Time now to talk to the government. I'm
joined by Cabinet Minister Nick Thomas
Simmons. He's here with me. Very good
morning to you. Thanks for talking to
us. Um, you today are going to accuse
Nigel Farage of wanting to see British
business fail. That's quite an
accusation. So, so why are you saying
that? Well, today I'm going to be
setting out uh the advantages, the
material benefits for people up and down
the country of the new arrangements that
this government has secured with the
European Union back on the 19th of May.
Going to be talking about how good that
is for jobs, not least uh renewable jobs
in the North Sea. going to talk about
the additional tools we have to secure
our borders, not least in terms of
things like uh more criminal record
sharing, but also crucially the downward
pressure on bills for families up and
down the country. And just take for
example to your specific question the
issue of trade in food and drink with
the EU where we have some exporters here
in the UK who are just because of the
red tape and the cost not actually
exporting to the EU anymore at all. But
for those that are they are facing
significant financial costs. So, for
example, something like an export health
certificate if you're trading in certain
types of food where businesses are
having to pay £200
per consignment. So, not just a one-off
fee, but per consignment. And what Nigel
Farage is saying, who by the way, before
even seeing the details of this deal,
said he was going to rip it up. He is
saying and reform is saying to all those
businesses up and down the country, they
want to reintroduce all those costs, all
that red tape that we are getting rid
of. That is anti- business and he needs
to be upfront about it.
>> Okay. Well, he's not actually rooting
for business to fail. He can disagree
with your approach without wanting
businesses to suffer. And he would say
that actually Labor is doing more damage
to business themselves, not least
because of the rise in uh national
insurance in employers national
insurance. Well, firstly in respect of
uh the position that Nigel Farish took,
which was not to even look at the
details of the deal, but just jump in.
No assessment of national interest. No
assessment.
>> Okay. But what about his point about the
rise in national insurance and the
effect that's having
>> with with regard to the rise uh in
national insurance? We had to take very
difficult decisions to stabilize the
public finances with our inheritance.
stabilizing the public finances is in
the interests of business and families
up and down the country. But also money
that we have raised is going into
significant investment in our national
health service. That will mean a
healthier workforce. That will mean
people who are finding themselves on
waiting lists for procedures but who
otherwise would be working will be able
to come back into work. that is in not
just the interest of those people who
don't have to continue to live on that
waiting list, but it's in our economic
interest as a country as well.
>> But we've heard this morning that the
energy price cap is going up by another
2%. That means people's energy bills and
businesses energy bills are rising. And
also, you talk about stability, but uh
long-term borrowing costs are close to a
27year high, which isn't ringing
endorsement of the government,
especially when you get senior
economists talking about that being a a
morons premium. They call it basically
saying we're paying extra because of um
decisions, unfortunate decisions by the
government. Well, look, if you look at
um borrowing, that obviously
significantly increased uh under the
previous uh government. But let me just
take uh for a moment the point about
energy and the small the rise in the
energy price cap because of course that
will be a concern for families up and
down the country. But the reason primary
reason why we have energy prices at the
level we do is still I'm afraid as a
consequence of Putin's illegal invasion
of Ukraine. That's why the wholesale
price of gas is still 75% above what it
was before Putin's illegal invasion. And
that is a reminder, a stark reminder of
why we need to get off the roller
coaster of fossil fuel prices. Is why we
need to be investing in that clean
homegrown energy. That is why what will
give us energy security and bring bills
down.
>> What about boring costs? Are we paying a
morons premium? just um look I I
wouldn't uh use uh that language. Let me
just say in respect of energy cost, it
is also the case that this year now we
will be expanding the warm homes
discount to 2.7 million more households,
an extra 150. That is help for people.
Now that will be of course in addition
to the decisions this government is
taking to upgrade our national grid to
upgrade and to push forward renewable
projects. The previous government from
2015 had put a block on onshore wind
development. We've lifted it. So we are
moving forward both to bring bills down
but also to give us that energy security
as well.
>> Uh you're focusing your argument on
Nigel Farage when it comes to the to EU
relations today. How worried are you
about the rise of reform? The fact that
you're choosing to make him your target?
I'm just looking at the latest uh Sky
Yugaf Times polling in which shows that
Labor is at its lowest level in
parliament. You can see it on screen
there. Literally, I'm I'm looking at it
as you are. Reform on 28%. You're down
one point at 20%, the lowest in this
parliament. What's your reaction to
that?
>> Well, look, we've had to take what we
know are very difficult decisions to
stabilize the public finances early in
this parliament. What drives me and I
I'm the person who led the negotiations
for the EU deal that we have is our
national interest and that is why if you
look across the range of things that
we've agreed the opportunities for new
jobs uh particularly in renewable energy
but also the the additional tools that
we will have to ensure that for
criminals there's no place on our
continent to hide. But in addition to
that, we are saying that we will be
reducing significantly costs and burdens
for business. That is acting in the
national interest. That is not about
particular opinion polls you're showing
me today. That is about work the prime
minister asked me to do and to prepare
for before this government came into
office. And that is what this government
does. It does the hard yards of delivery
for the British people. What Nigel
Farage does is to stoke problems and
offer empty promises for their solution.
>> Okay. And on on the subject of Nigel
Farage, yesterday he made his big
announcement about his plans for
tackling migration. I wonder what you
made of it. What do you make of the
ambition to carry out mass deportations?
Would you like to see hundreds of
thousands of migrants deported?
>> Well, this government has already
deported 35,000 people with no
>> What about the plans for mass that he's
outlined? Do you think that's a good
idea? Well, I wouldn't describe him as
having outlined plans. I mean, reform
promised four months ago a comprehensive
detailed plan. I think we are, we can
safely say we are still waiting for it.
We've heard about uh detention from
Nigel Farage. He won't tell you where.
He won't tell you about his plans uh for
women and children who come here. But in
addition to that, I heard Nigel Farage
yesterday saying that he is going to
negotiate with hostile regimes. He can't
even negotiate the politics of a
parliamentary party that could fit in
the back of a taxi, let alone negotiate
with the world's most difficult regimes.
>> Well, would you be open to doing deals
with countries like Afghanistan and
Eratraa?
>> Well, we already do deport people back
to uh Afghanistan who have no right to
be here and we will uh continue to do
that. What this government is doing is
putting in place those practical plans
that are going to make a difference to
the boats in the English Channel.
Whether that is the oneinone pilot deal
to return people who've come here to
France, whether that is in terms of
action changes in maritime law for the
French authorities to intercept boats uh
in shallow water, whether that is the
work we're doing internationally to
tackle the criminal smuggler gangs and
tackle migration at source. recently the
home office uh Cooper the home secretary
uh agreeing a deal with Iraq in that
respect there is no silver bullet to
this problem but it's this government
that's putting those measures in place
and when we are putting through
parliament by the way a bill that will
mean that our law enforcement can use
anti-terrorism style powers against
people smugglers reform and the
conservatives are blocking it every step
of the way
>> okay Nick Thomsons we appreciate your
time this morning thanks very much
>> thank you very