Murnaghan Labour parliamentary candidate discussion with Stephen Kinnock, Purna Sen & Suzy Stride
ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS
DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Now since the last general election, MPs have of course come under fire for being over paid, unrepresentative and in some cases, even corrupt and the list goes on. The term Westminster elite is considered quite an insult and a way of accusing our politicians of being out of touch so how might the next generation of MPs try to change that? Well starting this week on Murnaghan I’ll be interviewing parliamentary candidates from the main political parties and finding out how the plan to change politics. This week I’m joined by three Labour candidates, Stephen Kinnock who is standing in Aberavon in Wales currently held by Labour, Purna Sen who is standing Brighton Pavilion, the seat currently held by the Green Party’s only MP, Caroline Lucas and we’ve just of course had the Green’s leader on and Suzy Stride who is standing in Harlow, currently held by the Conservatives. A very good morning to you all and I suppose I have to start with you, Stephen, because of course your father led the party and you would actually, if you get in, be joining a parliament that contains both your parents wouldn’t you? They’re both in the Lords. But how much has the party changed since your father led it?
STEPHEN KINNOCK: Oh I think it’s changed a huge amount. I think we are increasingly bringing a diverse range of candidates into the party, I think we’re bringing people in who are connected if you like with the outside world, outside the Westminster bubble.
DM: Ah, you pre-empted what I was going to ask you, so how are you connected? You’re the political elite, your wife is the Prime Minister of Denmark, your father used to lead the party.
STEPHEN KINNOCK: I think if you look at my own career, I have lived and worked outside the UK for a lot of my career, I’ve worked a lot with business. I think my career, my CV is one which is very much outside the Westminster bubble.
DM: When I said in the introduction I was interviewing you all, I feel like this is what you have all been through to become the prospective candidates for the seats, I’m not doing that but the charge is, Purna Sen, that you are not I suppose ordinary enough. The party, the Labour party, we’ve seen that with Emily Thornberry’s tweet and all the row about that, you’re not connected, you don’t understand how people really live their lives.
PURNA SEN: I can understand why people have that to say and why they see that politicians are of that sort of ilk but I think what is very important is that what our party is doing is actually changing that in a very serious way. Look, I’m a single mum, I’m an immigrant, I’ve worked 35 years, I don’t come from a political career, this is my first time ever standing for parliament and I think people want to see people like us representing them who understand what challenges they have every day, what it’s like to bring up kids, what it’s like to struggle for money and to think about the next day’s not being assured. It’s not good enough to say that people who are without money and are scroungers and bad people, if I lost my job tomorrow I’d be in a bit of trouble and I’d need some support, I understand what that’s like and to have a government that is in touch with those sorts of issues is really important and that’s what we’re offering.
DM: Yes, but you’ve all got a bit of a problem haven’t you, Suzy, your leader, you’ve got to stick by him of course but isn’t he part of the problem for you as well, people saying he is out of touch, he doesn’t understand this?
SUZY STRIDE: No, I don't think so. I’m standing in Harlow and the fact that that means when I knock on doors in Harlow what do people care about?
DM: So do they say to you Ed Miliband’s great?
SUZY STRIDE: No, people care about the fact that …
DM: So they don’t say he’s great.
SUZY STRIDE: No, I’m saying when you knock on doors in Harlow people say we want to see jobs for our sons and daughters, we want to see homes being built and which leader is going to do that? Ed Miliband. Ed Miliband is the one who is going to bring in the job’s guarantee, he is standing up to bankers, he’s standing up to energy companies, these are the themes that people care about. However, coming back to your other point, we do have a problem. Westminster is not representative enough, we do not have enough working class people …
DM: And your background?
SUZY STRIDE: My background is I’ve worked in education for ten years, I was born in the East End of London, my mum used to stack shelves in Asda, I went to a state school. Yes, I went to Cambridge, I was the only one in my year that got there and so I would say yes, I’m a fairly normal person. The big thing for me is that we need people who have lived and breathed normality and their politics and their conviction doesn’t come from reading a book but it comes from being out there in the normal world and you are right, Westminster is not enough like that but the Labour party I would say is actually changing. You can see the people around this table, we are selecting different types of people from different backgrounds, the Tories and the Lib Dems are miles behind us.
DM: We’ve got to address this project that you are describing, we’ve got to discuss the elephant, I suppose the white van in the room, haven’t we, Stephen Kinnock? Emily Thornberry’s tweet, that hasn’t helped this whole proposition you are putting forward about how you are all different and you understand people has it?
STEPHEN KINNOCK: Well look, Emily made a mistake and I think Ed has shown very decisive leadership on that. The key point is that Ed has got a plan for the country, he is looking to undo the damage that the Tory government has caused, he is looking to address issues of vested interests such as the energy companies and the banks and he wants to move forward with a very constructive plan for the country so we are the party that has …
DM: But the question I’m getting at, I want to ask you Purna about that tweet again but the question I’m getting at is you will come into, if you win your seat we have to say that, but you will come into a party that you want to change so Ed Miliband can’t be doing everything right at the moment because there is a perception, it goes for all the parties but there is a perception particularly after that tweet that Labour is partially not in touch with its electorate and you have to change.
STEPHEN KINNOCK: We need to get out into the country more. One of the things I think that worked incredibly well in the Scottish referendum campaign was Jim Murphy’s 100 town tour where he went around Scotland standing on Irn Bru boxes and making his point, I’d like to see more of that. I think we need to see our leadership out there in the country talking to people, going through the media, past the media and straight to connections with our …
PURNA SEN: I think it’s a mistake to present any leader or politician as perfect, everybody makes mistakes. Emily said she made a mistake and we need to move on from that.
DM: Do you think she did make a mistake?
PURNA SEN: She said she made a mistake.
DM: Do you think she did?
PURNA SEN: I think it was an unhelpful tweet and I think the storm has now passed and it’s important that we recognise … Suzy was talking about what people say to her on the doorstep, I was out yesterday and I must have talked to at least 60, 70 people and I had more people come for tea with me yesterday afternoon. Now Emily Thornberry is not the issue they’re raising, they are on low wages, they can’t afford bus fares to go into town, their kids can’t get jobs, they can’t afford housing and that’s what resonates. Really focusing on Emily Thornberry is not the issue that people on the doorsteps want to talk about.
DM: You might be right, they might not have heard of Emily Thornberry, she is not exactly or wasn’t exactly high profile within the Labour party but they are saying you politicians, whatever party you come from, you sneer at people like us.
SUZY STRIDE: I think the fact of the matter is that probably some politicians are like that and as I’ve already said, we need to change up Westminster, we need more diversity but the fact of the matter is the Labour party is doing that. We have got one of our parliamentary candidates who is a mum who used to work in a supermarket, we’ve got people like me who work in education and that’s what we need, we need people who are nurses, lorry drivers, teachers, people who have worked outside of Westminster but as I say, I think the Labour party is doing that. But also the other thing is that as parliamentary candidates we need to be getting out there in the next six months and I’m sure we’ve all be doing this but I’ve done pizza and politics nights in Harlow and that’s about making politics a bit more fun.
DM: Who buys the pizza?
SUZY STRIDE: We buy the pizza, people come along and we make politics engaging and this is what we’ve got to do.
DM: We’ve got to talk about the UKIP issue haven’t we? There is Labour in Rochester and Strood, a seat if you were a serious opposition some people were saying you should have gone and won it, not a distant third. How do you address that? If there were by-elections in the seats you are fighting right now, given the state of play with UKIP they might win them, you might not even become MPs. How do you address the immigration issue that UKIP raise?
STEPHEN KINNOCK: The first point is to talk about it and this is not an issue that can any longer be brushed under the carpet and I think what we’ve seen from Yvette Cooper and Rachel Reeves in the last few days are a very clear set of policies which are saying …
DM: So are you saying you’re going to be able to limit migration from within the EU?
STEPHEN KINNOCK: No, but I think what we are putting in place are policies around ensuring that the so-called benefits tourism, which in my opinion gets blown out of proportion but which nevertheless is an issue that needs to be addressed, we’re addressing it. We’re addressing the issues around border guards, we’re addressing a whole range of other issues around the way in which child benefit may or may not be drawn down by people from other EU countries so those are issues where Labour is saying we’re listening to people, we have got a sensible set of policies in place. These things are always about trade-offs.
DM: And the Conservatives we understand are about to say more or less the same thing. Purna, what do you think about it all? Isn’t it time for a party, a senior party not to be dragged on to UKIPs territory and say look, immigration has been good for this country.
PURNA SEN: Well it has been good for this country.
DM: So say it out loud.
PURNA SEN: If you listened to Ed that’s also what he said but that’s not what’s getting reported so much. You are speaking to me as an immigrant …
DM: Well you have heard Stephen Kinnock there talking about Rachel Reeves, talking about the great things you are doing to stop immigration, to stop people coming to this country who have something to contribute.
PURNA SEN: For me in Brighton Pavilion, immigration is not an issue that’s raised, UKIP is not a strong party, they came fourth in the European election. For us the anti-immigration, the stranger-danger sort of line is not something that works and if you talk about representation which is where you started us off, UKIPs candidates across our region are all middle class, middle aged white men. Now that is not a party that reflects the people it is seeking to serve. It is also not a party that is engaging with people’s everyday issues, it is picking up on a sense of discontent and protest, it is a protest party. When you ask people what UKIP policies and changes they like, they have very little to offer you but they are upset with the others and that’s why our task is to re-engage with …
DM: I heard you agreeing with that, if they are a protest party it is a bit of a gamble to take then, protest parties usually fade when the time comes for the big decisions at the general election. Do you think that’s the way Labour should play it?
SUZY STRIDE: For me, I look at Nigel Farage, he’s a banker, he’s wealthy, he’s completely for me disconnected. I work with young people and …
DM: But perceived to be not of the Westminster elite.
SUZY STRIDE: Yes, he stands in the pub with a beer, so what? Does he care about the fact that he is happy to privatise the NHS, he’s happy to bring in a flat rate of tax and tax nurses and bankers the same amount, he is happy to protect banker’s bonuses. People in Harlow have no time for policies like that.
DM: But he wants to leave the EU to get immigration down, how do Labour attack that?
SUZY STRIDE: Leave the EU and lose out on loads of jobs. Yes, that’s going to be great for Harlow, that’s going to be great for this country. My feeling is with Nigel Farage is when people hear the policies that his party is about, they’ll have no time for UKIP but sadly that’s where we need to get out and make sure that people do know what UKIP is really about.
DM: Listen, thank you all very much. I would say good luck to you all but I’m not allowed to do that. Who knows which of you’ll I’ll see sitting round this table in seven months’ time as MPs, very good to see you all. Purna Sen, Suzy Stride and Stephen Kinnock, very good to see you.