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DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Well Ed Miliband started the week flying high amid talk of Tory dinners and pricy pasties but it wasn’t long before Labour took a bit of a kicking too after George Galloway stormed to victory in the Bradford West by-election, a Labour seat for nearly 40 years. Well in a moment I’ll be discussing this and the 30^th anniversary of the Falklands War amongst other things with the Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander but just to alert you to those also watching the discussion, they are our Twitter commentators today, James Kirkup, deputy political editor for the Telegraph, Oliver Wright, Whitehall editor for the Independent and Isabelle Hardman from Politics Home. They provide their reactions via Twitter and you can read those on the side panels and you can follow on our website as well, skynew.com/politics and you can join in if you use the hashtag #murnaghan. Now let’s say a very good morning to the Shadow Foreign Secretary.

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Good morning.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: You heard my introduction there, we’ve seen the change in the polling over the recent two weeks, by any admission it’s been a pretty bad week for the Conservatives yet, yet Bradford happened to Labour, it really too the wind out of your sails didn’t it?

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Listen, Bradford was a bad result, of course it was but I think it reminds Labour of a broader lesson. It is not sufficient for Labour to win, that the Conservatives are unpopular and that’s why I do think it teaches us an important lesson that we need to not just be rooted in the communities that we represent but also be a party focused not just on amplifying anger in society but in delivering answers, being seen as a genuine alternative to a deeply unpopular Conservative government.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Do you accept though any of the analysis of the commentariat, if I may term them that, that it’s a problem with the leader, that he’s the one who’s not connecting with Labour voters?

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: You said it was not a particularly good week for the Conservatives, it was a terrible week for the commentariat as well …

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Yes, but just on the point, on the analysis of Bradford West.

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Well it is a serious point. I think it reflects the extent to which commentators should have some humility this week but actually a lot of the talk around here in Westminster is often not what is driving considerations in communities right across Britain and in that sense, listen, Ed Miliband has a task on his hands as do I, as do every other member of the Shadow Cabinet, in making sure that we communicate the not just anger that we feel about the injustices being visited on communities by the Conservatives but that we recognise in these tough times that there needs to be genuine alternatives offered and that’s the work that we need to rededicate ourselves to because what we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks I think does reflect and goes back to what really started with the Conservatives budget, which is a deeply unfair budget which has offended the sensibilities of the British people. Our task is to be judged, the vehicle by which people can liberate themselves from that Conservative government at the time of a general election.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: But given the measures that have been picked up on in the budget and taken the government by surprise in many areas, putting those together what they symbolise is a feeling from people that politicians are out of touch with their ordinary lives and the price of a pasty, for instance, really does matter because you are scrabbling round for a few pence here and there. That applies to Labour as well though doesn’t it, those of you who have grown up in this Westminster bubble, you don’t really get out there often enough.

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Well I grew up in Renfrewshire which is the community I now represent in parliament and in that sense that matters because I think of course we need politicians who are rooted in and reflective of their communities but we need something else as well. I do think we need changes in the way political parties are funded and that really comes down to a central issue because otherwise I think we are just going to see a continuation of the kind of scandals we saw break last weekend under the Conservative party but if we are honest, all political parties have suffered in the past.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: So you are accepting, I mean you’ve got a bit of a problem in terms of perception in terms of the links with the unions and the number of times we’ve seen the leader and others dining with those union barons, some of whom might cause enormous economic damage to the country?

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Well I genuinely think there is a world of difference between a dinner lady paying £3 a year to support a political levy that is given to the Labour party and a millionaire paying a quarter of a million to have dinner with the Prime Minister in Downing Street but that doesn’t argue that …

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Well I was more referring to Len McClusky, whose union UNITE may have a fuel tanker driver’s strike and has threatened to disrupt the Olympics.

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Listen, I think the party that has been most irresponsible in relation to that strike is the Conservative party and let me explain why. On Thursday evening I said I was deeply concerned that this had been used consciously and cynically by the Conservative party to change the subject. First of all they desperately tried to change the subject after deeply unfair budget by talking about alcohol pricing, then we had the scandal of donations last weekend and I think what we’ve seen this weekend is further vindication of that view. The alleged remarks of the Prime Minister in the Cabinet where he said that this might not do any harm for this issue to be raised, the fact that Charles Moore, a very respected Conservative journalist only yesterday highlighted the fact that they were talking about a ‘Thatcher moment’ to Conservative associations. Frankly, hard pressed British drivers deserve better from their government than attempts to manipulate a fuel crisis for party advantage, that’s partly why I think people are outraged, frankly the British people deserve better.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Let’s get on to foreign affairs and Syria, that meeting in Istanbul. Do you go along with the Foreign Secretary that you’ve got to see what this UN plan can achieve before looking at any other options because there are voices there that say well now might the time to start arming the opposition, arming the rebels?

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Well I don’t support arming the rebels, I think the right way forward is the Annan plan but I actually find myself in sympathy with William Hague in saying when you’re dealing with the Assad regime, you don’t judge them by their words, you judge them by their deeds. One of the things that is so significant about the Annan plan is the fact that both the Chinese and the Russians are now supporting it and that could potentially change the balance of forces within the Security Council so I don't think that the Assad regime should be in any doubt with the Friends of Syria meeting happening today in Ankara, that the international community is speaking as one in saying that the killing has to stop and there needs to be this managed transition. If we see the Annan plan fail then I do think it opens up the possibility for the Security Council to speak with one voice in a way that tragically was not the case in recent months.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: You talk of transition but there is a feeling under the Annan plan is that the Assad regime could survive.

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Yes, and that’s why the plan is not without its time limits and in that sense I don't think in Damascus they should have any doubt that there is a window of opportunity for this transition to happen under the Annan plan but that’s why I think it’s important that sanctions are maintained, I think there should continue to be incentives for Syrian officers to leave the Syrian security apparatus and to come over to those forces who have rejected the killing that the Assad regime has been visiting upon its people.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: To the Falklands, 30 years on since the conflict, is there any way of resolving this through talks or has it just got to remain a complete and utter standoff, we will not talk to you in any way shape or form about sovereignty, Argentina, when it comes to the Falklands?

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Well the principle of sovereignty was clear under the past Labour government and it is clear I understand under this Conservative government which is that is a matter for the Falkland Islanders and they have made clear their intention not to be part of Argentina. That being said, I don't think now is the time for sabre rattling, as we look to the anniversary tomorrow the first thing of course we should do is remember the 255 British personnel who lost their lives along with many Argentinians and three civilians in the Falklands conflict 30 years ago but beyond remembrance there is something else that we should do, we should look where there is scope for constructive discussions. So for example discussions in relation to fisheries in the South Atlantic, discussions in relation to hydrocarbon exploration, discussions in relation to air links – there are many areas that we can work with Argentina which has been on a painful but vital journey from dictatorship to democracy.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: But do you feel that the current standoff is doing damage more broadly to relations with very many South American trading partners because they are rowing in behind Argentina?

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Well I think now is the time for cool heads and cautious words. I think that actually we are in relatively strong place in terms of our relationships with countries like Brazil, countries like Chile, many countries in Mercosur and in that sense I wouldn’t overstate or take at face value claims that are being made by the Argentinian government. But have no doubt, it is in our interests that we have strong working relationships not just with other countries in South America but also with Argentina and we shouldn’t allow some of the headlines that we’ve seen emerging from Argentina in recent months to deflect us from the path of being clear and categorical on the issue of sovereignty but on the other hand recognising that there are ways, as in the past, that we can continue to work together.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: But it is a relic of an imperial past isn’t it? The only reason that the Falklands are British is because of what went on 150 years ago.

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Well yes, since 1833 there have Falkland Islanders who have asserted their right to be British and what we saw 30 years ago was a dictatorship claiming that by the force of guns and weaponry they should be able to change that fact. Now it is a long established principle of international law that sovereignty is the foundation on which people should be able to determine their own future, I haven’t seen anything in the Argentinian newspapers in recent months that convinces me that we should change from that position.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: But there are deals that have been done, look at Hong Kong. Something like that lease back arrangement where you talk over a very long term, well eventually as we said to China you can have this what you regard as part of your land back.

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: But the situation in China, with China was different in relation to Hong Kong because there was originally a lease during a period of British colonial rule which is fundamentally different from a group of Falkland Islanders whose ancestors have been there since 1833 asserting that they have a continued right to maintain that British connection.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Okay, Mr Alexander, thank you very much indeed.

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Thank you.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Douglas Alexander there, the Shadow Foreign Secretary.