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Politics UK Archive

A weekly look inside British politics from the BBC

*** This programme is no longer on-air, but please listen to our archive of available episodes ***

Issues affecting British social and political life.

*** This programme is no longer on-air, but please listen to our archive of available episodes ***

Politics UK is the weekly programme that covers British political and policy issues, economic and cultural change and Britain’s standing in Europe and the rest of the world in a way that is relevant to an international audience.  
It's the flagship programme for UK political analysis and debate on the BBC World Service.  
Leading politicians, commentators and intellectuals take part each week to discuss and reflect on the main events shaping British politics.

Politics UK

Politics UK Archive: 04/12/2009

Factual: Politics

04/12/2009

BBC World Service - Politics UK Archive, 04/12/2009

The climate debate hots up, and should Britain have elected police commissioners?

This week the Australian opposition leader was deposed by his party because he supported government plans for carbon trading. In Britain growing reservations have been expressed by Conservatives about their leader David Cameron’s commitment to measures designed to combat global warming. On politics UK this week we examine the re-emergence of climate scepticsm with leading scientist Professor Mike Hulme, and the former Tory Chancellor Nigel Lawson, founder of a think tank devoted to the subject.

If he wins the general election, David Cameron has also promised that policing in England and Wales will be entrusted for the first time to elected commissioners. We’ll be debating the pros and cons with a supporter of the idea, the Spectator magazine’s political editor James Foesyth, and an opponment, Rob Garnham, chairman of the Association of Police Authorities. 

And how close are the Scottish National Party to achieving their dream of an independent Scotland? This week the SNP government in Edinburgh published plans for a referendum on the subject.  Political scientist Professor James Mitchell is an expert on Scottish politics, and he’ll bring us up to date.

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04/12/2009

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