire Games, those last and it will be a really important boost for investment but we need to make sure we do the other things. Britain will be better able to be promoted abroad after this than ever before, so many people will have had positive images, so many people will have gone home with really good experiences, so many Ministers, so many people who have done business with our Ministers realise that actually investing in Britain is a good thing and our exporters will want to sell Britain and our tourism industry will be boosted. Then of course we have to do the other things that a successful economy does which is to make sure that we get the jobs going, not just to build Olympic stadia but to build the housing that has been one of the subjects of debate this week and get growth going in this part of London as much as anywhere else.
DM: Let me ask you about the reshuffle then. Are you one of the Lib Dems who feel that what happened on the Conservative side of the government, that it was a move to the right and therefore makes the coalition look a less comfortable place for a proper Liberal Democrat?
SH: Well I have no problem with that, Dermot. People clearly who have a problem about which new Conservative Ministers were appointed or moved, clearly don’t understand fundamentally that in a coalition of more than one part, each party leader chooses his or her colleagues. The Prime Minister is absolutely entitled to choose which Ministers he wants in each department. Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister chooses which Ministers he wants, a deal was done as to the balance of Ministers across departments and we’ve ended up making sure that we have Ministers in key posts in the Treasury, in the Department of Business, now in Education with David Laws coming back into government who is seen to be by all parties to be a hugely important player. We have got people now for the first time ever in the Department of the Environment which to us is a really important area of policy where we need to have green sustainable growth, we have got somebody in the Welsh department which we haven’t had, Wales is politically important for us and we’ve got somebody in the International Development Department so we’re pleased. Of course there might be more right wing people in the Tory party but I never believed the Tory party was not a right wing party, I’m not naïve about that, and as Michael Fallon said when you interviewed him a little while ago and Vince Cable said elsewhere on the media this morning, there is honest debate about people with different philosophies. Michael Fallon and I have different views about certain things, for example about how much wealthy people should contribute. Those will be robust views with government, we are going to as liberal and progressive and radical as ever and we hope we can persuade Conservatives to join us in many of those things.
DM: But that core philosophy which the two parties joined up about, deficit reduction and growth, can I paraphrase Ed Balls, what he’s said in relation to Vince Cable and ask you if you feel that? Ed Balls of course the Shadow Chancellor saying he thinks in his heart of hearts that Vince Cable believes there must be more than a Plan A, there must be more stimulus going on. Now he’s not free to speak because he’s in Cabinet, you’re not. Do you think Plan A is enough at the moment?
SH: Well I’ll tell you, clearly Plan A hasn’t been enough but Plan A was the right place to start because unless we restored the sense that we were in control of our own economy at home and retained international credibility in Britain, nothing else would be possible. Now what hasn’t happened is that growth hasn’t come nearly as quickly as people thought and hoped, the levers that have been pulled haven’t adequately worked so the whole debate in government which started with the announcements on Thursday, they are controversial and I’m not sure I agree with all of the outcomes of the housing policy and those have to be further elaborated, but the whole of the strategy is to try to make sure that we yes, deregulate where we can, not for the sake of it but to make sure that small business in particular, the self-employed, those with fewer than ten people, don’t feel unreasonably constrained. We want to make sure that we can get people back, particularly into the construction industry, particularly into house building of affordable homes, particularly into making [interference] projects work because that’s where you get most growth, most jobs and therefore most income coming in and there are other things we’ll have to do and that’s why for us it is absolutely reasonable to say can you ease up – Justin King was asked the question should we reduce VAT? VAT is not the right lever to get most money back into the economy because it gives most money back to the wealthiest who don’t then spend it. We need do things that give the money back to the people who live in these flats in Devon Mansions in Bermondsey so they can go out and spend it, so the people who are out of work here can go back to work, that’s what we need to be doing and we’re keen therefore that we have a set of policies that do that but at the same time we have a fairer Britain where the wealthier, people with hugely more wealth now than 20 and 30 years ago, pay more and we haven’t had that fairness and we will go on arguing that people, the top one percent of the country who own about a quarter of the wealth, should pay more into the kitty and people on low and medium incomes should pay less.
DM: Okay, Mr Hughes, thank you very much indeed. Simon Hughes there, the Deputy Leader of the Lib Dems at London South Bank, at the South Bank Festival which will celebrate the end of the Paralympics tonight with a fireworks display.
SH: My pleasure.
