what did
I
now please take your seat um as quickly
as possible please take a seat we are
running late and I don't want to start
to L please good evening to the
candidates and good evening to the press
as well thank you very much to everybody
for turning up today I'm sure this is
going to be one of many Bradford West
hustings in the coming days weeks um and
uh obviously today is your opportunity
to ask your candidates the questions
that you have in relation to the
upcoming general elections and what
they're going to do for you for your
city for your
community um for those who don't know me
my name is Fatima Fatima Patel I'm the
editor of the Asian Sunday newspaper a
local Asian Sunday newspaper myself and
R Latchman director of just West
Yorkshire have uh together collaborated
to put this event together for you and
uh we're very grateful to all the
candidates uh for being here
[Applause]
today thank you Fatima it's brilliant
see so many of you out here today uh I
think when we first started uh asking
people whether they wanted rord hustings
there was yes maybe maybe not but I'm
really pleased that we've had it because
it shows that there is tremendous
interest in what's happening in Bradford
West and we think that democracy is
something that people should be
exercising on the basis of issues and
that's what we're doing today we hope
that this is an opportunity for you to
put kind of what you think and you you
what you thought about when you walked
in aside and give all candidates
actually an opportunity to express you
know their views on certain issues I'm
going to be very honest today there is a
lot of emotional investment in terms of
the outcome for Bradford West there has
been a lot of press and media attention
in terms of what's happening in Bradford
West and I understand that different
political parties have a lot invested in
what is happening today and that is good
because that means that you are invested
in democracy
but I also think it's important that
what we do today is that we keep the
emotion aside and we constructively
constructively participate in the issues
um now this is the note to our
prospective parliamentary candidates of
addressed the audience now I'll address
the prospective parliamentary candidates
we've asked each of the PPC to provide
an opening statement of 3 minutes and
I'll be timing this very strictly I'll
give you 30 seconds before your 3
minutes is you and then you will stop
with that really I think we are almost
kind of 10 minutes to six I'll start the
proceedings for today I am going to ask
uh the pbcs to uh give the three minute
statement and what we will do is we'll
go we'll start with Mr Harry boter Harry
would you start off please thank
you
chairman chairman ladies and
gentlemen hello
Alum I think a lot of you were thinking
that who is this
Harry uh and when I say to you that I am
Brad fian you will say well
how um so the next two or three minutes
I want to tell you exactly who I am and
where I came from I was I came to
Bradford in 1967 as an 11y old with my
father and I settled in corbury I
educated ated myself uh here in Bradford
went to Fairfax grammar school and uh in
1973 I joined the Royal Navy so prior to
joining the Royal Navy 1973 I was
Muhammad boa and the Harry bit came
having joined the Navy they all like to
have a a nickname or something they
tried the mo the Mong and everything
else that went with it and then somebody
said Harry and here I am so that's where
Harry boa comes from
uh my Journeys have taken me around the
world and also I I was in the 1982
Forkland War as well Sumer veteran of
the Forkland War and the gulf
Wars I've settled down south for the
last 20
years and
uh been a member of United Kingdom
independence party for the last two
years which I have really really
connected with it is
uh a party that I
wholeheartedly believe in and believe in
the policies you will hear around me
I've been around Bradford and the first
thing I hear about ukip is the first
what anybody says is racist and I would
like to make it clear to everybody here
if this party was the slightest bit
racist I would not be a member of it so
let's get this straight first there are
there are there are racist you will you
you you may laugh you may laugh let's me
out me out um you you will find that
there are more racist in the other
parties but they are muffled racist
right we have the odd one that puts his
head up up the paret and says I'm racist
and we said well thank you very much for
letting us know off you go okay so we in
in in relation to other party
are the least racist of all okay so I
want I want
well well if you don't believe
me you you you will 30
[Laughter]
seconds and I will now I
will the next four weeks uh come and
talk to me let's talk about it and let's
clear this air and have a political
party that means Britain for British
people for us for our children that's
that's me right and I'm going to fight
for it for you for us in Bradford to
achieve what we what our aim is which is
you know good education and and and good
health service here I would fight you
three thank you thank
[Applause]
you good evening
everybody I was going to talk about our
absentee MP but he's
here I not remember collect your time
okay
Bradford deserves
better I believe Bradford West needs a
labor government and a labor MP let's be
clear about a few things for Bradford
West this government has been a complete
disaster for the school kids in Bradford
they have taken the money out where we
needed it the most and spent it on free
schools not only that it is also worth
pointing out that labor did in fact put
forward a motion for an alteration of
schools funding so that we could Target
the funds where we needed them the most
but our absentee MP wasn't there to cast
his vote on that one for Children and
Families we need a labor government
because we are committed to increasing
Child Care from 15 to 25 hours capping
class sizes for five six and seven year
olds abolishing the prechool status
Bradford deserves better we need a labor
government for families because of a
coalition every family is worse off by
approximately
£1,100 we are committed to increasing
the minimum wage over the next term of
parliament to £8 freezing energy bills
and we will be doubling the ter to
[Music]
leave we need a labor government because
the average weekly take-home pay in
Bradford is approximately
£360 in comparison to anywhere else
where it's over £500 a week Bradford
deserves better
we have a coalition government which has
failed miserably in reducing the deficit
as promised I can tell you if this was a
football match my three-year-old would
hit the back of that net better than the
coalition
government the only terrible rord West
has gone up in since the Coalition is
the unemployment
table what we will do if we come into
power the labor government will put 9
billion through the leps through the
through b leps to actually devolve what
we have at central government and that n
that 6 billion will actually come so we
can make the decisions of where we need
to invest it the most so nobody in
London is telling us what we how we need
to grow our community our businesses
99% 99% of businesses are small
businesses we will for every one
corporation tax cut borans are offering
17 small businesses will flourish that's
where we need to put our invest in our
communities to create growth over the
last three years Bradford West has been
badly served we have an absentee MP and
for me the role of the MP in Bradford
West is about being our voice in
Parliament but he's never there as he's
too busy earning Lords elsewh you three
minutes around thank
you she punctured her lung by God's
grace she survived the doctors who
treated her there did the best they
could but the hospital in which she was
treated told quite a different story
there was no soap my parents who went
there had to buy soap at this Hospital
there was no drinking water they had to
buy bottled water the sheets were dirty
they hadn't been
changed what was happening was a Health
Service in a state of slow motion
implosion because the Greek economy was
in a state of slow motion implosion
there are many parties that will tell
you they are the guardians of the NHS
but I will tell you the party that is
the guardian of the NHS it is the party
that is the guardian of the economy
because without a strong economy be
under no Illusions you have no
worldclass Health Service you have no
education system worthy of the name you
have no social services now I think we
have a positive story to tell on the
economy over the past 5 years we've
created more jobs in this country than
in the rest of Europe put together here
in Yorkshire more jobs than in all of
France and contrary to naz's claim in
Bradford unemployment has fallen by 30%
in the past 12 months alone but it is
undeniable that we are starting from a
painfully low base unemployment in this
city of Bradford West stands at almost
three times the national average the
number of business units as a proportion
of the population is barely half the
national average and worst of all the
number of people eligible who are
claiming working or child tax credits
stands at 6.3 uh 63.5% of the population
far above any other constituency in this
country so it is quite clear to me that
something is going very very wrong with
local management somewhere now I want to
talk about some of the positive things
we can do to address this later this
evening and indeed some of the things we
are doing but finally before I close I
do want to turn on to one other issue
which is this point of community
relations if I were elected in May 30
seconds and I could make a positive
contribution to trust respect and
understanding between our communities I
think I could look back on my life and
say I had achieved something positive we
have a problem with extremism and nobody
can deny it but I can't help that
feeling that at the root of it all is a
sense of disenfranchisement and
powerlessness this constant demonization
in the Press casual racism L three
minutes are up thank you and that I want
to bring an end to it is something that
I will focus on uh more than any other
thank you very
[Applause]
much well those personal attacks on you
y y
Wooh those uh those personal attacks on
me Miss sh cannot possibly be true can
they because on the 22nd of February at
1
p.m. you called us and asked us if you
could be the respect candidate
in and before you make a bigger fool of
yourself I really advise you not to deny
it 22nd of February was the day after
you came bottom of the poll with just 13
votes out of almost
220 in the Bradford West labor party
selection you are a big loser then and
the kind of way that you have
embarked upon this campaign has already
ensured you're going to be a big loser
against
you
have only a passing acquaintance with
the truth you claimed and gullible
journalists believed you that you were
subject to a forced marriage at the age
of
15 but you were not
15 you were 16 and a
half I have your
N I have your n in my pocket
[Music]
Mr Galloway told that story Mr Galloway
can I have your forbearance please I am
the chair please I will take this I was
talking about N N I will take this N I
will I will call an end to these
proceedings Mr Galloway can we please
stick to the issues because you've made
your point you made those two issues can
we now move on to issues you you allowed
you
allowed you allowed three personal
attacks on me by my new labor opponent
Mr Gallow I was going to come back that
Gallow I was going to come back to that
can I please ask emotions to just come
down for a while and I think Mr Galloway
will you continue please I will continue
no one will ever stop me from
speaking the issue is that my opponent
is a liar she lied about me she lied
about her age she slandered this
community for her own selfish ends she
played into every
stereotype every stereotype 15 seconds
before you finish well you are you sure
have you given me injury time for your
Interruption no no it is actually 31 now
I'm giving you another 20 seconds can we
please I need to keep time I have set
politics a light in Bradford that's why
the media are here we turned Bradford
politics upside down we've shaken the
complacency of Labor which is why they
hate us so much they have betrayed the
people here in Bradford and elsewhere in
the country we are the real labor party
and that's why they hate us
I would like to remind all pbc's please
that we are here to discuss issues there
will be things that are personal that
have come up as long as they pertain to
Bradford West and that's why we're oppos
the privatization and commercialization
of schools colleges and universities we
will scrap University tuition fees and
bring back the EMA for 16 to 17
years we believe the public trans sport
should be run in the interest of
passengers that reduce our carbon
emissions and provide fairly fairly
priced Services helping people to use
their cars less providing more
sustainable transport like cycling and
walking many years of underinvestment in
housing has resulted in a hous housing
crisis that blights the lives of many we
will invest in new social housing
developments with zero carbon standard
30 seconds and bring empty homes back
into use to ensure everyone has access
to ability to work play in communities
the homes of families speaking
140 thank you we have well beating
beautiful country last sentence please
and a growing vibrant young population
under the things you want to ask the
questions you want to ask rather than
what I just want to say I will beg the
chair's Indulgence to be a little person
for a moment to just tell you who I am
I'm a general practition who's lived and
worked in BR West for the last 30 nearly
31 years now and it's a privileged to to
be able to stand as a parliamentary
candidate in R West it has been a
difficult few years there's absolutely
no doubt about it we've had a very deep
and difficult recession but at last
things are starting to turn around
employment is rising unemployment is
falling uh people are starting to see
the benefits uh households are starting
to become better off and we want to
continue uh that we want to continue we
have a strong economy because as has
been pointed out without a strong
economy you don't want you can't do the
things you want to do but it has to be
in a fair Society you can't run a strong
economy on the basis of the poorest
suffering most and we want to have
fairness we want to continue the work
we've done with bringing people lower
paid people out of tax so I'll stop at
this point so we've got more time for
questions thank you thank you very
much n you approached the respect party
to join them as a respect candidate
Could you actually clarify if this was
the
case I will absolutely
clarify could Mr Gallow also confirmed 5
minutes after I left properties could he
confirm that I actually said to the guy
that I've actually just made a joke
could he confirm that
please could he please could he also
confirm I don't want anyone I joked
about it R please I've got a whole
WhatsApp conversation to prove it I'm
not talking to you I'm talking to the
person down there could Mr Galloway also
confirm whether or not in terms of my
lies whether or not somebody after going
through two weeks of
evidence they when they went Somebody
went to Pakistan did somebody pause as
my father who died over 12 years ago to
get my Nik from the office could he also
confirm whether he has sight of the
original one which I have left in my
office which is
the 25th of December
1988 of course not because he doesn't
have fight of it because it was my
marriage not his okay Mr Galloway there
are two points that Naz has raised that
she said a it was a joke and secondly
that you know uh Somebody went there
pretending to be her father could you
address those questions please and
I no no no no hang on my dad I've got
the if I will ask you to leave I will
ask you to leave all right I have asked
a question I we are having one panel
discussion here you will get the
opportunity in the last 15 minutes to
put your uh hands up and ask a question
so Mr Galloway will you please address
those two issues
please I think you can take that from n
as an admission that she called us
not once but twice to ask if she could
be the respect candidate in Bradford
East the day after she came bottom of
the pole in the labor selection for
Bradford West she may claim it was a
joke she didn't say it was a joke and I
warn her not to go further down the
route of denial I haven't been in
Pakistan for a very long time I did not
myself procure this
ncah but she's just told us she has an
earlier nicah but she left it in her
office well here I ask let her produce
the ncah from her office because if she
she's either the only man to do with
Bradford West
[Applause]
what
your do you both want to have a freefor
all or are we going to be adults in this
NZ you raised an issue hang on I will
come to you I sort a clarification you
will have the right to respond and after
Nas has the right to respond we will go
on to the debate proper I'm not taking
any more questions because this is about
Rood voters and the there are loads of
issues that people want to address so
with with respect R now you should have
stopped Nasha when she began her
personal attacks would you please answer
the question thank you well I'm not sure
what question there is for me to answer
have you said enough no it n Nas asks
what this has to do with Bradford West
it has this to do with Bradford West
there are enough Liars in the House of
Commons already without electing another
liar to the house of Comm that's the
point thank you now I will give you the
last right of reply and I expect us to
actually observe decorum we are not
going to be shouting and screaming at
each other over the chair I will not
allow it so a short response to what Mr
Galloway just said unlike Mr Galloway I
am not going to go down the route whilst
I've got an election campaign to run AB
sooning Mr Gallow I'm that after the
election and I will be in that so as far
as I'm concerned I am not I refute
entirely but I have lied about the age
we will now go to the debate proper and
I'd like to start with uh the first
question and the first question is from
Amin Amin will you stand up please and
ask your first question my question is
all to all the panels has the dominance
of BL or Clan politics led to the
corruption of local democracy and if so
how can I start with you
Alan there's no surprise I think in
people wanting to group together exactly
what we saying it becomes about
personalities and not about issues and
it's very difficult when when the the uh
decisions of support groupings are made
on the basis of personalities and and so
so it becomes difficult and my feeling
as somebody looking from outside is that
it does bring politics down
uh the brother system I think
having something that that should be
left behind transported here to the UK
having something that that should be
left behind transported here to the UK I
think it's a bad idea to to to use the
system as it's been used let's bring
politics back
have brotherhoods but please start using
it in a sense where it's true democracy
and not the Democracy that we import if
you like the campaign that is been
running Bradford West will be inclusive
of everybody regardless of race gender
and ethnicity and it will bring about
the real change that is needed in
Bradford
[Applause]
West I think when barad uh first came
came about in the the 1960s and70s when
people first came to these Shores I can
entirely understand why it existed
people not speaking the language
properly uh maybe not being able to read
that well not knowing how to fill in
forms and so on so forth to have people
who were able to help in that sense uh
was clearly something that was
worthwhile and so this concept of the
community leader is born my concern and
I think it's borne out by some of the
things that have happened in this
constituency in the past few weeks is
that since that time it has
metamorphosed into a vast system of
patronage and often corrupt patronage
and the only thing I would say in the
terms of how we can get over this is
each person in this constituency now has
one vote no matter how rich no matter
how poor you have your own vote and the
barager can only work if the stays
together but if each of the little
bricks that make up that block make up
their own mind based on the issues as
they see them then the system is by
definition broken so I would urge all
people to cast their vote on that basis
based on who you think uh can most uh
represent you and earn your trust and
not on the basis of what somebody else
has told you to do thank
you all kinds of brotherhoods uh
georgees a member of uh the toofs
Brotherhood the bulington uh Brotherhood
he's a member of the Henry Jackson
Society that's another kind of
Brotherhood there are all kinds well I
can assure you there's no liel in that
he's open about that but uh he's hoping
not many people in Bradford West know
who the Henry Jackson Society are but
they will George they will there are all
kinds of brotherhoods Freemasons are a
Brotherhood uh the union of Catholic
mothers is a Sisterhood there's no
reason to single out the pakistanis the
kashmiris the Muslims for special
program about having
brotherhoods however where that would be
a
mistake is amply demonstrated by what
happened here 3 years ago in the
byelection labor chose a candidate based
on baradie politics and we gave them a
bloody good hiding and that
proves that proves that this problem
does not exist to the same extent as
some people claim that it does however
if there's one place in the whole city
where brism continues to dominate it's
inside the Bradford labor party and
that's the reason that Ed Miland should
come up here after the election close
down the for labor party and start it
again young teenagers have gone to Syria
from dubury and today it's been claimed
that over 500 women and young girls are
joining Isis what would you do to
prevent more young people going given
that both prevents and the
counterterrorism policies have failed
George
thank which George me I'll call you Mr
Galloway I'll call you George is that
okay if you me to call you Mr Grant I
will is Geor right I'm very happy with
Ida I'm very happy thank you
um just a quick WR of reply before we go
any further on that I no on prent please
right
so what is causing this uh issue I think
foreign policy certainly plays its part
and I think anyone who denies that is
foolish but I don't think that that is
the whole story I don't know what anyone
says about me this is why I'm standing
in this constituency to try and improve
trust and respect between our
communities I think that if we can work
towards uh greater trust uh between our
communities and the police that will
certainly help in dealing with this
issue but most of all there has to be
greater trust amongst different
communities themselves be they white
black brown or any other color in spite
of the fact that our values on
everything from our shared belief in the
importance of family to the importance
of Education Enterprise Community itself
are fundamentally the same so that I
think is where we have to focus our
efforts is in uh promoting greater uh
respect between different communities
and and and taking on uh the bigotry and
the racism that I think is making so
many people so very angry if you look at
statistics of young people who go into
who are who leave a country they're not
people they are generally speaking
they're not people who have been
conditioned over years and years these
are people who have come into religion
either reverts converts whichever way
you want to Dr it up and they have found
an anchor because they are they are
disillusioned so what what we need to be
addressing is the root cause of that we
need to be supporting our young people
to keep them to to to get them involved
in things whether that's unemployment
whether that's um the economic status
that we're in or a sense of belonging
here British children British values
which what our cultural values are
aligned to them there is you know having
we have shared values and we need to
focus in on
them and absolutely in terms of the
prevent agenda um it is an absolute
toxic brand and we have committed to
overhauling the the uh prevent agenda if
we were to come back into Power sorry
and N just as an earlier hustings that
you were at you know now I will come
back to the others you did say that you
actually support to prevent uh and had
been you know part some of the so are we
detecting a change position gent I was
very clear in that husting and there are
people who are here who were at that
hostings that I delivered a project in
2009 where I was a director for a
leadership development program in 2009
and that colleagues amongst us who will
clarify this and and second me on this
one it was the first time Muslim
communities were given targeted funding
and lots of organizations not just the
local government yor and humbo where I
worked delivered projects that was CLG
funded communities and local government
funding after 2009 prevent went down the
wrong route it was absolutely the wrong
route and I do not endorse prevent I am
very clear about that but I did deliver
a project which was one on leadership
development of senior Muslim women it
was not a community Grassroots
Intervention which is what came in and
then we started trying to get people to
start policing communities that was
wrong thank
you Mr govern can I ask you to response
to there we go again to the issue please
yeah there we go again the principal
reason for radicalization extremization
fantization was personified yesterday at
the top of the labor part's election
campaign and his name was Tony Blair
Tony Blair's
Invasion and
occupation of Iraq is the most fantastic
recruiting agent for extremism that
anyone could possibly have imagined the
reason Isis exist is because Labor's
Prime Minister Tony Blair and George W
bush invaded and occupied and destroyed
Iraq the reason why Al-Qaeda and Isis
are now on the outs of Damascus is
because of Blair and Bush's Invasion and
destruction of Iraq and George Grant
your prime minister wanted us to become
the air force of al-Qaeda and Isis in
Syria and the House of Commons stopped
them and one of the reasons why we did
was because of my speech in Parliament
before the vote which won by 13 votes to
stop David Cameron doing it you were in
Libya David Cameron and William ha
bombed Libya to Smither Mar and now
Al-Qaeda are running Riot and every kind
of extremist organization with its own
militia its own Army has torn Libya to
Pieces so we don't need any lectures
from the conservative party or the labor
party on this subject I'll tell you what
I would do to stop
radicalization of British Muslims I'd
stop invading and occupying Muslim
countries and I'd stop stoping
here at
home the only point I wanted to make the
only point I wanted to make is just to
be it's a little bit more complicated
than just talk about disenfranchisement
one thing I noticed recently significant
number of the people have gone up to
join Isis are medical students now I
have to say medical students aren't that
disenfranchised you NE who got the
opportunity to go to a pretty well paid
and pretty high status profession it's
got to be a little bit more complicated
that
[Applause]
has yeah I find myself agreeing with
your we should not we should not be
rampaging around invading countries and
making situation was the green party is
part of Peace it's about negotiation
it's about getting communities to
understand each other whether they're in
Bradford West on the other side of the
world one thing that I'd like to
understand is why these young people
feel it's necessary to border plan and
take themselves to a war what are they
hoping to change and we need to get to
the bottom of the people who are sending
out these messages that are making our
young people feel that the only choice
they've got is to board a plane and
cross a into a country illegally and as
Alan says it's a very complicated
situation medical students don't need to
do that kind of thing but I think we
need to be looking carefully as a mother
I would be absolutely appalled to find
my children on the other side of the
world entering the war zone I'm sure lot
of you would um that's my thank you
sry hello
thanks first of all I like to take issue
with the word prevent itself
and the people that is targeted
at uh it's a divisive
word and uh I I've never ever liked what
prevent is and what it's trying to do
and I've often spoken with
uh the police Commissioners with
regarding this word and I it would have
been engaged would have been a lot
better as a word of choice if it was to
have been used now if you adopt the ukit
policy of non intervention in Foreign
Wars right we would not need divisive
things like this to start with okay and
um it's it's it's one of the problems I
think we have is education
and the division between the second
third and fourth generation and first
generation is causing in my opinion it's
my opinion is is the problem that we
need to address and uh if we can get
that education Gap closed we
will we will get rid of this
divisiveness against the Muslims I think
we just get out of foreign countries
Foreign Wars we don't need them we don't
need to especially in Muslim countries
it's always in Muslim countries we've
intervened let's stop it let's have
non-interventionist uh policies and
that's what we get uh advocating as well
thank you I'm going to take two very
quick responses from the audience is
there anybody who wants to come
back BR West
constituent uh I was also part of the BR
West hostings
2012
um prevent has failed we all know that
channel 7 project has failed and so our
schedu project miniature projects of
prevent they've all failed uh they
target Muslims stigmatized and
stereotypers within our community and
it's part of one of the questions that
I'd like to put to all the candidates is
that why is it difficult to ask
difficult questions such as prevent and
extremism it's not Muslims only it it
happens in you know all all walks of
life I might come back to that later
this was a very quick response is
anybody else who wants to make a comment
very quickly please how important is
integrity for a parliamentarian sorry
I'm not taking questions I asked
specifically around responses to prevent
so I'm going to move to the next
one okay uh the next question is from
Sue Smith Beckley she
here yeah can you ask your question
please and I'd like to ask the panel
about the spousal immigration rules uh
whereby a spouse is required to earn a
salary of
18,600 in order to call their partner to
the the UK um this has a significant
impact on the people in Bradford who
find it very difficult to earn that kind
of wage and I'd like to ask the panel
how is that fair when it's so much
higher than the minimum UK wage well yes
I it goes to the question of Coalition
you don't get everything you want when
you only got 50
MPS the obvious answer is no it's not
fair which is a nonsense that a city
like Bradford where the average wages
are lower it should be harder to bring
your bring your spouse in than in London
where the average wages are higher I
mean how how can that possibly be fair
so a crude line like a crude uh cut off
point like that is an ense it is unfair
remarkably unfair given that our economy
brings much lower wage levels than it
would in the Southeast for instance so
yeah we're scruffing it it's gone would
your there's a clear distinction between
how your government treats those who are
big investors and those who earn below
the meting 1,600 threshold how would you
actually support this
policy I think Prima f it does indeed
seem uh quite unfair and I hope you'll
respect me for my honesty in saying that
this is certainly something that if
elected I would want to look at the only
thing I will say is clearly we have a
serious issue whilst you have completely
unrestricted movement of people inside
Europe what that therefore means is that
for those outside Europe the rules are
disproportionately harsh in my view
because we're so because we can't
control any of the movement inside the
European Union there is a
disproportionate harshness on those
outside clearly this is something that
has to be looked at and
renegotiated um I don't want to start
sounding like Harry boter but um
but um I think there does need to be a
renegotiation on this issue and I think
there does need to be a referendum on
this issue it's as simple as that sounds
good on European I absolutely agree it's
absurd um to have 18,600 when your
minimum wage is just under 13,000 we are
committed to reviewing it and the labor
government um out of um we when it was
it was a Tories that bought in the ru
where an immigration officer could look
at your if a person wanted to come over
and it was just for economical purposes
and economic purposes they could refuse
them on them grounds and it was a
government labor government that came in
and abolished that and similarly we'll
be looking at reviewing this as well
Harry your government sorry your party
your party has been very voal what a
lovely fraan
slip what a
nightmare we live in Hope thank you yes
yes no we don't I've got
a thank you
um I can understand why the
18,600 came where it came from and what
what they tried to do which is to bring
a spouse over and they can support it
and that's the kind of level that you'll
need now I would work hard when elected
when elected in Bradford West to get
this to get this ridiculous figure an
olded and abolished
um minimum wage should be the criteria
at all levels and you get a policy on on
no uh income tax on minimum wage uh
should give 100% of that person that's
earning in their pockets
now what I think they're trying to do
was to say
that look at the savings look at the
minimum wage and then look at what the
person's savings are that the criteria
whether they can support this bouse or
not right so the minimum wage should be
the criteria for uh for bringing your
spouse over and they can look at their
savings as an additional thing to say
that whe they can support the spouse or
not that would be something I'd be
looking at rather than rather than the
188 and half th000 which is totally
ridiculous Mr G have you ask na
faraj you know I something I hope you
forg he would agree with me he will
agree with me very much I very much
thought that he'll agree with you
there's something on natural Harry uh
about a man like you standing for ukip
it's like watching a bear dancing it's
just not
natural and you see the Liberals uh
overly and George grant for the
conservatives covertly seek to fool you
uh by saying that they' look at it
review
it it was them that introduced it it is
a racist policy it doesn't apply to an
Italian or a Polish person who can bring
a wife or a husband to come and live
here but someone from the subcontinent
cannot choose a bride or groom of their
own choosing unless they can demonstrate
on paper £18,600
earnings now that is not just racial
discrimination it's class discrimination
discriminating against poor people and
discriminating against Asian people it
is an Abomination and it's a disgrace
that labor is committed only to
reviewing this why don't they commit
themselves to scrapping it I certainly
would so I wanted to ask you are you
happy with what you
heard I think it's nice to see that all
the candidates are broadly in agreement
that they will either review or scrap it
although I would say to Mr Bo who
mentioned taking into account savings
and the minimum wage it's very hard to
save when you're on the minimum
wage I think I think you to missed the
point that quick rard trying to miss the
point that what the the policies when it
was made uh this is what they're trying
to design that uh but it it they've got
it wrong they've got it wrong like
everything else they get it wrong right
so Nigel farage has got that wrong thank
you n far hasn't made Nel farage has not
made 18,600 it is on on my right hand
side right we're only about a month away
from the U elections and we know
everything about your personal life but
I'd really love to hear about your
priorities and not only about your
priorities because uh it's not just
Bradford West it's the whole of Bradford
because it's all in the same boat really
but in Bradford West I want to hear
about your priorities now I haven't
heard about that in the media um and not
just about your priorities but how you
tend to tackle those now before you
answer that question can I say that if
you can stick to three priorities please
all we might have an endless
list thank
you uh my three priorities for first one
has to be education and the reason
education is because we're second in the
bottom and we have a long way to go long
way to get baled education standards up
how I do that in terms of education is
we have had Professor Wood's report
which landed on the 17th of March that
was incorporated into into um a plan for
Bradford to deliver on in terms of so it
has priorities on how I would Implement
that is scrutinized and B unlike our pre
our current MP who doesn't engage with
our leadership who does not who refuses
to engage with the leadership on
education because he feels that actually
you're the part of a problem not
prepared to talk to you if we do not sit
at the table if we do not actually
engage in those discussions and hold
people to account we cannot shift the
status quo we are in Bradford Bradford
Council has agreed to implement all
those recommendations and Professor
Wood's recommendations came he was the
advisor the academic advisor to the the
London challenge so we will be doing
that so there's a culture of
accountability that has to be created
there has to be for me the second
priority has to be in terms of jobs if
we do not engage we have have 6 billion
coming to the leps if we have that 6
billion Devolution we have to again be
engaged in those discussions only then
can we prioritize where the money is
going to be going and we have to Target
small medium businesses because that's
where the real growth is that's where
sustainability will come from if we we
miss that we miss we miss the whole
generation again third so we've got
education we've got unemployment a prips
having people skill set skill set is
absolutely important we have lots of
people in Bradford who are graduate who
don't have jobs so we've got the
university fees are going to come down
you've got 3,000 each so we've got less
debt and that less debt is not just
about students walking away with it but
actually when we at the end of it we
have 261 billion in debt that the
government will end up paying back so
why do that why not just knock the
tution fees down in the first instance
so being able to give young people the
opportunity to increase their skill set
those my three but I've got load more
anyway L can I just ask you I mean you
talked about education being important
but clearly you know know as far as the
local council is concerned labor is
actually now in power it's the labor
leadership you know that has
responsibility forio and how is it that
you know we've had generation after
generation of poor performance so I I it
doesn't square square up let me square
that up for you the labor labor
leadership education came back under
labor leadership in 2011 not before that
for 10 years it was handed out when it
was under a Tory Council to Circle so
that 10 years of failure that 10 years
of privatization through the back door
let's be clear is where we are at with
education we do have pockets of good
practice we do we need to learn from
that pocket of good practice and improve
we have we are on target for 2017 and i'
I've openly said this publicly on the
radio and to people it's not good enough
for me because my kids are in this
education system yeah thank you so uh
I'd like to turn to you I mean one of
the things that's happened in Bradford
is that we've seen a mushrooming of free
schools we've seen acmy come up and what
that's done is taken away vital funding
from State sector in a place like
Bradford West you know when you've got
schools that are under the state sector
they're getting important monies being
taken away from them how would you
justify a policy as somebody who's
standing for a constituency like Radford
West well I think that the free school
agenda in this city has actually yielded
some genuinely positive dividends there
is now just one school in uh Secondary
School in Bradford West that has been
rated outstanding across all areas it
was founded in 2012 it is Dixon's
Trinity Academy so it is clearly not the
case uh that this is uh something that
is proving detrimental to education that
being said I I I find it really
extraordinary that we talk about this in
a sort of Zero Sum way it is quite
possible to have uh investment in State
education and also to allow parents and
governors who want to do so other groups
to establish a school if they so choose
uh that is what is happening and I I see
no contradiction in that as I say um you
know there is another free school that I
visited recently called one in a million
it too is having some extraordinary
results does seem to be working in this
constituency there's a zero sum
education po that hasn't increased and
if a larger proportion of that actually
goes toies and goes to free schools and
not State schools it follows that the
investment in state schools is far lower
than it is with fre schools andies which
is actually a pet project with Michael
go well they are all state schools they
are that none of they are not private
schools they're all state schools you
just have different categories of school
and this this system is starting to work
I think Bradford in educ education in
Bradford West has bumped along the
bottom for a very very long time we are
seeing now improvements real
improvements in education in this city a
lot of them are coming through theseis
and why uh everyone is so Keen to
rubbish something that works it you know
is frankly Beyond me I think I'd like to
maintain if that same money did go to
the state sector then you know possibly
they might not be bumping around
everything money is solution to all the
world's ills right now we're not seeing
it improvements we're going down the
league when I arrived here 3 years ago
we were the fifth bottom of the league
now we're the second bottom of the
league and the Tories are going to cut
education spending by three billion in
the next 12 months if they get back you
can't cut education by3 billion and
expect better results you don't need to
be Einstein to work that out
but it's labor that are running the
schools in Bradford there's no point in
a labor candidate saying the education's
just not good enough here when it's hard
party that are running the schools now
when you're second bottom of the
football league the manager gets the
sack if he doesn't have the grace to
resign but they never get the sack in
Bradford they never resign the schools
get worse and worse and the same people
keep on running them and as for the 10
years of Ciro it was the labor
government the introduced Circle running
schools the government of Tony Blair and
golden brown so labor are trust up like
a turkey in this and I think nobody in
this hall or in this elector should be
in any doubt I mean she talks about the
the London challenge it was me that
raised the London challenge when they
were telling us we didn't have a problem
I was demanding a London challenge now
it's wonderful to have converts let's
have a London challenge here in Bradford
Mr let hire the people who ran the
London challenge to run a Bradford
challenge I was the MP right now in
Tower hamlets they are 15th from the top
of the National League we are
152nd out of
154 if we can do it into to our hamlets
with the same demographic as we have
here in Bradford we can do it too Mr
gway I've heard you talking about the
braa challenge and you know you've made
it one of the key issues that you want
to engage in but what I haven't seen is
progress in terms of moving that agenda
forward and I also recall that you
raised this issue in Parliament and you
were invited by Mr Michael go to meet
with him to talk about you know how you
might be able to work with him to try
and rectify the situation in Bradford so
could you kind of you know elate what
you have done in terms of the Bradford
challenge rather than saying that that's
something we need to have and did you
meet Mr Michael go I did indeed in his
very plush uh private office and I said
to him exactly what I said to you and
the audience the Bradford Schools are a
National Disgrace and the people that
are running them need to be sacked if
we're going to make any progress I had
three conversations with Michael go on
this subject when he was the education
secretary but the problem is he's
ideologically bound as is George Grant
to a model of free schools andies which
as you implied suck resources suck money
suck teachers out of the state system
where the vast majority majority of our
students still have to go now I don't
run the city hall I wish I did I don't
run the government I wish I did but I'm
very glad that labor in Bradford has at
least come round to accepting that there
is a problem they want to call it the
northern challenge I call it the
Bradford challenge I'll settle for a
Yorkshire challenge but let's do
something God's
sake could I ask you like
[Applause]
I have two children who came through the
Bradford education system and they've
done pretty well there are pockets of
Excellence I don't think we should
blanket the whole city as having failing
schools we have young people who are not
getting an education that is 21st
century standard we need to understand
why that
is all children start similarly they
start you know as small people um and
they they have opportunities presented
to them throughout their lives we need
to start early we need to be looking at
preschool education we need to be
getting to understand how The Young
Person's mind works so that they can
develop to their their potential and as
mentioned things like um apprenticeships
um not everybody's academic we know this
in the in the Michael go world everybody
can be a a a PhD student that's not
possible um apprenticeships are
important for the kind of people who
have have practical skills um we do have
apprenti apprenti ships in the city
they're not well publicized that is part
of the problem um we do have
opportunities for young people that
somehow the schools don't give adequate
career and you know lifetime advice with
a new labor government that forced Brad
for Council to take to Outsource
education to Ciro in response to the
failures of the labor Administration
have been running education in the Years
leading up to that however we are
actually talking about uh a
parliamentary election talk about
national government and as has been
quite pointed out the main
responsibility for delivering education
is is down to the council George money
isn't everything but it's reallyy
important it's well known it is well
known obvious all the research shows
that what really makes the difference
what really brings this quality of
Education up is the quality of the
leadership in the schools and what we
have to do most of all is to attract
good leaders good teachers good head
teachers into our schools but money is
important five years ago I said I was
asked what was my most important
priority for the election Li them policy
five years ago and I said it was a peup
premium it was a system which means that
actually places which are economically
deprived which have historically
suffered from lack of investment schools
in those areas where pupils are coming
from economically private backgrounds
would get more funding the pupil premium
has worked come through and as a result
to that schools in Bradford have got
more funding in line with the element of
deprivation the PS they dealing with
unfortunately it still hasn't helped yet
and that's more about the leadership so
it has to be done thank you next
question is from
NAD oh sorry Harry did I miss you sorry
you
please just keep reminding none of them
Celia has just mentioned that she has
two children going through the Bradford
education system and let me tell you
that I went through that br education
system as well from the age of 12 to the
age of 16 so four years of education
I've had in Bradford Schools from and
that four years of education in the 60s
and 70s has led me to sit here in front
of you right now standing for a member
of
parliament now that must have been some
education system okay where where so I
do we not look at you can
laugh the laughter says something that
there's no understanding going on but I
I do respect I do respect whatever you
find funny like George said things are
on the decline just going back to your
comments Elia about your two children
doing well in a certain school if um the
attainment and achievement levels are
let's say 30% of CH children um
attaining grade a to c I'm not
interested in that I'm interested in the
70% of the children that are failing and
that's what's happening in our schools
why is something not being done about it
something needs to be done about it and
soon and practical things need to be put
into place hi George
um your record as a parliamentarian in
the house of parliament is actually
quite poor I did some research and you
only attended four debates last year
well David Ward who actually um lobbies
on similar issues to you attended
42 you're also quite busy in terms of
developing international relations
including potentially and some might
even say developing a media career can I
just ask you looking back in eyesight
and actually reviewing your term in
office do you think Bradford
constituents deserve
better Bradford constituents CHS me and
they'll vote again on the 7th of May
unfortunately your research didn't quite
go far enough it's simply untrue that I
attended four debates I I spoke 12 times
in Parliament in the last week before we
broke up that's 12 1 2 12 times in the
final week uh on the uh London transport
bill on the issue of
privatization my speeches in Parliament
are watched all over the world so your
research was
may I suggest YouTube because if you go
to YouTube You'll see speeches by me in
Parliament that have been watched
hundreds of thousands in some cases
millions of times I'm not sure that the
that my labor opponent will ever be able
to say that I am one of the senior
parliamentarians in this country that's
why the media are here that's why all
these people are here that's why I
believe I'll be reelected on the 7th of
May because people want a
parliamentarian to represent them not a
community activist or a counselor or in
this case someone who's never been a
counselor or even tried to be a
counselor I think people want a person
with international relations they're
watching this contest from Manhattan to
Gaza from from
mpur to Baghdad they're watching the
result of this election all over the
world and you know it and you also know
who'll be dancing in the streets where I
to lose and who will not be so
I stand before you as someone who is
recognized as a parliamentarian
of note as an auditor and parliamentary
debater of note and I'm putting myself
at your disposal of course if you want
me to go of course I'll go and you'll be
left with her for the next 25 years I
don't think so you're you're going to be
left with Harry you're going to be left
with
[Applause]
Harry Mr Galloway if you effectively
have a busy press and media life
given the issues that Bradford West has
isn't it right that you ought to be
spending more time here in the
constituency advocating for the needs of
your constituents rather than you know
kind of jetting about the world I think
no I don't jet about the world that's
just not true I don't jet about the
world I'm on television from London
talking about politics about issues that
affect every person in this room that's
where my media career is secondly
secondly secondly if I mean I'm in
Parliament every single day what you're
referring to is voting I can't vote in
most votes because the choic is between
David Cameron's motion and Ed Milan's
Amendment and I seldom agree with either
David Cameron's motion or Ed Milan's
Amendment that's the reason why you
to make these false accusations uh this
evening now of course har is in
essential oils I don't know what George
is in there could be people with
business interests I have no business
interests my business is politics
political TV programs political radio
programs political books and political
journalism and I think most of you have
enjoyed them over the
years I'm going to take three very quick
comments to what you just heard George
say the guy in the blue in front here
you've been putting your hands up
George sorry that was uh louder than I
expected it to be hi George um if you
remember me I actually did your uh
campaign tune the last time you were
standing in
Bradford thank Youk you thank you the
person behind please and I'll come to
the other
two hello salam alaikum um my question
is on the topic of education no it's
it's a very specific your comment what
you know the answer George gave George
George Grant um given what you've heard
no what to George G okay George it was a
response to the question if you have
nothing to say face thank
you could I ask you
please that was good just for
everybody's information George Galloway
has attended over 140 weekly surgeries
helping over 4 th000 constituents since
2012 sorry and you
are sorry n KH and are you with the
party sorry are you with respect I'm
with respect yes can I finish Ratner
thank you no no no I didn't I didn't
stop you I just want to be very clear
okay because I did ask you to introduce
himself so very specific George's next
final years will be securing future for
the young city of Britain education
training and jobs proper jobs thank you
there's one person
there could you stand up please voted
for George Gallow in the last election I
campaigned for George Galloway in the
last election I'm not a member of
respect but I think he's being
criticized by a number of people because
he takes on board international issues
there
was in Victorian times there was the
expression a
Englander George Galloway is not a
little Englander he's concerned about
what's happening in Palestine he's
concerned about what's happening in Iraq
he concerned about what's happening in
Syria and Libya you cannot isolate those
things from what we need in Bradford
West as far as I I I observe uh the lady
mentioned all the different surgeries
you have you're a good MP and I'm going
to vote for you again
the point I'm going to keep it down to a
comment because it's we've been asked to
keep it down to
comments people voted for you and I vote
for you because you gave us a voice that
we thought we didn't have and you me you
talk about issues that do affectors and
we do care about Palestine Iraq all
those issues across the world the issue
is and I think most people on both sides
of the Isis would agree with me here it
feels as though and it seems as though
you don't talk about braford West enough
and you are a breath of rest in peace
and I think that's what Theo I'm a big
fan of yours I help been your US Senate
hearings especially but that seems to be
the biggest disappointment people seem
to have well thanks yeah thanks for
being a big fan of mine uh uh you'll
find it uh you you won't be surprised if
I find it a little hard to believe and
there's a clack who clack that kind of
talk I am in Bradford every single
weekend I have a surgery every Saturday
morning which starts at 11: in the
morning and goes on as long as it takes
I have tabled
250 motions in front of parliament the
great majority of them that's in 3 years
by the way that's more than any other MP
in the whole country by the way that's
more than all the Motions tabled by the
other Brad for them peace put together
by the way I have I have a record local
National and international and of course
I make the point
again clearly you're not going to
support me I promise you many thousands
are going to I'm going to win this
election
and the next question that we have is
from uh Mr amjed perz who's a
businessman can we
please oh dear good evening I would like
him to be able to ask the question
please because it is an important
question for Bradford Andre will you
please stand
up how will our candidates create an
ecosystem of Education Health and
Enterprise working through local
Regional National and international
institutions to ensure that every
citizen is empowered and hence less
dependent on the so-call effective
leaders thank you we have spoken a lot
about education so if you could just
leave education for now we will create
Regional Banks which will then devolve
the money and we will encourage lending
to small businesses I spoke to Italian
um um Cafe that's opposite the road
today at my office and he said to me he
couldn't even raise 10,000 even though
he's been in business for absolute years
now that's an absolute disgrace if we
want real growth we have to invest in
99% of the business Community which is a
small businesses in our
communities what I would do is actively
Lobby and scrutinize it's not good
enough just to have the policies it has
we have to hold people to account we
have to people who know me I have taken
on the regional government on issues I
am very very issue LED if we do not hold
people to account if we do not engage at
the table we will not get a slice of
back in if we have if we create a
creative toolkit for young people to get
engaged and skill them up we can then
have young people that Prosper when
young people Prosper with skill sets
families Prosper when families Prosper
communities Prosper only then we have
Economic Development which is actually
sustainable on a long-term basis so we
have to engage with regional structures
we have to be we have to shout louder I
agree with CIA totally Bradford has
being the little brother to the Big
Brother of leads not just Manchester and
other City and it's about time we fly
the flag higher not just in Parliament
but within Regional structures too
before I hand it over to Harry I think
uh Muhammad ibal has got a question
that's aligned to what amjed asked could
you ask your question and then I'll
invite uh Harry Bo to respond I'm
speechless at the moment so don't
ask I thought I was having a nightmare
yesterday when I saw Tony Blair
addressed the European question but it
is a question to do with Europe and um
It's s to Harry but I'd be interested in
other uh um participants view more than
350,000 jobs in Yorkshire depend upon
trade links with the European Union just
1% of Britain's Business Leaders support
withdrawal from the European Union
voting for ukip will be economic suicide
for bford businesses do you support
withdrawal from the EU easy question for
you easy
thank you I said I was speechless but
now he's he's he's he's give me my voice
back talking about the EU and the answer
is of course yes uh the recent Studies
have highlighted that we will prosper
out of the EU uh Nas has been saying
about funding not being made available
to people if we're the art of the EU
we're paying 66 million every single day
into the EU you we are paying a billion
pound per month to the foreign budget
and we have got people living rough
we've got businesses struggling we can't
invest in our own economy in locally and
and and nationally and we we seem to
borrow money they seem to borrow money
all
these left right red blue Etc they
borrow money to give away it's our money
it's our money that we forget that they
don't have them government doesn't
doesn't have any money it is all ours so
whatever they give away whatever they
make pledges abroad or with any other
Nation it is your money it is my money
that they giving away and we allow them
to do it and we are
struggling when are we going to stop
this when are we going to wake up and
say look stop let's invest in us first
let's invest our everything is
underpinned by
education whatever you do in life is
underpinned by education let's improve
our education systems let's plow
wherever we need to divert funds from
abroad into our education systems let's
bring back the models that work grammar
schools that worked then we can go into
our Enterprises because the people will
be skilled and given the the necessary
grounding to be entrepreneurial like I
am which I'm going to now design an oil
is called go
away I'm not going to allow that no Mr
har I will not allow talk about the
Enterprise but not using this to
advertise no I'm going to call stop
no no no no no no no no if you have a r
referendum today
77% the the nation wants to come out of
the EU and that's what will
happen that's
rubbish if you want to massage the
figures Harry's got a nice line in oils
that help you woo it's not even snake
oil it's too pathetic for that har this
is so painful man it's so so painful I
can make it back up
it's it's got the oil to make it less
painful Are you seriously putting
yourself in front of these people and
asking them to make you an MP yes they
will they will 77% of the people he says
want to withdraw from the EU yes now as
a massaged figure that's just about as
massaged as it can get 99% of the people
in this room think that it would be
absolutely insane to leave the the
European Union and how anybody can come
for election in West georia where
hundreds of thousands of jobs depend on
our trade with the European Union is
simply being the trade
as you know as the trade will still
remain as well as you know that very
well we will still be trading the point
is that you know we did take a straw
poll I know this might not be
representative of Bradford West but the
consensus here is that at least this
audience would prefer for us to stay in
the EU I'd now like to go to Mitch who
has a question um this is for Celia um
Hixon um the greens are the natural
alternative for uh the liberal Democrats
um you the greens are against the hs2
fracking and seemingly environmentalist
in nature U my
question um is the fact that the lib
Den's recent Manifesto priorities uh
they committed the party to five green
laws um if yellow is the new green why
should anyone vote green at all as your
party does not have a chance of being in
the government
points of the green party thank
you what is the point of the green party
well we have many different
Poli to live we're against it simply
because we don't think 20 minutes
Journey
time we should connecting
manchest thank you right I was looking
for to need to come up um L into a
secret we didn't win the
election last time we got 50 MPS and we
most doing getting about 75% of our
Manifesto including some very important
green measures that have taken place so
we didn't win the party policy remains
that we would like no tuition fees
however we didn't get the opportunity to
bring that forward what we did do in
negotiation we could have sat on our
hands and let the conservative policy on
institution things go through ask uh
that yes how how do you respond to
him as a student and just tell us uh
where where you go to university please
I I go to Le Becket University where I'm
studying uh international relations and
and peace studies um I think clearly
what the lib DS did and it shows what
they're doing now in this election that
they've been very quiet on these two
issues um particularly the issue of um
you know the fees um and of course the
issue of Detention of um of immigrants
those are the two issues that they ran
on um last elections and they sted up a
lot of excitement but they've been very
quiet on those issues uh this time
around and to me that demonstrates the
the the hypocrisy um you know of the
party that clearly they're just more
interested in the in you know in getting
votes and so therefore they will do what
it takes to win the elections and they
har want a quick response from you and
then I'd like to go to two other
questions I just uh I just wanted to
tell you what the UK policy on on tution
fees is that we will abolish all tution
fees on science technology engineering
mathematics and Medicine degrees okay so
we are creating a two-tier tertiary
education system that would be we're
starting at that point where the stem
subjects will be uh there be no tuition
fees for those okay I've got I'm going
to take two questions next one from an
Marie and Cath disabled people are
increasingly being required to contri
rute to the cost of disability services
and care that were once free they cannot
afford this and are being denied the
opportunity to participate fully in the
community what do you Andor your party
intend to do about this can I also ask C
to ask her question where is Kath I'd
just like to ask um what will your party
do to improve services for people with
mental dis mental health problems for
example mind estimated 100 people a day
with mental health problems are having
their benefits
sanctioned and many people in crisis are
unable to access impatient care in the
district where are aware of examples of
people being sent to hospitals in London
thank you for those two
questions I think for me uh this is one
of the most important issues uh that we
face I came into politics because I
believe in as I've said trying to
improve things for people I don't just
say that um for the better and that
includes uh the most vulnerable of whom
disabled people are clearly a large part
of
that the spare room subsidy bedroom tax
whatever you want to call it I mentioned
to you earlier uh this point about uh
MPS not just being uh followers of
government policy it is my view that
anyone on disabilities should not be
affected by that policy and I very much
support the amendment that was passing
through the House of Commons before it
was dissolved for the election uh to
make that uh into law I think one of the
other things uh that strikes me is
reforming the welfare system so that it
is less complex has to be a good thing
because the number of
complex you know when when you look at
it the number of different payments and
different schemes make it almost
impossible to properly for either an
assessor or for the person who is on
those uh uh benefits to be able to make
a proper judgment about what is and
isn't required so I think simplifying
the system um and continuing to invest
in those Services you know these are
things that I I fully a quick response
to the issues around mental health yeah
oh right sorry so I um have signed the
concordat of the mental health charity
mind I think one of the things um that
they are doing is trying to integrate
services and better integrate care and
this is definitely something that is aot
large part of the health reforms
generally with NHS England is to try and
improve integration of services so
people aren't falling through the cracks
I mean I know this is something I'm
afraid I really disagree with the Tories
on this one because the bedroom tax was
bought bought in under the Tories and
it's effected disable people the most
disproportionately so the first thing we
would do is you remove bedroom tax as a
former disability right happed what I
will say in addition to the ab abolition
of the bedroom tax what we are committed
to is developing the work that's already
undergoing improving the access to
services and improve and put funding
where it needs to be put so actually
going out there in the communities
rather than if you look at the concent
model what it does is it brings Comm
care into the community and it takes
away from getting people into lym field
mount for example and it brings care
closer to home in a more emergency way
in a more holistic way to respond to
people in crisis I think that's the way
forward and I actively support them we
know that they know it but they won't
tell you until after the election they
are witch hunting disabled people witch
hunting unemployed people witch hunting
minorities witch hunting anyone that can
divert attention from the real culprits
and the real problems in our country
atos needs to be scrapped the B bedroom
tax has to be scrapped it took labor
four years to come four and a half years
actually to come to a decision that they
were in favor of scrapping the bedroom
tax we were against it from the
beginning my last point I know you're
anxious R is this I I hurt my ankle
playing football in the back courts of
Lingham two weeks ago and I limped a
little as I came in to the meeting no
one
here would stigmatize me because of that
injury yet too many people stigmatize
those suffering from mental health
problems George I just wanted to ask you
one last question we know that there're
going to be 12 billion in welfare Cs and
the Tories have said that they're going
to be 12 billion don't you think we
deserve to know where those cuts are
going to fall before the elections and
not
after I think that parties need to be as
clear as possible uh where the cuts will
come from I can't say I am not the
government one thing I want to say
however which has become increasingly
clear as the evening has progressed is
how easy it is to wish for things I can
say now on this platform with no elected
power I want to see an end to World
poverty and it means nothing the reason
governments thank you the reason
governments the reason governments make
difficult decisions not all of which I
agree with is because we have a
situation in this country where we are
blowing a billion quid a week on the
debt interest what does that mean we're
spending more on the bloody interest
than on our entire departmental budget
gave us the debt of Defense who gave us
the debt
everyone we had the banks were lending
money like come back to you was spending
money like a drunken sailor on Shor Leaf
you had people taking out mortgages they
couldn't possibly afford so my point is
this in unbelievably constrained
economic circumstances there are
inevitably difficult decisions to be
made people have to make those difficult
decisions because they don't ever
actually have to take responsibility for
a single thing I just wanted to say that
the well of the richest people in the
country has doubled since
2010 we're not
gr I've just got one thing to say really
so me as a disabled person has to pay
for the The Misfortune of having Bankers
as we have of having politicians as we
had because of having others who made
decisions to take my money away cuz they
were the people who
knew the
gentleman and that'll be the last
comment on it it seems to me George that
you've got complete misunderstanding of
how all this works um you are aware
aren't you that the private Banks
actually lent this money to the
population the corporate sector public
sector and so do you want to stand up
because I think people want to hear what
you have to say I don't think sayou no I
think they'd like to know who you are
rather than a
dis for former counselor in the lab
party but not anymore
um do you know how the system I've got
question penil for later might not come
up no no we're finishing this is the
last comments so please do you really
know how the monitary system works do
you know why people are in bed cuz I
really would Tor perspective candidates
I'm worri about Tori MPS and I'm really
worried about George OS because he
simply does not
appear Alan can I invite you to give a
twom minute summary in terms of what you
want to tell the audience based on what
you've heard today could you go there
please I'm I'm in an general
practitioner I've been doing that for 30
years and to be honest if you put me on
a rack and may me choose between being a
GP and being a liberal Democrat
politician I go for to being a GP I want
to say this about the NHS because a lot
of people will tell you differ our NHS
is not
broken people will say it's broken it
has to be changed something has to be
done it is not broken it at least make
it stand where it is and not get any
words but there are people out there who
will tell you things have got to change
we've got to work differently we've got
to bring in privatization we've got to
use the market because the NHS is broken
I just like to say that um the things
that have come out of this evening for
me have been around leadership around
how we get Bradford West to be trumpeted
around in the north of England as a as a
place where people want to invest a
major priority in my byelection campaign
we won a landslide majority the audan
has been saved the government has
stumped up the money and soon it will be
another Jewel in Bradford's Crown no
sooner had I got here three years ago
but George Grant's government and your
government sir because both of you are
strange bed fellows no doubt but bed
fellows
nonetheless announced that you wanted to
close the national media Museum Bradford
only National Institution Ed VY the
culture minister of the conservative
government congratulated me from the
dispatch box for the campaign he said I
had LED which saved the national media
Museum five more years that's what I'm
asking
for you go thank you very much
indeed this has been an
extraordinary
evening in very many ways this is an
election where you need to have an MP
who will actually be able to do
something for and I will just say this
by way of conclusion empowerment is what
it's all about and that starts with
employment and jobs and the economy I
want us to just take a moment to be calm
and think look around Europe look around
the world and look here at what we have
achieved in the last 5 years I think
under the circumstances of extraordinary
financial diffic difficulty two minutes
it is a record to be proud of and I just
urge you to think again thank thank
[Applause]
you thank you ge You' covered a lot of
what I was going to say these the facts
would ask some questions and I'll
elaborate on that research because I did
go ahead and do some more research out
of 733 votes the only number of votes
that were cast were 82
the city NP did not vote on the
counterterrorism bill when there was a
1% increase of benefits being discussed
in Parliament Al MP was happy to be in
Sudan paid for by dictators talking
about human rights abuses but is not
prepared to sit with the council in
Bradford and talk about education Sudan
does not bring educational achievements
in Bradford not in Bradford West it
doesn't it does not bring jobs into
Bradford it does not bring
no wait this is not the
person this is this is we talking human
right but not talk about education in
back can we stick to the issu I thought
I have set out very clearly I this is
not personal personal ATT is about
talking about personal things this is
about what we elected a parliamentarian
to do and you me that is the only thing
that that theing of a parliamentarian I
don't want be that parliamentarian
you're not going to be a parliamentarian
that is here for the people of Bradford
West that brings jobs into Bradford West
that actually influences education in
Bradford West that's what I want to do I
don't want to be a
parliamentarian tell you I am a
community activist I have advocated for
people in Bradford West for Bradford
West and my challenge is rator when when
they are not elected will there be
around in Bradford West I will be here
I'm from the people for the people I
live here I will deliver here I will
deliver for the people of Bradford
[Applause]
West you have time to calm down
after we're we're so we're so used to
politics of division
uh and and deceit and deception as
you've seen here fighting with each
other the unity that's needed for our
people is not
there and you got
it I I certainly have you don't you
don't I I I I served in the forces I
fought for this country I'm
here H can I ask you to please respect
those who are speaking I don't want you
to be speaking from the side because
people are actually addressing the
voters all right all right thank you
thank you I will be asking you to leave
all right I've had enough of that can
you continue please
Harry
George uh should I say sorry Mr Gallow
because that's how chair likes to refer
so I can be friendship between the
Georges George earlier on on made a
statement saying that the Press is
here because when he won 3 years ago he
turned Bradford upside
down I am here to turn it the right way
around
again the right oh
yeah oh
yeah you should be a comedian mate
30 seconds what what Bradford needs is
is someone who's lived a life
amongst everyone in in the UK without
sounding um you know we what Bradford
needs is it's a unifying force not
somebody who's divided communities I
have lived amongst all everything my
children are uh mixed race and so I am a
very
qualified to to unite us vote for me
vote for Harry and let's have a new MP
under the purple
Banner thank you very much it just
leaves me now to say I know it's been a
fraud debate but this is democracy at
its very best and I think that you know
for those of you who have cooperated
thank you very much for those of you who
haven't you made it exciting certainly
but I would like to say is that on
behalf of Asian Sunday and just West
Yorkshire I'd like to thank you for
coming and I do urge all of you to vote
on the 7th of May because democracy is a
precious thing please use your vote
wisely and God Speak
nothing on the
[Music]
seriously blood
I