Hodge tells BBC chief Rona Fairhead to resign in HSBC hearing: Politics Live blog
Rolling coverage of all the day's political developments as they happen, including Ed Balls' speech on Tory spending cuts and David Cameron's speech on education and family
6.26pm GMT
It is not that unusual to see a public figure subject to withering scorn by MPs on a select committee - it is one of the few unadulterated pleasures that parliament offers - but, still, this was something. We're used to see Keith Vax duff up some hapless copper, or a second-rate council chief. But chair of the BBC Trust is one of the triple-A jobs in the British establishment. To hear someone that senior be told to her face by a select committee chair that she should be sacked is remarkable.
Here are the key points from the hearing.
I don't think that the record that you have shown in your performance here as a guardian of HSBC gives me the confidence that you should be the guardian of the BBC licence fee payers' money. I reallly do think that you should consider your position and you should think about resigning and if not, I think the government should sack you.
If you look at the data [the leaked HSBC files] here ... I just can't believe Chris Meares or Rona Fairhead ... If you look at the data, a third of the data is stuff that is entered by the customer relations managers about the individuals. There are pages of this, absolutely pages, of total collusion by the bank, in your name, in tax evasion ...
This is your guys saying to you: "I contacted this guy by phone saying unless he changed his situation he would be subject to UK tax."
In the public sector, if things go wrong on your watch, whether or not you were individually involved, you accept responsibility and resign. Neither of you, nobody in the bank, either at this hearing or at the hearing at the Treasury select committee, has deigned to accept responsibility for what was a massive, massive, illegal, terrible tax evasion.
6.07pm GMT
This is from my colleague James Ball.
Artist's impression of HSBC audit committee? pic.twitter.com/Eflb71QTUt
5.46pm GMT
Here is the key exchange between Margaret Hodge and Rona Fairhead, when Hodge told Fairhead to resign as chair of the BBC Trust.
MH: I want to come to you, Ms Fairhead, and I'm going to say something. It's a bit unpleasant to say, and I'm just saying it as a licence fee payer. Having watched your performance this afternoon I've got to say this to you, that either you knew and you
RF: I categorically deny that.
5.36pm GMT
The session with Edward Troup has been postponed.
PAC postpones evidence from HMRC's Edward Troup until Dave Hartnett can appear alongside.
5.33pm GMT
My colleague Juliette Garside has more on the protester who was thrown out of the hearing.
HSBC campaigner Nicolas Wilson has just been ejected by police from the PAC for trying to put a direct question to Stuart Gulliver
5.29pm GMT
Stephen Hammond, a Conservartive, says he wants to disassociate himself from what Margaret Hodge said about Fairhead.
But he does agree with her comments in relation to Meares. He says he found Meares an "unreliable witness".
5.26pm GMT
Q: Have you sacked any compliance officers in Switzerland who are suing you for unfair dismissal?
Gulliver says he does not know about that. He will write to the committee.
5.24pm GMT
Gulliver says in 2012 HSBC changed the rules to stop people taking huge amounts of cash out of an account.
He says people taking out large amounts of cash are not automatically evading tax. But it does indicate a risk.
5.19pm GMT
Margaret Hodge tells Fairhead either she knew ..
I categorically deny that, Fairhead says.
I'm afraid you've lost my trust.
5.09pm GMT
Margaret Hodge says she cannot believe what Meares and Fairhead are saying. There is tons of data in the leaked information showing the bank colluding in tax evasions.
She quotes from some of the leaked records. And there are records of meetings taking place in London. There is a reference to "out of scope" products.
Either you were incompetent, completely and utterly incompetent, in your oversight duties, or you knew about it ... I don't believe you did not know.
5.02pm GMT
Fairhead says it was not until 2009 that HSBC learnt how serious the leak of customer information was.
It still has not seen all the data, she says.
5.00pm GMT
Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian's editor, has been tweeting about the HSBC evidence.
HSBC officials: "we were "horrified" to discover tax schemes." In fact, 1st response was to order Gdn to destroy documents
4.55pm GMT
Q: You only closed your private account in Panama in 2009.
Gulliver confirms that. He repeats the point about being domiciled in Hong Kong.
4.54pm GMT
Gulliver says he is not blaming his predecessor.
Q: Are you blaming him for this?
4.53pm GMT
Q: What is the audit committee for?
It is there to oversee the management and hold the executive to account, says Fairhead.
4.49pm GMT
Labour's Austin Mitchell is asking questions now.
He says the audit committee sounds like "money for jam".
4.44pm GMT
Gulliver says he has lost 1.7m in bonus payments because of what went wrong.
But it would not be right for him to lose money because of what happened before he even took charge.
4.41pm GMT
Dame Anne McGuire goes next.
Q: Are you saying you, as an audit committee, never got a breakdown of the types of accounts the Swiss branch was offering?
4.35pm GMT
Q: Did you ever raise the issue of hold mail accounts?
Fairhead says it came up when they were looking at reforming the private bank.
4.29pm GMT
Q: [To Fairhead] You said there were system failings. Given that you were in charge of the systems, don't you have to go.
No, says Fairhead.
4.17pm GMT
Stephen Hammond, a Conservative, goes next.
Q: [To Meares] Who reported to you from Switzerland?
4.12pm GMT
Q: Did you ask about the hold mail accounts?
Fairhead says the Swiss branch only accounted for 2% of business.
4.07pm GMT
Q: Did you ask if tax evasion and avoidance contributed to the profitability of the Swiss branch?
Fairhead says she would expect everything to be done to comply with company policy.
4.03pm GMT
Margaret Hodge goes next. She asks Rona Fairhead what she knew.
Rona Fairhead says the people who are most culpable are those who evade tax.
4.00pm GMT
Stephen Phillips, a Conservative, goes next.
He says HSBC is asking them to believe that no one in London knew what was happening in Switzerland. He says he finds that hard to believe. It was blind eye knowledge, he says. HSBC was turning a blind eye.
3.57pm GMT
Gulliver says the bank was "a loose federation" at the time.
Q: Doesn't it beggar belief that nobody outside Switzerland knew what was going on there? These high net worth individuals had been brought in because their firms banked with other parts of HSBC.
3.52pm GMT
Gulliver says the HSBC bank was regulated by top-notch regulators.
That meant there was a limit to what further checks HCBC could make when it bought the Swiss operation.
3.50pm GMT
Dame Anne McGuire is asking question now.
Q: Why do you think customers might want a "hold mail" account (an account where the bank does not write to the customer)?
3.45pm GMT
Today's session is already turning pretty brutal.
15 minutes in and Stuart Gulliver already getting a rougher ride from MPs on the Public Accounts Committee than Treasury counterparts.
Very bad day for HSBC. MPs on the Commons Public Accounts Committee clearly smell blood http://t.co/YQxO1aQvRn
3.43pm GMT
David Burrowes, a Conservative, is asking questions now.
Q: Did you have any hint that tax evasion was going on?
3.39pm GMT
Margaret Hodge is asking questions. She addresses Meares.
Meares says Switzerland was about 30% of the private banking business.
3.30pm GMT
Q: Did these arrangements cause reputational damage to the bank?
Gulliver says his failure to persuade people there was an innocent reason for this has damaged the reputation of the bank.
3.27pm GMT
Hodge says Gulliver had his salary paid through a shell company based in Panama.
She says he is expecting the committee to believe this was just for reasons of privacy. But it is hard to believe that, she says.
3.25pm GMT
Stuart Gulliver, the HSBC chief executive, Chris Meares, the former chief executive of HSBC global private banking and Rona Fairhead, an HSBC director (and the BBC Trust chair), are giving evidence now.
Margaret Hodge, the public accounts committee chair, is speaking now.
3.22pm GMT
The public accounts committee has just started taking evidence from HSBC about tax dodging at HSBC.
Here's the Guardian's preview story.
3.06pm GMT
During the Q&A Cameron was asked by the Daily Mail's Jason Groves about grammar schools. Groves said he once said grammar schools were an "albatross" for his party. Did he still think that?
Cameron replied:
I have never said that grammar schools are an albatross. Grammar schools are good schools. And I like good schools.
2.54pm GMT
David Cameron denied calling grammar schools an "albatross" a few minutes ago. (See 2.43pm.)
But he did use that phrase in relation to grammar schools in 2007. This is what he said.
Far from being some winning slogan, a pledge to build more grammar schools would be an electoral albatross.
2.51pm GMT
Q: Why are you going to spend money creating new schools, where some places won't be filled, when overall schools face a real-terms cut?
Cameron says the capital budget for schools is going up.
2.48pm GMT
Q: Labour claim you are planning spending cuts of 70bn. What will be cut?
Cameron says he has set out what he plans on welfare and departmental spending. Labour are just proposing more borrowing and more debt. It is because the government has made tough decision that money is available for schools.
2.45pm GMT
Q: How many of the new free schools will be technical schools?
Cameron says it is up to the schools to decide.
2.43pm GMT
Cameron is taking questions now.
Q: You said a few years ago grammar schools are an albatross for your party. Is that why you are delaying a decision on the new one in Kent?
2.39pm GMT
Cameron is summing up now.
My motto in life is "family first".
I apply it to my own life and to my politics.
2.38pm GMT
Cameron turns to savings, and says that four weeks from today over-55s will have access to their pension pots.
2.35pm GMT
On schools, Cameron says that he and his wife are glad their daughter has just got a place at a good state secondary school in London.
2.31pm GMT
Cameron turns to housing.
One problem was the mortgages were too high. But interest rates have been kept down.
2.28pm GMT
Cameron turns to childcare. Most families spend a quarter of their income on this, he says.
This is not just an issue for women or parents. It's a national issue.
So we've acted"
2.26pm GMT
Cameron praises the government's record on jobs. And he says the government has put more money in the pockets of families, by measures like increasing the personal allowance and freezing fuel duty.
2.23pm GMT
Cameron says there are five factors that contribute to family security: jobs, money, homes, schools and savings.
2.21pm GMT
David Cameron is delivering his education and families speech now.
He says he wants to ensure that his economic plan actually delivers real help to people.
2.17pm GMT
Robert Peston, the BBC's economics editor, has pronounced on Ed Balls' speech on his blog.
First, he points out that George Osborne may actually revise his fiscal targets in next week's budget. The Independent's John Rentoul sums up this point in a tweet.
The trouble with @edballsmp's "evidence-based scaremongering" is that the evidence is about to change in the Budget http://t.co/zmD0V82H6W
Finding a bit less than 30bn of additional spending cuts, as a Tory government would have to do, would be challenging - in that departments have endured years of squeeze already, and welfare savings are notoriously hard to deliver.
But Ed Balls's central argument today that it would be completely impossible for a Tory government to protect health spending is probably not quite as watertight as he implies.
1.48pm GMT
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, was on the World at One just now. Asked about Ed Balls' claim that Tory spending plans would involve cuts worth 70bn, not 30bn, he refused to endorse it, suggesting it was based on assumptions different from those used by the IFS. Johnson stuck with the 30bn figure.
I don't know about the 70bn. You can talk about all sorts of different numbers. The 70bn takes a particular set of assumptions, and in particular says that the Conservatives will do what the autumn statement numbers say they will do, which is a bit different actually to the fiscal rules the Conservatives have set themselves. But there is a difference of around about 25bn or 30bn between the two parties in terms of the level of fiscal consolidation and therefore the sorts of level of spending cuts they are talking about. So Labour would introduce less in the way of spending cuts than the Conservatives. Of course, there's a flipside of that, in terms of the debt and the deficit.
Ed Balls is right about one thing. There is quite a big difference between what the Labour party is saying it would do and what the Conservative party is saying it would do.
1.35pm GMT
Nice posters from the Tories today. It would be a great shame if someone spoofed them... pic.twitter.com/C83H1ELAdt
Clegg says he spent all day Saturday signing off the Lib Dem manifesto whih will go before party's Spring Conf this weekend
1.18pm GMT
Here's Grant Shapps, the Conservative chairman, responding to Ed Balls' speech on BBC News. He accused Balls of talking "nonsense".
I think Balls has lost his marbles on this. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said the figure is 30bn and we have already explained exactly how we will do that - 13bn from departments, 12bn from welfare reductions and 5bn from closing tax loopholes.
In a speech worked out on the back of an envelope, he has suddenly claimed wild figures and accusations, saying we will take government finances back to the days of Cromwell. Nonsense - the IFS says we will be taking spending back to the years of 2003-04 when as far as I know it wasn't Cromwell in the treasury, it was one Ed Balls.
12.43pm GMT
It is fashionable to knock negative campaigning. Politicians will never own up to being engaged in it, and pundits dismiss it as unpleasant and corrosive, and likely to alienate people from politics.
Our analysis shows this would mean:
At a time when the terror threat is increasing and child protection under great pressure, huge cuts in the Home Office Budget, the equivalent of 29,900 police officers and 6,700 PCSOs lost.
The SNP have said they don't want a coalition. It's not part of our plans. We don't want one, we don't need one, we're not after one.
No large party in the last 100 years - Labour or Conservative - has ever fought a general election on the basis they wanted a coalition or deal with a small party. It's the last thing we want. What we want is a majority Labour government.
First of all, our cuts, in any part of public spending, are going to go nowhere near the huge scale of defence cuts you are going to see under the Conservatives on the basis of these plans.
I think it is really important that we live up to our international responsibilities.
11.51am GMT
Here's Danny Alexander, the Lib Dem chief secretary to the Treasury, on Ed Balls' speech.
Both Labour and the Conservatives are saying they will lurch away from the centre ground. Labour will borrow too much and the Conservatives will cut too much. The Liberal Democrats have been the rock of financial stability during this recovery.
11.37am GMT
Here's the key passage from Ed Balls' speech. It's the one where he explains his claim that Tory spending cuts would amount to 70bn, not 30bn as the party claims.
First, the 30bn cut the Tories claim they are going to make after the election is not for the whole Parliament, but for the first two full years - 2016/17 and 2017/18 - only.
If we look at their own spending forecasts over the full period - up to 2019-20 - the actual minimum planned reduction in public spending is 37bn.
11.28am GMT
The former Ulster Unionist party leader, Lord Molyneaux, has died. This is from the Press Association.
Former Ulster Unionist Party leader Lord Molyneaux has died at the age of 94, his party has announced.
James Molyneaux led the UUP from 1979 to 1995.
11.14am GMT
The Tories are already hitting back at Ed Balls using the Tory Treasury Twitter account, an official one.
Key qs for Balls: how much more would he borrow, how much higher would taxes be, & won't Alex Salmond demand even more debt under SNP-Lab?
When Balls was HMT in 2000, spending was 35.9 per cent of GDP. World didn't cave in then
Pretty sure Ed Balls was in the Treasury in 2002-03, not Oliver Cromwell.
11.10am GMT
Here's the full text of Ed Balls' speech.
READ: Full text of @edballsmp speech to the RSA today http://t.co/rZD425cnh6
11.07am GMT
Q: What is the single biggest threat to the future of our public services?
A Conservative government trying to implement these spending cuts, he says.
11.07am GMT
Balls says that Labour would not let their plans to devolve spending powers to local councils stop councils fulfilling their obligations to build more homes.
11.03am GMT
Q: Will you ringfence the Foreign Office budget? It is going to have to deal with many crises in the coming years.
No, says Balls. The Foreign Office will have to play its part in finding cuts. But he accepts it has a vital role has to play. The Foreign Office will have to do a zero-based review, like the Treasury.
11.01am GMT
The Labour party is tweeting this, summarising Ed Balls' argument.
David Cameron claims: 30bn cuts after the election The reality: 70bn cuts and risking the NHS http://t.co/M2BAdGjg0n
10.57am GMT
Balls says Osborne does not appreciate how a growing economy, and growing tax revenues, can contribute to deficit reduction. He is more of a historian than an economist.
Balls says Osborne wants to cut the deficit purely through cuts.
10.55am GMT
Q: What would you do about free bus passes for pensioners?
Balls says Labour would keep them. They introduced them. As people get older, they can sometimes drive less.
10.54am GMT
Q: What is the size of the consolidation you would require in the first year.
Balls says, unlike the Tories, he is not planning tax cuts worth 10bn, or a 23bn surplus. So that frees up 33bn straight away.
10.52am GMT
Q: Should defence spending remain at 2% of GDP?
Balls says it is very important that Britain lives up to its international responsibilities.
10.50am GMT
Q: Can you categorically rule out a deal with the SNP?
Balls says the SNP have said they don't want a coalition with Labour.
10.48am GMT
Q: What would Labour do about the problem of financial exclusion and debt?
Balls says the key thing is to keep people in stable employment that pays.
10.47am GMT
Q: Aren't you just scaremongering?
Balls says, before the last election, the Tories said Labour was scaremongering when it said VAT would go up, SureStart centres would be closed and tax credits cut. But that it what happened.
10.43am GMT
Q: [From a Labour supporter] Thank you for treating us like grown ups, and giving us a proper analsis. That's it.
Balls jokes that is the kind of question he likes.
10.42am GMT
Q: You are criticising the Tories, but not saying what cuts you would make.
Balls says the Tories want a surplus of 23bn by 2020. He is saying that is extreme. There is a clear choice.
10.37am GMT
Ed Balls is now taking questions.
Q: Young people are worried about youth unemployment. What would you do about it?
10.36am GMT
Balls summarises Labour economic policies.
And he says the choice for voters is now clear.
10.34am GMT
Balls says Labour is now the centre ground party in British politics.
Unlike the Tories, they are not making unfunded commitments.
10.30am GMT
Balls says the Tories have form when it comes to breaking their promises on the NHS.
The Tories would have to raise VAT, or cut health spending, Balls says, to meet their plans. They would have no other options.
10.29am GMT
Balls suggests that another option for Osborne might be to introduce charges into the health service.
Countries with public spending at 35% of GDP or lower have health systems were charging for health services is three times higher than it is in the UK.
10.27am GMT
Balls says the implications are so colossal that George Osborne may have to put up taxes.
Is he planning to raise VAT? Balls says, when asked about this in parliament, Osborne just said he had "no plans" to raise VAT. The public won't be fooled, he says.
10.26am GMT
Balls is now running through the impact of the Tory plans on departments with unprotected budgets.
The army would be reduced to its smallest size since Oliver Cromwell, he says.
10.20am GMT
Balls says today he is publishing his analysis of what Labour thinks will happen to public spending if the Conservatives are re-elected.
Discretionary cuts to spending are not worth 30bn, as the Tories claim, but more than twice as much, he says.
10.14am GMT
Balls says the government has not been able to get rid of the deficit because tax receipts have been lower than expected.
And the Office for Budget Responsibility expects the problem to continue into the next parliament, he says.
10.11am GMT
Balls says the Conservatives promises to increase living standards and balance the books.
But wages are down since 2010, he says.
10.07am GMT
Ed Balls is delivering his speech now.
He says this will be the most important election of his lifetime.
9.52am GMT
Populus has published its latest poll.
Latest Populus VI: Lab 33 (=), Con 32 (+1), LD 9 (+1), UKIP 15 (-1), Greens 6 (+1), Others 6 (=). Tables here: http://t.co/m5re4aMlqm
Populus fieldwork was conducted entirely after debate-gate got going. Nothing here to suggest anyone noticed #GE2015 https://t.co/a4ZkjlMfYt
9.22am GMT
Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, was also on the Today programme this morning, giving an interview ahead of David Cameron's speech on free schools. Here are the key points she made.
Morgan said the Conservatives would not allow firms to run schools for profit. Asked if she would rule out a future Conservative government allowing this, she replied:
Yes I can rule it out. I think having for-profit education is something that would make me feel very uncomfortable and it is not something that is needed. We have excellent sponsors like charities and others or parent groups wanting to run schools and they are doing an excellent job up and down the country.
The Labour party - what they would like to do is to say it doesn't matter about the quality of places, if there is a place in the local area then parents that's what you have to accept and get on with. That's absolutely not where we are.
We know from our own evidence that 72% of free school heads say that they are having a positive impact on local schools in their area, they are driving up standards and they are giving parents more choice about having a great local school in their area.
These are schools where the money comes directly from the department to the schools, where it is run by those who know the children best, who know education best. I think that is very important.
9.00am GMT
Danny Alexander, the Lib Dem chief secretary to the Treasury, has an interview in the Daily Telegraph today.
The paper has written it up as Alexander saying the Lib Dems will ban "potty" plans from George Osborne for pre-election tax cuts for high earners (although there is no evidence that this is what Osborne is planning in the first place). Alexander told the Telegraph:
The idea that we'd go for a fiscal loosening at the end of the Parliament, having been so firm on getting the deficit down for year - that would be completely potty.
I'm not going to get into what Budget decisions might be, but of course Nick Clegg and I take every opportunity we can to advance the case for delivering on that policy.
I committed several years ago to taking the personal allowance to 12,500 in the next Parliament. So I'm taking every opportunity to push with further progress with that.
8.47am GMT
Here's today's Guardian seat projection.
Conservatives: 274
8.44am GMT
Here are some of the main points from Chris Leslie's Today interview earlier. (See 7.41am.)
The choice is between the cataclysmic scenario in which up to 240,000 people, elderly people, are going to have their social care taken away.
I do understand why people want to have that 2% target. I can't give you commitments. I know it will be difficult to keep it that level at the 2% of GDP. I can tell you it is absolutely impossible on the Conservative trajectory.
8.36am GMT
There are 59 days to go until the general election.
Here is today's "election fact" from the Press Association.
MPs who wish to resign from the Commons between General Elections have to go through an ancient process, applying to the Chancellor for the stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham in Buckinghamshire or the Manor of Northstead, now under a lake near Scarborough. These posts carry a nominal salary making them offices of profit under the Crown which bars holders from continuing as MPs. Incumbents then later quit the post, leaving it for future resignations. The last two applicants were UKIP MPs Douglas Carswell (Clacton), who took the Manor of Northstead, and Rochester and Strood's Mark Reckless, who put in for the Chiltern Hundreds. Both quit to force by-elections after they defected from the Tories last year.
7.41am GMT
Chris Leslie, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, was on the Today programme at 7.10 talking about the Ed Balls' speech, but John Humphrys insisted on asking him about the possibility of a Labour pact with the SNP.
Shadow Chief Secretary to Treasury @ChrisLeslieMP says 'nobody is talking at all about coalition with the SNP'. pic.twitter.com/3Mz5SNJajh
Monday's Times front page: Tories move to exploit Labour split on Scotland #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/ZlPypbsp7H
The Conservatives will seek to heighten fears today among English voters over a potential electoral pact between Labour and the Scottish Nationalists.
David Cameron will present the party's latest campaign poster by M&C Saatchi, depicting Ed Miliband in Alex Salmond's breast pocket, in an attempt to scare those south of the border into voting Tory.
7.00am GMT
6.59am GMT
We've got two big speeches today, and a press launch. But Guardian readers will know that Patrick Wintour got hold of a draft of David Cameron's speech, and wrote it up on Saturday, so perhaps I'll be able to take the afternoon off.
Before Cameron stands up, Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, will give a speech attacking proposed Conservative spending cuts. He will also be releasing a dossier with a fresh analysis of the impact of the Tory plans. Labour released some extracts from the speech overnight, and this is what Balls will say.
The chancellor announced plans in last year's Budget - re-confirmed in the autumn statement - which go way beyond balancing the books and aim for an overall budget surplus of 23bn by 2019/20.
And to deliver this goal, the chancellor set out tax and spending plans in that autumn statement - the defining fiscal moment of this parliament - which aim to take public spending back to 35 per cent of GDP.
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