ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: So another week, another rise in energy prices. Polls this morning show a majority of people oppose the green taxes that inflate the bills so is the pressure now on David Cameron to act? Well I am joined now from Wakefield by the Senior Foreign Office Minister for Faith and Communities and former Conservative Party Chairman, Baroness Warsi, a very good morning to you Baroness Warsi. Can I just ask you first of all a little off-piste so to speak about the weather, this big storm coming in, how prepared is the government to respond to any of the emergencies it may cause?

BARONESS WARSI: I think government is prepared and as we’ve been listening to on our screens both government and individuals are prepared. I know we’ve been going round the house making sure that any challenges that may be presented by the weather are properly protected but I can tell you at the moment, Dermot, it’s pretty sunny in Yorkshire at the moment. The wind’s blowing but it’s still quite sunny.

DM: Okay, well thanks for that update. Let’s talk about energy then, is Mr Cameron under pressure to respond comprehensively to what Ed Miliband has promised in terms of a price freeze? We know how popular that is, it’s time to ditch these green, these environmental subsidies isn’t it?

BARONESS WARSI: I think it’s important that what we don’t make out of this is really a political football and what we continue to focus on is how this is going to impact on ordinary families and what ordinary families want to know is when they are paying their bills, they are paying the lowest possible tariff and the Prime Minister has been leading the charge on energy companies to make sure that that’s what consumers get. What ordinary families also want to know is that when they have accumulated credit for example with the energy companies, that isn’t just held by them and that it is passed back at a time when people are watching the pounds and the pennies. And what ordinary families also want to know is what the energy companies are making in profit is transparent and that they are paying the taxes that are due to this country.

DM: So you are asking consumers, you are asking people to keep a close eye on their bills and switch if necessary. Can I ask you, how often have you switched in recent years?

BARONESS WARSI: Well I’ve switched twice in three years. I feel that it’s important to keep an eye on those tariffs but it’s also important to know that you’re with a company that cares about its consumers and for me that was also an important fact. I think what this boils down to really is that in difficult times it is important for government to carry on creating the right conditions within which people feel the benefits of an economy as it’s growing.

DM: How much did you save when you switched, what’s your average bill?

BARONESS WARSI: I’m not really going to talk about that on national TV, Dermot. I think it would be unfair to go into my own personal circumstances. What I can say is when we look at our bills, I mean for example only two weeks ago we’ve been having the discussion about when we start turning our central heating back on, that is the kind of discussion that families up and down the country are having, at what time can we start to make sure that the whole house is heated and these are choices that families are having to make and what government has to do is to make sure that people are paying the lowest possible tariff, that they know absolutely that they are getting the best deal and that is the kind of proposals that you’ll be hearing from later this week from the Department for Energy and Climate Change.

DM: But that’s my very point because you in government are asking people to take personal responsibility for all this and your personal experience will highlight it. It is said that Mr Miliband’s proposals would save people what, about £100, £120 a year, did you save that amount by switching or don’t you know?

BARONESS WARSI: I do know but like I said, Dermot, I think it would be wrong for me to go through the details of my bill but what I can say is that it is important that when, for example when I was going through the tariffs some of them just didn’t make sense, different tariffs for different times of the week, different tariffs depending on how much you used, different tariffs depending on whether you got your gas and electricity from the same provider – and that is the kind of thing that consumers need to look at but energy companies need to make it easy for us to be able to do that. What they can’t do is blind us with science and therefore through that give us a bad deal.

DM: But what about do something as a government as I mean Sir John Major, the respected Sir John Major of course has suggested and hit them with a levy on their excess profits, why not do that?

BARONESS WARSI: I have a huge amount of time for Sir John Major and it’s important to hear all voices in this debate but as I’ve said before, Dermot, you’ll be hearing some announcements later on from the Department for Energy and Climate change so I’d wait for that.

DM: Okay, listen, I want to ask you, and we are talking about aspects of course of the economy and there is an important Islamic finance forum under the Prime Minister’s auspices taking place in Britain this week. The Prime Minister has been highlighting just how potentially important this could be to the UK economy, there’s huge ambition behind this isn’t there, in terms of the vast pie that is Islamic finance.

BARONESS WARSI: Well the World Islamic Economic Forum, the 9th World Islamic Economic Forum, is being held in London this week and we are delighted that they chose London as the first place outside the Muslim world to be hosting this conference. It has been a personal ambition of mine for this to come to London and it presents a huge opportunity. We will have 15 heads of state and heads of government, heads of industry from around the world, governors of central banks coming. So why is this important? Because Dermot, 10 of the 25 largest economies, growing economies in the world are in the Islamic world and half of our high value opportunities that the UK Trade and Industry are working on are within the Islamic world. This presents a huge opportunity for further growth and for further jobs in the UK. Islamic finance has already had an impact on the United Kingdom, on the skyline of London – the Shard, Chelsea Barracks, the Olympic Village have all partly been funded by Islamic finance and only a few months ago we signed a further deal, the Prime Minister signed a deal with the Prime Minister of Malaysia for the Battersea Power Station which again can potentially create another 15,000 jobs.

DM: I mean if this kind of expansion occurs as you hope, given the nature of Islamic finance, we should see a lot more people from foreign countries wanting to come and live and work here to help that system operate. I want to ask you about comments from the London Mayor, Boris Johnson, saying that he feels he is the only person who is actively pro-immigration when it comes to those kind of people, people who want to come from other countries and work here. Are you in there with Boris Johnson? You say you’d encourage that kind of immigration.

BARONESS WARSI: Well first of all we have a great history of academic education in Islamic finance so actually it is Britain sending expert bankers around the world rather than just expert bankers coming to the United Kingdom when it comes to the issue of Islamic finance but as far as the immigration issue is concerned, I don't think there is a politician who isn’t pro-good immigration. This country will also be open to those people who want to come here and make a contribution and make a better life for themselves and add value to the United Kingdom but it is right that we don’t have mass immigration and it is right therefore that Theresa May has been leading on making sure that we get immigration numbers under control.

DM: So you are making a distinction there between good immigration, as Boris Johnson said, talented people who want to come and contribute something here and bad immigration. Would the so called bad immigrants then be faced with things like those vans telling them to go home or do you think that was a mistake?

BARONESS WARSI: I am making a distinction, Dermot, between good immigration and mass immigration. It’s a distinction that has been made by the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary. It is right that we control the number of people coming to this country, it is right that we don’t allow people to abuse the system and I say that as a daughter of an immigrant who came here over half a century ago to work in the mills in Yorkshire. It is right that people who come here are a positive, make a positive contribution, improve their lives and improve the lives of this nation, will always be welcome and what we are going to be welcoming this week at the World Islamic Economic Forum are people who are interested in investing in the United Kingdom, in increasing the potential for Islamic finance in the United Kingdom and that will create jobs and opportunities for British people, that is a good thing.

DM: But I mentioned those vans there, tell me specifically as the Minister for Communities, your impression of the impact of those vans – I know it was an experiment – telling people to go home? Theresa May said there were some returns, it’s been evaluated, what do you think?

BARONESS WARSI: Well Theresa May has made clear it is not a pilot that they intend to take forward, I don't think it was a particularly positive experience and I’m glad that we won’t be going back to it.

DM: Okay, do you think it damaged community relations?

BARONESS WARSI: Look, I think it’s always important for government to be clear that when they are speaking to their communities, that all people who are part of this nation, who are part of this nation legally, are absolutely welcome and if there is anything that we do in our policies that doesn’t make it absolutely clear that distinction between people who are very much part of the fabric of this society and those people who are here illegally and should not be here, then anything that causes that confusion we should think long and hard about. I am glad that the pilot was just a pilot and that it won’t be going any further.

DM: And the issue of integration with the good immigrants that come here, the Prime Minister has talked about immigration, how does that feed into the whole debate we’ve been having in the United Kingdom, I suppose sparked again by the Al-Medina school, about the issue of clothing and in particular veils? Should people be allowed to wear veils in certain circumstances as they wish or does it impede integration?

BARONESS WARSI: I’ve yet to do an interview, Dermot, where the issue of veils doesn’t come up. Look, I’ve made my position on veils incredibly clear. First of all I think women should have the right to wear whatever they want to do in their private lives. Women in this country won that battle many, many decades ago when men butted out of our wardrobes and I hope that men will remain away from our wardrobes and allow us to wear what we want but I’ve also said that, look, if there are garments which effectively stop you from engaging in the workplace, stop you from being identified if there is an issue of security or if where you are there is an issue on health and security, health and safety, then it is absolutely right that people should be asked to remove their veil either to be identified or for example, as it was in court, to give evidence. But I think fundamentally Britain is not the kind of nation that goes around telling women what they can and cannot wear and banning items of clothing.

DM: Baroness Warsi, good to talk to you, thank you very much indeed.