ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Well there was a glimmer of good hope on Thursday with GDP figures moving into positive territory, showing a 1% rise in the last quarter. Unsurprisingly the Prime Minister was quick, some say perhaps too quick, to seize on them, telling the Commons that the good news would keep on coming. This wasn’t to be, hot on its heels was the announcement of significant job losses at Ford, another increase in energy prices and evidence of a growing north/south divide in the housing market. In a moment I’ll be speaking about that and other things to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. Let’s say a very good morning then to Mr Pickles.

ERIC PICKLES: A very good morning to you.

DM: Let’s start with this good news on the economy, growth figures hitting 1%, a lot higher than some people expected but of course there is still a long road to travel, I’m sure you’ll admit that. What is your view, what is the government’s view about the future trajectory of growth? We are healing, in the official parlance, aren’t we?

EP: That’s right, I think it is true that the economy is healing, I think it probably shows that we’re on the right track but it’s one quarter and I think we can’t underestimate the difficulty that the economy faces. A good point that you made with regard to Ford, the decision to close down their Southampton factory and a pressing plant at Dagenham, not very far from where I live, is an indication of how difficult things are on the continent but it was actually also balanced with some good news, is that the new engine, the new Ford engine, is going to be at Dagenham so by the end of the decade four out of five Ford cars around the world will have their engine made at Dagenham.

DM: But just that phase the Prime Minister used, the good news will keep on coming, well it didn’t immediately after the announcement of those GDP figures and people like you are now saying, you’re rowing back from that a bit, you’re not saying you are seeing green shoots, you’re saying it is going to be difficult, there could be relapses in this healing process.

EP: I think it does show our economy is healing, it does show that we are on the right track, it does show we’ve got the right approach but I think it would be wrong to say now we’re on the sunlit uplands and everything is going to be okay. No, we’re in a difficult situation, our friends on the continent are having a very difficult time, that’s our major exporting area so we can’t be immune to the downturn that we’re seeing on the continent.

DM: So in the healing process, let’s stay with that analogy, there could be a relapse?

EP: In the healing process we hope the trajectory remains good, we hope that we’re going to continue to see the solid 1% growth in manufacturing but it’s a foolish politician who claims we are out of the woods because we do know because of the terrible deficit that we were left by Labour it’s going to be a hard road to repay all that money.

DM: Mm, so you don’t see green shoots then, you won’t go that far?

EP: We are very much aware of Lord Lamont’s predictions all those years ago, it turned out he was right but it does mean that I think all sensible politicians are reluctant to claim victory on the basis of just one month.

DM: Okay, let’s move closer to your particular area and bring in Lord Heseltine’s review, Lord Heseltine of course has been looking at the issue of growth and particularly how the regions can contribute because, as I mentioned in the introduction there, there seems to be a growing north/south divide with London in particular, London and the south-east region powering along and some other areas being left behind. Is there anything, and perhaps you have already seen Lord Heseltine’s proposals, they are going to be released on Wednesday, is there anything in what Lord Heseltine is talking about that you feel is something that you can hold on to, that you can grab on to?

EP: I mean showing that growth is uniform throughout the country, that’s something that is very difficult and something that the government is very conscious of. Even at the time of the false boom, the difference between the north and south grew considerably but you know, when people talk about all politics is local, what they forget is that great Tip O’Neil quote was actually talking about the introduction of a series of local growth initiatives and certainly seeing local authorities and local businesses work together, I think there is some good indications of being able to deal with some local pinch points in economy in different parts of the country.

DM: Apparently, I can only judge from what we’ve heard, what we’ve been reading in the papers today, Lord Heseltine is going to say things like let’s give more power to local authorities, perhaps merge some of them, give them powers over developing skills and investment.

EP: Yes, I’ve had a lot of conversations with Michael about his report and in the sense that I’m in favour of authorities sharing their sovereignty, sharing their financial resources, working together, creating back office savings – just down the road from where we’re recording we’ve seen authorities come together and save an awful lot of money and be more effective for doing that.

DM: Okay, two more questions about local authorities, one on the front page of the Sunday Telegraph today, it’s quite an issue with the changing the clocks today and a lot more street lights have been turned out earlier than expected and a lot of people have been plunged into darkness because of the cuts in local authority budgets.

EP: I represent a constituency that is schizophrenic about this, I have parts of my constituency where I get petitions demanding that street lighting is not put into their area. I think there is a good point that when you fly over the United Kingdom or parts of Europe, you can see us lit up in the early hours of the morning. I don’t think it’s a terrible idea to turn off street lighting providing it is done sensibly and providing it’s done in places that aren’t subject to high levels of crime.

DM: Have you sorted out the issue about this conservatory row, allowing people to build conservatories without planning permission, extend further out into their gardens and certain Conservative councils are saying we don’t want to do that?

EP: It’s completely sorted out now. Let me tell you, supposing you had a terrace house with a seven metre garden which is big for a terrace house and under current rules you can extend to three metres or half a garden, so it is no problem. Under the new rules …

DM: Whichever is the smallest.

EP: Yes, whichever is the smallest. Under the new rules you can go to six metres or half a garden, so it is three and a half.

DM: So it’s 50% of seven, I think you’re being rather selective there in the size of the garden aren’t you? So if your garden is twelve metres long you could go out the full six metres which is 100% increase on the current.

EP: I’m sure you could and I don’t see a particular problem with this.

DM: It’s a doubling in size! A 100% increase in the size of a conservatory.

EP: Oh for goodness sake, we’re talking about extensions, we’re talking about people being able to get granny flats going, we’re talking about people who if they do this will buy carpets, will buy furniture, it’s a way of getting things moving along but the existing protection for neighbours, it has to be in the [inaudible] of the house, it can’t be within two metres of the garden fence, all these kind of things will exist and do you know, something like I think it’s 90% of these kind of extensions just go through by officers ticking them.

DM: A couple of other things appearing in the papers today, it’s apparently causing a lot of concern within some quarters of the Conservative party about these child benefit cuts that are coming down the line in the next tax year for those now earning over £60,000 a year. In your view is that something that the government just has to do or could there be a reconsideration about it?

EP: It does seem to me that it is a sensible thing to do, to accept that dependency has gone further up the economic ladder but I do think where the state is actually offering substantial help, that should be to the poorest.

DM: Okay and there is this other issue of the fiscal creep, another group of MPs within the Conservative party saying look, there are too many people now within the 40% tax rate, you are all politicians now looking to help the squeezed middle and a lot of the squeezed middle are now paying 40% rate of tax and that threshold should be pushed up like you have pushed up the lower threshold.

EP: All Conservatives want to see lower taxation but our taxation policy is determined by the Chancellor and I wouldn’t presume to give him advice on that.

DM: Okay so you would like to see it pushed up, Conservative backbenchers, some of them talking about £50,000 rate to start paying 40%.

EP: That is absolutely a matter for the Chancellor.

DM: But something that you in an ideal world would like to see, as a Conservative?

EP: That is still a matter for the Chancellor.

DM: Okay, I think we get your drift there, Mr Pickles.

EP: I hope so.

DM: Let me ask you about these media issues then, Jimmy Savile and the BBC. Do you see the BBC as doing enough at the moment in terms of the number of investigations it has set up, internal investigations, that it has now got its response right or is there more that could be being done?

EP: Well after an initial kind of stutter, it does seem that they are beginning to get it right but I think it’s in all our interests for the BBC to be held in the highest esteem but I think there is a problem at the heart of the BBC, that the organisation is too secretive. I think it should think now of opening itself up to Freedom of Information requests, I think it should look towards publishing a lot of its expenditure online. My department shows all its credit cards online in real terms, we produce, everything above £250 we put online. I think it is that kind of response the BBC now needs to understand. I don't think it can see itself away from the real world and I think a part of the process of re-establishing the BBC in the affection of the nation is that the BBC has to be much more open.

DM: One of the lessons of this and on the Leveson Inquiry, when we get that, when we see that, should the government in your view implement those recommendations whatever Lord Leveson comes up with?

EP: Well I think it is really massively important to ensure that we have freedom of press in this country. Something that characterises the British press is that it is good at exposing corruption and it is good at going to places where other press wouldn’t and I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said that for a free society to operate then the river of a free press had to flow without restriction. So I think that given that I think the press are looking towards finding ways, the end result of offering a good way in which people have got a legitimate complaint can find a resource, then that’s right.

DM: So no legislation?

EP: We should be very, very, very reluctant to take on legislation but it’s a balance and my view is that we should always balance in favour of a free press.

DM: Okay, Secretary of State, thank you very much indeed. Eric Pickles there.

EP: Thank you.