Niall Paterson on Sunday 17.09.17 Interview with Nicky Morgan, Conservative MP

SKY NEWS – NIALL PATERSON ON SUNDAY – 10.00 – 17.09.17 – INTERVIEW WITH NICKY MORGAN MP, CONSERVATIVE

NIALL PATERSON: Now I think it’s fair to say that the Conservative party is facing a challenging few months, struggling to keep hold of some Brexit supporters and trying to pull some of those young voters away from Jeremy Corbyn so this week I’ve been to Loughborough to speak to local MP Nicky Morgan and see what the voters make of Theresa May.

NICKY MORGAN: At the last election, the figure are stark, there was a sort of cross over between our support and age and frankly what we didn’t have at the last election and what I think we did have in 2015, was everybody was able to say this is something that the Conservative party want to do for me. If I’m older they want to help me with this, if I’m younger or a student or a working mum or a new business person, we didn’t have that retail offer that people were able to point to and say this is why I’m going to vote Conservative.

NP: So let’s develop this critical voice of yours within the Conservative party and focus in even more depth on this. Speaking to students at Loughborough College this morning, their view appeared to be not just that the Conservatives weren’t giving them something to aspire to, they weren’t listening to the concerns of younger voters. To what extent do you think that’s true?

NICKY MORGAN: Well as a local MP I do a lot of engagement obviously with the college students, with the university students and with many others but of course one MP listening – and I can see what they are saying which is that politics at the moment, particularly given the result of the referendum last year where many young people did not support the direction of travel, so they are very frustrated. If we aren’t listening then it is clear we have got to do a lot, lot better.

NP: Yes but you have got Jeremy Corbyn talking about tuition fees, you’ve got Jeremy Corbyn talking about home building, I mean where is the offer from the Conservatives at the moment to the demographic that you need if you are going to survive as a political party?

NICKY MORGAN: You see I think one of the things that actually the Conservatives need to do much is to explain – and obviously the Conservative party, one of our strongest elements of our reputation is how we manage the economy and I was a Treasury Minister right back when George Osborne and others were engaged in turning the economy round. We kind of make assumptions that when we talk about a strong economy, we talk about jobs and everything else, that young people and others are going to know exactly what we mean is in it for them. I think actually as a party we have got to go much more back to first principles, explaining why the economy matters, why if you don’t have people paying their taxes you can’t afford the public services that people want, why we want to create jobs, who creates jobs, that they don’t just come out of thin air and of course you’re right, housing is a big issue both building more houses for people to buy but also houses for people to rent and we haven’t really as a party talked much about rented accommodation.

NP: So who is responsible for this? I am going to suggest one name – Theresa May.

NICKY MORGAN: Well look, the party in terms of policy formation, lots of people are involved in all of that.

NP: Yes, but she has to shoulder the ultimate responsibility though.

NICKY MORGAN: Whoever is the leader has to shoulder the responsibility for the way the party is conducting itself, the policies that are put forward in a general election and I don't think any Conservative could possibly say that the 2017 general election delivered the result that we wanted nor that the manifesto landed in the way that obviously it was hoped that it was going to. So look, mistakes made, I think lessons are being learned and I think at our conference there is going to be a huge amount of soul searching on the campaign.

NP: Where are the lessons being learned, particularly on the part of the Prime Minister? Speaking again to your constituents today, even those who were of the opinion that Brexit was the right choice, feel that she is disconnected, feel that the general election removed a lot of the respect that they had for her.

NICKY MORGAN: Well look, I can’t pretend otherwise in the sense that the general election, the focus was put very much on Theresa May as the leader of the Conservative party and despite the fact that we got more votes, we didn’t get the number of seats we wanted to have a majority so that clearly was not a successful campaign strategy, I think everybody recognises that. The question is going to be actually what do we do going forward? I was saying to somebody the other day, we have got to be a team now in government, it is about the Cabinet being a team. I think people don’t just want to see one person, they want to see the team, what’s the team doing in terms of developing policies that speak to me as a voter.

NP: Now let’s talk about Brexit, are we getting it right at the negotiating table?

NICKY MORGAN: Well clearly …

NP: That was an awfully deep intake of breath there!

NICKY MORGAN: The answer has got to be we’re not there yet, we haven’t got a negotiated settlement. I think there are elements, and I’ve been quite open about this, there are things that have been taken off the table, single market and customs union were taken off the table very early and we’re now in a position of arguing about whether in fact they should be put back on the table or put back in some form. I do welcome the fact that over the summer the position papers imply that a transition period is on the cards but I really hope that the Prime Minister will be explicit about that when she talks and gives her speech next week.

NP: So what’s your view then, your personal view, on the no-deal Brexit? Is no-deal truly better than a bad deal?

NICKY MORGAN: Look, I don’t agree with that. I very much hope that the no-deal scenario does not come true, I think it would be really very, very difficult for our economy to survive, there would be a huge impact on our economy if we were to have no deal, if we were to have a cliff edge and those who say that it wouldn’t be a problem are not listening to the voices of those who are exporters, who are employers, public services who rely on people coming from the EU to work here and others and also just to add, EU citizens. They are really, really worried about their status. I don't think they need to be, I think we could do more to clarify that but I don’t want to see people who have come here as tax payers, as employees, who are giving a lot to this country, to be worried about their status so I think for all those reasons, again I hope that the Prime Minister will make it very clear that – and she has privately and she has publicly, she wants there to be a deal and I think she is absolutely right.

NP: Let’s finish by talking about Theresa May. As you mentioned, you are now on the backbench, with a position of some great significance in terms of the Treasury Select Committee of course but you are rather more able to speak your mind so who should replace Theresa May?

NICKY MORGAN: You are getting into speculation and I think that …

NP: Okay, so who shouldn’t replace Theresa May, that’s an easier way of putting it?

NICKY MORGAN: I am not going to get into names, I don't think it’s helpful because actually I don't think it’s a debate we’re going to be having for several more years but the point goes back to I represent a Midlands marginal seat, I represent the kind of seat the Conservatives need to hold if we are going to have a majority in government and I think that a Conservative government is the best thing for this country so whoever we have as leader has got to appeal to people in seats like mine and in the seats that we lost this year and in the seats that we didn’t win.

NP: It doesn’t strike me that Jacob Rees-Mogg would go down particularly well in the marketplace.

NICKY MORGAN: Jacob is very welcome to visit Loughborough Market, I’m sure he would like the antiques market in particular and let’s see. Maybe they’ll come and do a beauty parade in Loughborough to see who’s going to be the next leader.

NP: My visit to Loughborough there.