SKY NEWS – MAY V CORBYN: THE BATTLE FOR NUMBER TEN – 21.30 – 29.05.17

PART THREE: THERESA MAY Q&A

FAISAL ISLAM: This is May V Corbyn: The Battle for Number Ten and it is time for our audience and you at home to meet the Prime Minister, Theresa May.

THERESA MAY: Hello Faisal and happy birthday, by the way.

FAISAL ISLAM: Okay, let’s get our first question from Martin.

MARTIN: Good evening Prime Minister. As a serving police officer I have been witness to the devastating effects of police cuts during your time as Home Secretary and now, after the horrendous terrorist attack in Manchester last Monday, we have seen the need to draft in the military. What promise can you make to increase the number of police officers and can I ask you to provide us with a specific number of how many extra police officers will be recruited under your government and how you propose to fund it?

THERESA MAY: Well Martin, as a serving police officer obviously you’ll be aware that we have police and counter terrorism police, we’ve been very clear that we have protected the budgets for counter terrorism policing and we are currently protecting overall police budgets as well and we’re ensuring that we’re putting money in to enable the police to address what are actually different ways, as you will know, different types of crime. Crime is changing and policing will be changing in the future, it’s why we’re putting more money for example into cyber-policing because increasingly we see those as the sort of crimes that are having to be addressed. We did do what was called Operation Tempera which enables the military to assist the police following the terrible horrific attack that took place in Manchester, that’s been a well prepared plan for some time and that was put into operation and put into operation smoothly and is now being run down. What is important is that we not only ensure we have the counter-terrorism police we need and the overall police that we need but also that they have the powers that they need and that’s what I’ve done. As Home Secretary I ensured that we brought through new legislation to put powers into place which gave the police what they were asking for in order to be able to deal with counter-terrorism.

FAISAL ISLAM: Can you clarify for Martin, when you became Home Secretary, the staff numbers of police were 141,850, that’s September 2010, what are they now?

THERESA MAY: 124,000.

FAISAL ISLAM: So that’s down 20,000, that’s what he’s talking about and armed officers, there were nearly 7000 in March 2010 and now?

THERESA MAY: Well we are currently having an uplift in the number of armed officers, we agreed that not just the normal armed officers should be increased but actually the counter-terrorism specialist officers as well.

FAISAL ISLAM: So there were cuts over six years and you’ve had to put them back, was that a mistake?

THERESA MAY: What we have asked, what we had to do when we came into government in 2010 was to ensure that we were living within our means and that was very important because of the economic situation we’d inherited. Now what we need to do in policing terms is ensure it is not just about the numbers of police, people often focus on the numbers of police, it is actually about what the police are able to do and how they are being deployed on our streets. As I say, in counter-terrorism policing we have protected those budgets and we are currently protecting police budgets but crime is changing and the sort of job that police officers need to do is changing, that’s why we are also putting extra money into things like cyber-crime because that’s today’s world. So a government has to make sure we are keeping abreast with the changes that take place, with the challenges that are out there that we need to deal with and of course the terrorist threat is severe, that’s where it is at the moment but that’s why we ensure that our police, our security service, have that counter-terrorism budget, we are increasing the budgets for our security services as well but also that they have the powers they need to do the job.

FAISAL ISLAM: Just a quick come-back Martin?

MARTIN: I appreciate you are protecting the budgets but we still need the staff to carry out the role of the police officer, of keeping the public safe.

FAISAL ISLAM: Okay let’s move on to Philip.

PHILIP: Prime Minister, in my first job 74 years ago I earned the princely sum of 31 shillings a week which is £1.55 in current money. I lived in a council house with my four siblings and my parents in George Orwell’s Wigan of the 1930s. Over the years due to our hard work and with my late wife we came to own our own home and this is now mortgage free. I don’t like the prospect of being able to leave it to our family with a greatly eroded value which I fear is what would happen if you were to introduce your so-called dementia tax so why, Prime Minister, should we in my generation vote for you?

THERESA MAY: Well you have raised an issue which I know a lot of people are looking at and thinking about and it is a really important issue because one of the great challenges that we face as a society and that government faces is that our society is ageing. We see more people … it’s great that people are living longer but of course that has an impact in terms of the services we have to provide and ensuring people can have dignity in their old age. Now the situation as I’m sure you know at the moment is that if you require care and you have savings of more than £23,000, you have to pay for that care and if the care you require is residential care then the value of your house is taken into account. So what happens is that people are paying for care, people are finding they are having to sell their house, many people are having to sell their house to pay for those care bills and many find that they are not able to leave money to their families. Now I want to take those risks away and that’s what the proposals I’ve put forward are about. It’s about ensuring that nobody is going to have to sell their house to pay for care in their lifetime, it is about ensuring that £100,000 of savings and assets are protected to pass on to the family, we’ll put an absolute cap on the level of money that people have to spend on care and I think what we’re doing is ensuring that we can have a sustainable solution for the long term. If I can just give on figure, Faisal, in ten years’ time there will be two million more people aged over 75. If we don’t address the issue of our social care system now then it is going to collapse. We need to do it and do it in a way that is fairer to younger generations and that’s what my plans are for.

FAISAL ISLAM: Prime Minister, can you just clarify for Philip and for people at home, what’s the cap? Is it a manifesto policy that there’ll be a cap?

THERESA MAY: There will be a cap, yes. What we set out in the manifesto is the principles of our position, I then saw a lot of scaremongering about that, I heard a lot of scaremongering about it and recognised that people would be worried as a result of that so we clarified that there would be a cap but what we would do, Faisal, is not just put a figure on it, what we will do is publish a Green Paper, a consultation document, we’ll listen to people, we’ll listen to voters, we’ll listen charities and organisations working with older people, we’ll take people’s views on where that cap should be and I think that’s a fairer way to do it.

FAISAL ISLAM: Okay, Amanda.

AMANDA: Good evening. Are we dividing England and Scotland by allowing a winter fuel allowance for over 60s in Scotland? Is this fair?

THERESA MAY: Well we have a situation as you know where there’s a devolved government in Scotland and they have the ability to make separate decisions on a whole variety of issues affecting people in Scotland and they have been given extra powers in relation to dealing with welfare so it is up to them to make that decision as to how they choose to apply certain welfare benefits. We have said and we will in government means test the winter fuel payment is the reason for doing that is this: at the moment we have a situation where pensioners who are better off are getting that help and support, where you see working families who might be struggling not getting that sort of support. I think it’s right and I’ve met pensioners who said to me they don’t think they should get that winter fuel payment. What we’ll do with the money that’s released is we’ll put it into health and social care so it will be going towards ensuring that actually those systems are providing better quality care for older people and others.

FAISAL ISLAM: So Prime Minister, we know that Scottish pensioners will keep their winter fuel allowance, can you tell us how many English pensioners will lose it? The IFS assumed six millions, the Resolution Foundation ten million, it’s clearly several million isn’t it?

THERESA MAY: Well what we are going to do, Faisal, I’m sorry it is exactly the same as I’ve just said on the social care cap. Once again I think this is an issue where we need not just to pull out a figure in an election campaign but actually to listen to people, to talk to people, to take people’s views and then make a proposal as government. So it is a proper consultation, so we’re actually hearing from voters, we’re hearing from organisations and charities and others who work with older people, about what they think is the right level to set that threshold for winter fuel payments at. But the key thing, the key principle that will drive what we do is that less well-off pensioners will be protected.

FAISAL ISLAM: Okay, let’s move on to Nicola.

NICOLA: Hello. As a teacher and mother of two I am incredibly concerned by your proposed changes to school funding with my local constituency of Batley and Spen one of the worst affected areas. Prime Minister, despite your manifesto promises these cuts are clearly unsustainable. Are you prepared to change your current plans to prevent further damage to our schools?

THERESA MAY: Nicola, what we will do in government is put further record levels of funding into schools but we also do want to look at ensuring that the money is being distributed in a fair way and as you probably know, there are some schools in the country today that may receive twice the amount of funding for a pupil that other schools receive. I think it’s important that we see a fair way of funding our schools, what we are committed to is ensuring that as we introduce that schools won’t see any cash reduction in their level of funding. And I actually want to do more than that because I believe that education is absolutely crucial, we want our youngsters to get the best possible start in life and that’s why I want to see a more diverse system of schools available for people, I want to bring in some of the expertise we see in universities, for example in supporting schools and there are some good examples of that at the moment. Let’s do more of that, let’s make sure that every children has a good school place and a school place that is right for them because that’s about ensuring they get the best possible start in life, to be the best that they can because I want our society to be one where it’s down to your talents and hard work how far you go and not where you came from or who your parents are.

FAISAL ISLAM: I think this next question was about pupil funding in real terms, you said it is going to go up £4 billion but that is going down in real terms, in real terms for people it is going down, can you clarify that?

THERESA MAY: Nobody can guarantee that real terms per pupil funding increase. In the Labour party’s manifesto we know the figures don’t add up but what is important that …

NICOLA: You have clearly failed.

THERESA MAY: What we need to do is to ensure we will put those record levels of funding into schools, we need to ensure that we get that better spread of funding in terms of the fair funding formula but I also say this: if you look at what happens in education, people are focusing on funding but actually we need to ensure that we do see good and outstanding schools and more good and outstanding places in good and outstanding schools for children. We’ve seen the number increase over the last seven years, we need to carry on doing that so that there is a good school place for every child and that isn’t just about funding, it’s about a whole variety of things that go to make up really good education for children.

FAISAL ISLAM: Okay next question from Joy.

JOY: Hello, Theresa May can you justify for me why I have leaflets saved at home delivered to me by my local Conservatives before the EU referendum stating clearly that we would save £350 million per week for the NHS if we leave the EU? That lie is the only reason why I and I’m sure many others here tonight possibly decided to vote Leave.

THERESA MAY: There were a number of claims made during the referendum campaign on both sides of the argument and there were some passionately held views and some really passionate arguments on both sides. I think what’s important now is that we ensure that we get the best possible deal from Brexit. That is about negotiating a really good deal for Britain and it is about ensuring that in the future we won’t be sending vast sums of money to the European Union every year as we do as members of the EU and we will be able to look as funding comes back how we use that funding. But it is important that we get that best possible deal because it underpins so much else of what we want to do and we can only get that deal if we’ve got a plan to go in there and really stand up for Britain. The negotiations will start eleven days after election day so we have to know what we’re doing, have a strong hand in the negotiations and be very clear about getting the best possible deal for Britain.

FAISAL ISLAM: That wasn’t quite what you asked, are you happy with her answer?

JOY: Yes, I’m happy.

FAISAL ISLAM: Okay, let’s move on to Angela.

ANGELA: Prime Minister, I’m a midwife in Devon and I believe that the wealth of a nation lies in the health of its workforce, how do you justify the chronic underfunding of the NHS that I see at work considering that we now have one of the lowest budgets according to GDP?

THERESA MAY: Well once again if we look at the health service and obviously you work in the health service so you know the enormity of the task that the health service faces. We are making greater demands on the health service every year, the overall figure is we are spending over, in the five years up to 2020 we’ll be spending half a trillion pounds in total on the National Health Service and we do need to make sure that that money is being spent well of course so we are increasing the funding into the health service and will increase funding into the health service in the future and we are committed to that in our manifesto both in terms of buildings and technology but also in terms of increasing the per head funding for the National Health Service in real terms every year. It’s important, we all rely on the health service, we all know people who either work in the health service like yourself, who have been through the health service, who’ve had great care and attention from the fantastic staff in the health service. That’s why we are ensuring we are putting more money into the NHS and more money for the future as well as what is happening at the moment. We want that first class NHS but we can only do that if we have a really strong economy to pay for it and that’s where the Brexit negotiations, that so much else actually comes in because it is making sure we get that right deal for Britain from Brexit, that we can build on the strong economy and the economic progress we’ve made in the last few years because if we do that we have that money to fund that first class National Health Service, that’s what we’re committed to.

FAISAL ISLAM: What did you think of that answer?

ANGELA: I see efficiency savings that are actually cuts, I see hospitals closing, I see staff that are at their wits end because they can’t give the care that they want to give, I’ll believe it when I see it.

FAISAL ISLAM: Okay, let’s go to Sandeep.

SANDEEP: Hello Prime Minister. Describing yourself and being described as a bloody difficult woman may be helpful in Brexit negotiations with the EU but do you think the same attitude when applied to domestic policy such as welfare reform and cuts have reinforced the image of the Conservatives being called the nasty party again?

THERESA MAY: When I was described in the terms as you said then, as a difficult woman, I think it was about, because my colleague who used that term saw me as somebody who actually stood by what I thought was right and was willing to fight for what I believe is the right thing to do and that’s what drives me, it’s doing what is the right thing by the country. Sometimes you have to be difficult in order to do that but as I look at what’s coming ahead to this country, we stand at a very important moment in our history. We have the opportunity now to really change this country for the better, for the future and that is about tough negotiations for Brexit but it is also about facing up to those domestic challenges, domestic challenges like the ageing society, like the changing face we see in the workplace, the increasing technology in the workplace. All of these are things that need to have a government that recognises it, is open about those issues and is willing to find ways of addressing them and if in order to address them and do the right thing by the country it takes being a difficult woman, then that’s exactly what I will be.

FAISAL ISLAM: Prime Minister, the question was about nasty party applied to domestic policy and you’re asking fairly uniquely for a massive majority, you want a really big majority. That will also apply to domestic policy and you voted for things that you subsequently U-turned on like tax credit cuts in 2015, isn’t that what will not be able to be turned around when you have a larger majority if that’s what you get?

THERESA MAY: Well what I’m doing Faisal is actually going out across the country asking people yes, for me to gain their trust so that they can support me at this election because I believe it is important to have a strong hand in the negotiations for Brexit, to have that strong mandate for those negotiations but we also have a lot of challenges to face here in this country. As I said, Brexit is one of the challenges, getting that right, our ageing society is another, the divisions within our society is another and the issue of making sure we have a strong economy and facing the impact of changing technology and the impact that is having on our lives and our workplaces as everybody will know. These are big challenges ahead and the domestic policies that I’ve set out are policies to address those challenges and some of them will involve difficult choices but I think it’s right if am saying to people I want a mandate to be Prime Minister and the government in this country, to be actually open with people that there will be some hard choices.

FAISAL ISLAM: Well that brings us to the end of our second question and answer session of the evening, thank you very much indeed Prime Minister, thank you to the audience for their questions, coming next Theresa May sits down with Jeremy Paxman.