Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 I'm here in Blackpool with Keir Starmer as he campaigns in an upcoming by-election.
00:04 Is he prepared to be Prime Minister in a new, more turbulent world with the prospect of
00:08 President Trump 2.0 in the White House?
00:11 He promises to make levelling up a reality.
00:13 But are his plans really ambitious enough to make a difference for places like this?
00:18 And as he doubles down on his support for Britain's military, is Starmer successfully
00:22 distancing himself from the Corbyn era?
00:24 There's a real sense that instead of being levelled up, Blackpool has gone backwards.
00:31 Here we are on the seafront here, very nice.
00:34 Go to two streets back a bit beyond here and you'll see real property.
00:39 Is levelling up the idea which was introduced by Boris Johnson at the last election, is
00:44 that as an idea, as a phrase, something that you would commit to in office?
00:48 At the last election, the Boris Johnson election, the Conservatives tapped into something which
00:53 is really real for people.
00:54 The tragedy is, they didn't deliver on that.
00:58 We're here in Blackpool.
01:00 If you don't mind me revealing the tricks of the trade, we didn't get a train all the
01:05 way here.
01:06 Lots of people say that the train links in this part of the country are not great.
01:10 Go anywhere around here and people will say to you, "We don't have the transport infrastructure
01:15 and links that we need."
01:17 That needs to be fixed.
01:18 Do you think HS2 needs to be part of the answer to improving northern connectivity?
01:22 I can't commit to simply going back to HS2.
01:25 What I can commit to, and it's particularly relevant here in the North West, is working
01:32 with local elected leaders and mayors to come up with a transport strategy that works for
01:39 them.
01:40 What they're saying to me at the moment is, northern powerhouse rail, the links between
01:45 cities in the north, is vitally important and I agree with that.
01:50 It's very possible that Donald Trump will return to the White House at the start of
01:54 the next year.
01:55 Your team has, I think, quite close links to parts of the Biden administration.
02:00 Have you had any contact with the Trump team?
02:02 You're right, we do have close links with the Biden administration.
02:05 That is very important to us, particularly in terms of our history, our traditions and
02:10 our values as a Labour party.
02:13 But ultimately, later this year, it falls to the American people to decide who they
02:17 want as their president and I will deal with whoever is the president of America.
02:22 The special relationship, the long-standing relationship that we have, not least on nuclear
02:26 deterrence, is far stronger than the identity of the next president of the US.
02:32 Have you had any outreach or ties with the Trump campaign, the Trump operation so far?
02:39 No.
02:40 One of the issues that's also of huge concern to iReaders is the state of Britain's waterway
02:47 - its rivers and lakes.
02:48 Do you think the regulation of the water industry needs a fundamental overhaul?
02:54 We need to change the focus.
02:55 I think we need to have better enforcement of the regulations in place.
03:00 I think we should look at further regulation where that would help.
03:04 I also do believe in the principle of responsibility and liability going to the top of an organisation.
03:11 Having run a public service with statutory obligations on me as the head of that service,
03:17 I know what it feels like to bear personal responsibility.
03:21 I also think, and we've advocated, that obviously bonuses should not be being paid within parts
03:28 of the sector where the pollution is as bad as it is.
03:31 This beach here, by the way, you couldn't swim in last week because of the pollution.
03:36 How worried are you about the development of artificial intelligence?
03:39 People tend to fall into two camps with AI.
03:42 They either look at the opportunities or look at the threats.
03:45 I'm in the first camp, so I look at the opportunities.
03:47 I think the opportunities are profound.
03:50 There is obviously the potential, if this is not properly regulated, that it doesn't
03:57 develop in a way which is in the interests of all communities and everybody within the
04:03 UK.
04:04 That's why we've advocated regulation.
04:06 [BLANK_AUDIO]