ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Now why do so many not vote?  The number of women who vote in general elections in the United Kingdom has been falling for years which suggests they are becoming disengaged in politics.  Well today is International Women’s Day and an opportunity for all the parties to put across their pitch to women.  Well later in the programme I’ll be speaking to Labour’s Harriet Harman and the Lib Dem Minister, Lynne Featherstone, now though I’m joined by the Education Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities, Nicky Morgan.  A very good morning to you Secretary of State, I know you’ve been writing this morning on the issue of the suffragettes, 100 years ago women were marching, they were being imprisoned, they were dying to get the vote.  Here were are, a hundred years and more later and it seems women are wilfully just deciding not to vote, they are being turned off by politicians.

NICKY MORGAN: Well I do think it is hugely disappointing that both men and women don’t vote, that the turnout has been going down but I think we saw for example in last year’s Scottish referendum that when there is a critical issue at stake that actually the turnout does go up so you’re right, it’s incumbent on us as politicians to engage with people, to make it clear to them that what we’re going to see in May is the most important election in a generation, that their vote matters and particularly for women, who represent 50% of the population, we need to hear their views.

DM: But that’s the point, with those statistics, proportionally women are not voting more than men, they are being turned away even more.

NICKY MORGAN: Well I’m not sure if it is turned away or whether politicians are not talking and not saying the things that people want to hear.  I do find that as a constituency Member of Parliament there is no substitute for getting out, standing out in Loughborough Marketplace, getting out on the doorsteps and talking to people and really having a proper conversation.  I think we see politics and coverage often has moved on to sound bites, the news cycle is very short and actually I think that the conversations that I have particularly with women, I actually like having a more detailed conversation, I spend a lot of time going into schools, talking to girls and saying your vote really matters.

DM: But you’ve seen the analysis haven’t you, when it comes to the cuts, the austerity programme that your government has instituted, it disproportionately has affected women, that the bottom part of society, it’s women who have borne the brunt of those cuts.

NICKY MORGAN: Well I wouldn’t agree with that.  The theme of today’s International Women’s Day is ‘Making It Happen’ and I think this government actually is on the side of making it happen for women, so for example we’ve seen with the income tax cut, the rise in the threshold, actually three million people have been taken out of paying income tax altogether, 58% of those have been women.  We have seen more women for example registering as higher rate taxpayers, more women setting up businesses, more women because of things like shared parental leave and flexible working are able to juggle care and responsibilities and also working if that’s what they choose to do.  

DM: But the point is they look at parliament and they say it still doesn’t represent us, we talked about the parallels with a hundred years ago and there are still precious few women like you in front bench positions and indeed sitting in parliament as a whole. It’s taken a hundred years to get what, I don't know, it must be about 20% of parliament is now female, is it going to get another 500 years to get it up to at least equal representation?

NICKY MORGAN: Well I certainly hope not because you are absolutely right, we need more women in parliament.  I think all three of us you’re going to have talking to you this morning will say exactly the same thing.  We’re now at 23% of our parliament is female, obviously we’ve got an election and I suspect we’ve got more female candidates now.  In the Conservative party 30% of our candidates are women, many in seats we are going to win where men, male MPs are retiring but you’re right, we need more and I think actually we need to take a step back and think why is it that women look at politics and think actually I’m not sure this is a job that I want to go into.  We have lots of women serving as councillors, women coming forward to be things like school governors, how do we take that next step and again I think all the parties are engaged in that process, convincing them that politics is the right thing for them to go into.

DM: Do you find, it’s oft discussed this, do you find it’s a bit of a bear pit though, the House of Commons chamber?  It’s off-putting, the main thing that the public sees, the bellowing and it’s mainly male bellowing, although not always, that goes on during Prime Minister’s Questions?

NICKY MORGAN: Look, I personally don’t.  I’ve been involved in politics for a long time and I’ve done a lot of debating and public speaking but I think one of the things that it’s important to realise, and again when I go to schools I say this, is that Prime Minister’s Questions is a tiny part of the week.  In fact actually standing up and speaking in the House of Commons is a tiny part of what Members of Parliament do.  The work we do in our constituencies, in our surgeries, helping people, making the case for our areas to government, that is something that women are absolutely brilliant at doing.  We have some fantastic female Members of Parliament but there is no doubt, when I was a Treasury Minister I had Shadow Treasury Ministers, female Treasury Ministers, opposite me and the tone of the debate when you get women, you saw that in the International Women’s Debate in Parliament in the Main Chamber on Thursday, the tone is very different and that goes back to the point, we need more women in parliament.  

DM: But you need the boss to get it, don’t you?  Is the Prime Minister a feminist?  He refused to wear the T-shirt, he used that put down ‘Calm down, dear’, do you think he is a kind of innate sexist?

NICKY MORGAN: No, I don’t because actually I’ve had a conversation with him and actually I think he absolutely is a feminist, he’s on the side of women, he’s done a huge amount to get women into the Cabinet.  If you think of all the women who are in the Cabinet at the moment, they are Conservatives.  The Lib Dems have not put any women MPs into the Cabinet and the Prime Minister is absolutely on the side of making sure that women have the best possible opportunities, as is the Chancellor, as is actually I think all of my male colleagues.  

DM: But it’s under pressure, isn’t it, ‘Calm down, dear’, there’s something in him isn’t there that regards women along those lines, somebody who really needs to take a tablet?

NICKY MORGAN: No, no, I have to say the Shadow Education Secretary said to me last week in Education questions, ‘Not my responsibility, love’, so I’m afraid to say there are things that can be said in the heat of the moment on all sides of the House.  

DM: Okay, let me lead into then different matters through the Shadow Education Secretary, would you be prepared to debate him in spite of the use of that language or not?  Talking about Leaders’ Debates, what about debates at your level, at Cabinet level?

NICKY MORGAN: Well absolutely.  I think that we’re all absolutely ready to debate, in fact we have debates all the time of course in the House of Commons with questions and everything else and there will be debates going on up and down the country.  I think in terms of the Leaders’ Debates, the Prime Minister has made a very clear offer, a 90 minute debate involving everybody the week of 23rd March, so we get to the short campaign and we can get out into the country.

DM: Yes, but he’ll take part in the debate involving six or indeed seven other parties, what about – and he said this not so very long ago – what about the two guys who could possibly lead the country, who could possibly be Prime Minister?  There are only two of them and surely you owe it to the public to put the two of them and let’s see, defend your record and on the other side tell us what your programme will be.

NICKY MORGAN: Look, they’re up against each other pretty well every week at Prime Minister’s Questions.  Frankly I think the broadcasters have made a real hash of this because the process and discussions have been going on for months and months now and actually they’ve invited this party and that party.  The Prime Minister has made a very clear offer, get seven parties in the same place, have a 90 minute debate before the campaign starts otherwise all we’re doing all the way through the campaign itself is talking about the debates and I think actually we ought to be, all of us as politicians, getting out of Westminster, getting out of TV studios, getting out and talking to people on the campaign trail.  

DM: There is quite a lot coming up on your beat, on the education beat, in the papers today.  This issue, are you considering banning radical Islamists from having one on one sessions, be it in the education system or wherever else, you are intending on no unsupervised access to children for people deemed to be radicals.

NICKY MORGAN: Well I’m not going to comment on what is a leaked document but I think as Education Secretary it would be right for me to say I am of course concerned about what might be taught in some of our schools and we have since last year required all schools to actively promote these fundamental British values so that our education system is opening up young minds, it is not closing them down and I think the messages that young people receive whether it’s in school or outside school, are very, very important.

DM: But it does beg the question doesn’t it, if they are deemed to be radical Islamists, whether they are unsupervised or not, why are they in schools at all?

NICKY MORGAN: Well I think that is absolutely right and I think that we have seen concerns about the speakers that schools have invited in.   As I say I want an education system which exposes all young people to life in modern Britain in all its forms that is not, as I say, shutting down horizons before young people have had a chance to explore the world around them.  

DM: And are you thinking about another issue being floated today that we’ll hear from the Prime Minister, that you are going to radically expand the Free Schools programme if you get re-elected?

NICKY MORGAN: Well I do think that these schools that are set up by parents and organisations in areas where there are either not enough school places or not enough good school places are very exciting and actually they are working. I went to a fantastic, the Sikh Free School, the new one in Leicester …

DM: Okay that’s the ones existing, will there be more of them?

NICKY MORGAN: Yes, absolutely and we want to see the programme continue.  I think they offer huge opportunities for families, for giving every child the best start in life and that’s what our whole plan for education has been about, it’s been about trusting heads and teachers to run excellent schools and that’s what I see up and down the country when I visit, fantastic schools, great head teachers, fantastic hard working dedicated professional teachers.  

DM: And the other thing on your list this morning, a busy morning for you to get across all the press, the age of consent classes for eleven year olds to teach them at that age when no is no.

NICKY MORGAN: Well I do think, and actually I’ve said before that sex and relationship education is compulsory in secondary state maintained schools but again I discuss this quite a lot with schools up and down the country and teachers will teach this and they will start exploring things in an age-appropriate way.  I do think the emphasis should be on relationships and I think consent is a very important that, again taught in an age-appropriate way and what we are seeing this morning, the consent guidance drawn up by the PSHE Association is about helping those who are teaching to have confidence in what they’re teaching, to use the right language, to allow young people to explore these issues.  We’ve seen this week with the issues about child sexual exploitation, that growing up today is difficult and I think there are unimaginable pressures compared to when I was growing up on young people, particularly on girls.  I do think it’s right, again as I say in an age-appropriate way, that issues around consent, when consent is given, when it is not given, when something goes way beyond the boundaries, who do you report to?  It is important and I know again that schools want to have the confidence and the tools to teach that well.

DM: Secretary of State, thank you very much indeed, Nicky Morgan there.