'Not a poster site has been booked'

Please note 'The Andrew Marr Show' must be credited if any part of this transcript is used.

Labour's election co-ordinator Douglas Alexander dismisses talk of an early General Election.

Douglas Alexander MP, International Development Secretary

ANDREW MARR: Now then, the impact of recession is of course biting here - 15,000 job losses were announced last week alone; mortgages drying up; value of shares and savings falling.

But we keep being told that this is a global problem, so what's the effect on the world's poorest countries?

Will they find richer nations less willing to give aid or to buy their goods? I'm joined by the International Development Secretary, Douglas Alexander.

Mr Alexander, to what extent was this summit, the G20, a turning point in the world because there were countries like Brazil and India up there with the old club of rich countries?

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: I think it does reflect a fundamental rebalancing of power in the global economy that's been under way for a number of years now - countries like China and India increasing in their voice and in their influence within the global economy.

But I think if we've learned anything over the last six months to a year, it's the extent to which every country is in this together. That's why I welcome the summit and I think it's important we take forward the start that was made in Washington yesterday. This evening I'll be travelling to India to speak to the Indian Trade Minister tomorrow to try and move forward the world trade talks.

ANDREW MARR: Because India has been a bit of a block when it comes to the trading issue, hasn't it?

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: India has been one of the countries which wasn't able to sign up to the deal in July. I was there in Geneva at the world trade talks. We were there for eight days, but regrettably at that stage, there wasn't a consensus across the world as to the need for a trade deal.

The difference a trade deal would make would be huge - estimates about a 100 to 150 billion pounds worth of trade every year - and when you consider for example that global shipping is down 90% in just the last month, now is exactly the time for a global shot in the arm, which is what an agreement on trade would give us.

ANDREW MARR: A lot of people will be looking at their budgets, a lot of finance ministers around the world, and traditionally aid has been one of the first things to be struck off. Is that going to happen now? Is it going to happen here?

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Well there's going to be a key meeting next month in Doha at which we're looking for the rich countries to recommit to the targets that they've set for international aid.

Because, as I say, if you look back over the last few months at rising fuel prices, rising food prices, the global financial crisis, it's been an object lesson in the extent to which we're all in this together and we now live in an interdependent world. So we've got a big vested interest, a self interest as well as a shared interest, in making sure that some of the world's poorest people don't suffer as a consequence of this global financial downturn.

ANDREW MARR: The sort of butterfly attention of the media has already come away from the Congo we were talking about in the last couple of weeks, but the situation there remains hideous. What more can be done?

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: It is desperately worrying what we're seeing in the Congo at the moment. We welcome the fact that the United Nations Special Representative, Obasanjo, is going to be meeting General Nkunda this afternoon, we understand, within the Congo.

But at the same time as we need a political track to find a political solution, we are working hard to support MONUC, the international force of peacekeepers who are there, but they actually need a peace to be able to keep and that's why the diplomatic track is so important.

ANDREW MARR: Very important. Meanwhile tens of thousands of people sitting in camps - no food, no water - in a really desperate situation. What about airlifting in more stuff?

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Well we've been airlifting in all week. British flights have been landing both in Kinshasa and also in Uganda. We're going to continue that work in the weeks and months ahead.

About two million pounds worth of food was delivered in recent days. At the same time, we're making sure that we get shelter, we get drugs - all of the requirements for what is a very significant humanitarian crisis.

ANDREW MARR: And what about Zimbabwe? Because there's another place where things are deteriorating again very fast. Again slightly out of the news at the moment, but wrongly.

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: We're very, very worried about Zimbabwe. I mean what was once the bread basket of Africa is now being impoverished on a monthly basis because we haven't seen the planting of seeds that we need, which means the risk that more people will go hungry in Zimbabwe grows by the month.

We've been disappointed that what could have been a turning point - the agreement that was reached with the South Africans between Zimbabwean Opposition and Zimbabwean leadership - does not yet appear to have yielded the fundamental change that we all want to see. But if and when that agreement is actually delivered, we stand ready not simply to provide financial support but to assist the people of Zimbabwe to find a way back.

ANDREW MARR: Obama said that he welcomed broadly speaking the summit that we started off talking about, but is there concern in the Government about potential protectionism in America? Some of the things that he's been saying particularly about the American car industry must cause concern?

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Well we are concerned about the risk of protectionism not just in the United States but globally because a beggar thy neighbour policy simply wouldn't work in circumstances of a global downturn. But�

ANDREW MARR: And do you think the Obama campaign has made that worse?

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Well as I was just going to say actually, I met the Obama trade team last month in Washington. They showed me the democratic convention platform which explicitly stated a desire to see the conclusion to the Doha Round. So what we saw in Washington over the last couple of days has been leaders from right around the world saying they want a trade deal by the end of the year.

That will make a difference not just to British consumers but literally to billions of the world's poorest people. It's a classic example of where we're in this together and we've got a shared interest in finding a way forward and we're looking forward to working with the new administration to try and achieve that.

ANDREW MARR: Now you've got a second job, which is election planning and so on. So what about all this stuff that we're reading in the papers about an election campaign happening next spring?

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: As Election Coordinator, I haven't spoken to Gordon Brown about the possibility of an election. We're getting on with the job. We're trying to take�

ANDREW MARR: So where do you think this stuff is coming from?

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Well I'm trying to work with other colleagues in Cabinet to take Britain fairly through the downturn. I think that's what the British people would expect of us and that's the entire focus of our work.

Of course there'll be chatter in the newspapers, there may be chatter in the tearoom, but I can assure you that at the level of the Cabinet we're entirely focused on trying to help people with rising food bills, rising fuel bills and all of the concerns that they've got as a result of the downturn.

ANDREW MARR: So there's no part of your working week which is about thinking about an April or May election next year? Nothing?

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: No. As I say, our work is focused both on�

ANDREW MARR: You're not booking up sites, poster sites or doing any of that stuff or raising money?

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Not a poster site has been booked. We're getting on with the job of focusing on how we can help families through the difficult times that they are facing and, frankly, I think that's what the British people would expect and want from us.

ANDREW MARR: Douglas Alexander, thank you very much indeed.

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER: Thank you.

INTERVIEW ENDS

INTERVIEW ENDS

Please note "The Andrew Marr Show" must be credited if any part of this transcript is used.

NB: This transcript was typed from a recording and not copied from an original script.

Because of the possibility of mis-hearing and the difficulty, in some cases, of identifying individual speakers, the BBC cannot vouch for its accuracy

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