On Sunday 29 March Andrew Marr interviewed the Foreign Secretary David Miliband MP.
Please note ' The Andrew Marr Show ' must be credited if any part of this transcript is used.
The Foreign Secretary says reforming the world's financial system is the priority for the summit.
ANDREW MARR:
Well we've been hearing this morning about Chinese-British relationships, about Chinese-Russian-British relationships, and of course this week in London we're going to have I think one of the biggest gatherings of world leaders ever seen for this G20 Summit.
David Miliband MP
So there is a great deal to talk about with the Foreign Secretary David Miliband who is with me now.
Welcome, Foreign Secretary.
DAVID MILIBAND:
Good morning, Andrew. Good to be here.
ANDREW MARR:
The G20 agenda. From what Kevin Rudd was saying and what's been said in the papers as well, there isn't going to be a new announcement on the fiscal stimulus side and so I'm still struggling to grasp what is going to be the sort of rabbit-out-of-a-hat as it were in the final communique. Are we going to see something genuinely fresh on the architecture of the world's finances, for instance?
DAVID MILIBAND:
I think that what is in play at the moment - and it's significant that discussions are still going on - is first of all real discussion about financial sector reform because, remember, the origins of this crisis are in the financial sector.
ANDREW MARR:
Yes.
DAVID MILIBAND:
Secondly in respect of macroeconomic coordination and the commitments of the finance ministers and how they're taken forward. Third in respect of trade where words matter but so do systems for ensuring that open trade is protected and, if possible, advanced. Fourth, and significantly, 70% of the world's economic growth in the last 10 years has come from emerging and developing countries. They are represented at the G20. It's significant that the whole world is effectively around the table, not just the rich parts of the world. So for the developing world, there are issues in play, and there's also the low carbon aspect. I think that is the agenda. And it's not about rabbits out of hats. This is about trying to tackle an exceptional economic crisis, far beyond the financial system, and set in place measures, measures, that really do make a difference over the short-term and the medium-term.
ANDREW MARR:
So we will, we will actually see a series of specific, concrete proposals?
DAVID MILIBAND:
That's certainly the …
ANDREW MARR:
It won't be general declarations?
DAVID MILIBAND:
No, this is not just warm words. This is about … There's an article in the newspapers today saying 2 trillion dollars is never going to be achieved. It actually already has been achieved! That was actually a previous draft of the declaration. And so substantial measures have been taken. But it is a unique process because the truth about this is that the world's been fundamentally unbalanced over the last 10 or 20 years - unbalanced economically between rich and poor, unbalanced environmentally, but also unbalanced politically because we've got a global economic system but essentially national political systems. What you see in the G20 is economic governance, issues of politics at the international level being applied to the economy really for the first time in 50 or 60 years. And I think that is what makes this significant - not least because there's real issues and real substance at stake.
ANDREW MARR:
But to be absolutely clear, what we're not going to see is another huge tranche of money around the world freshly announced.
DAVID MILIBAND:
Well this debate and this G20 Summit was never about writing national budgets. It is about the international financial architecture. The European Union has pledged $100 billion. So has Japan. So there will be figures in respect of the role of the IMF, in respect of helping developing countries, but it's not about writing …
ANDREW MARR:
(over) But in terms of new … You know you were talking past tense then, and I understand that, but we're not going to see another sort of global cheque being waved at the end of this.
DAVID MILIBAND:
Well there are global cheques with respect to the IMF and the World Bank.
ANDREW MARR:
Right, okay.
DAVID MILIBAND:
There are not cheques to do with the British budget, which is set in April, or the German budgets, etcetera. So this is not about substituting.
ANDREW MARR:
So when Angela Merkel says you know we're not going to be spending it, we're not going to have another fiscal boost, you know it's wrong, let's see how this one works - in essence we've accepted that argument?
DAVID MILIBAND:
We were never trying to substitute our decisions for the German budgetary process. The Germans …
ANDREW MARR:
(over) I think she was talking about the world, not …
DAVID MILIBAND:
(over) Remember when I came on this programme last year, you were saying look the Germans are never going to do a fiscal stimulus, they don't agree with you. In fact two massive budget stimuluses have been put through in Germany. 4% of German GDP, a German fiscal stimulus actually bigger than ours. So let's not hear this; that somehow the Anglo Saxons are for fiscal policy and the other Europeans are for somehow regulation. You've got to do both. You've got to mend the banking system, but you've also got to make sure that demand is put back into the economy.
ANDREW MARR:
I went through quite a lot of the issues between Russia and Britain with President Medvedev. What did you make of what he was saying and the tone that was coming back?
DAVID MILIBAND:
Well I think it's significant and important. Gordon Brown reached out to President Medvedev last July at the G8 Summit. He made a particular point of saying that the Russian election could be a new beginning. And I think we've never sought to disguise the fact that there are bilateral issues that divide us, but at the multilateral level on Iran, where there were significant statements today in your interview, on climate change, on nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament, we have big issues that we need to engage with, grapple with with Russia. The Russian President, the Russian Foreign Minister are coming this week and as leaders of the Security Council, we're both permanent members of the Security Council, we have important responsibilities where we need to work with Russia. We've always said it should be hard-headed engagement, and I think that's what we're getting back from the Russians.
ANDREW MARR:
And in hard-headed terms on some of those specifics, do you now accept that we're not going to get anywhere with the Lugovoy-Litvinenko issue; that he is not going to be sent for trial in a third jurisdiction?
DAVID MILIBAND:
Well I don't think we can abandon our own independent judicial systems. Our judicial system has set in play a prosecution case. We've made requests to the Russians. It's not for me to interfere in that and abandon that. We've had a terrible murder on British streets and it's right that we pursue that. Equally, on the multilateral agenda we say we've got business with the Russians and, as President Medvedev said, there's also a trading link. So we can compartmentalise those, I think.
ANDREW MARR:
And what about the British Council? Do you think relations are beginning to normalise?
DAVID MILIBAND:
Well …
ANDREW MARR:
Have you talked about restriction still?
DAVID MILIBAND:
Yeah, the British Council is now only operating in Moscow.
ANDREW MARR:
Moscow.
DAVID MILIBAND:
The biggest losers are actually Russians. One and a quarter million Russians used the British Council last year. This year, only about 500/700,000 will be able to because of the restrictions on their activity. That's a Russian loss and I hope that they recognise that the purpose of the British Council is actually to foster understanding between countries. It's not to pump out the line of the British government. So I think that it is very, very important that we engage with countries like Russia without fear or favour, but absolutely clear that they are as much part of this new global society as we are.
ANDREW MARR:
Now we heard, we heard President Medvedev talking about Obama. He and the Russian President haven't met Obama before, so there's going to be a sort of kind of speed dating, diplomatic speed dating going on in London at the moment. (Miliband laughs) Do you think this is a moment for a change in the tone of relations between the West and Russia and also China?
DAVID MILIBAND:
Well I don't think it's more than tone. What Joe Biden, the US Vice President said, is that he wanted to set the reset button on the US-Russia relationship, and he has shown, whether on issues of nuclear proliferation or other issues, that they want to work with the Russians very, very closely. And that must be a good thing because Russia has big equities in the international system. It's got a big role to play if it chooses to play it. And, as I say, I think the Prime Minister was ahead of the curve on this last year and I think it's right that this has followed through.
ANDREW MARR:
When it comes to running through many of the issues in front of you at the moment, when it comes to the change of policy in Afghanistan announced by President Obama, are we going to see another announcement of British troops to complement that?
DAVID MILIBAND:
Well we've not been asked by the US or by anyone else to increase our number of troops. We have about … between, around 12% of all foreign troops in Afghanistan. The biggest increase in troops in Afghanistan over the next few years is going to come from recruits of the Afghan National Army. We are not in Afghanistan to create a new colony.
ANDREW MARR:
So we shouldn't expect another boost from …
DAVID MILIBAND:
(over) We always keep our troop numbers under review because we have to do so for the safety of our own troops and for our contribution to the coalition, but we haven't been asked for more troops. What we have now is a new strategy from the US. It's a Pakistan as well as an Afghan strategy. That's a good thing. It's civilian as well as military. That's also a very, very good thing. And at its heart is building the capacity of the Afghan government and the Pakistani government to sustain their own societies. That's also essential.
ANDREW MARR:
Turning to domestic politics for a moment, the Home Secretary in trouble again over her expenses. Other ministers in trouble. First of all, is her position any longer sustainable? And, second, for how long are we going to be picking up newspapers again and again with MP's pushing absolutely to the edges and beyond what they can claim for expenses? This is bad for politics.
DAVID MILIBAND:
Jacqui Smith is doing an outstanding job as Home Secretary. I'm not going to make any comment about individual allegations in respect of MP's expenses. What I know is that the system has to be much, much clearer than it was in the past. That's the purpose of the reforms that are being put into place. The system has to be clear above all in the interests of the public, so that they can have trust and confidence in what I know, which is that MP's come to Westminster on all sides of the political spectrum …
ANDREW MARR:
(over) This looks a bit like final straw time for her, doesn't it?
DAVID MILIBAND:
Well I am never going to get into individual cases.
ANDREW MARR:
Okay.
DAVID MILIBAND:
What I'm absolutely confident of is that Jacqui Smith is doing an outstanding job as the Home Secretary with some of the toughest responsibilities in government. And I think that what counts in respect of the MP system is that the system is clear.
ANDREW MARR:
Alright. One final question. One of the papers, I think it's the Independent on Sunday, raised today the prospect of a new global summit coming up specifically on climate change and greening the world's economy because that is the other vast issue in front of every world leader. Is that going to happen? Is that a true report?
DAVID MILIBAND:
Yes, it's already been fixed. Look, one of the remarkable …
ANDREW MARR:
(over) So could you just explain about that?
DAVID MILIBAND:
Yeah, one of the remarkable things that our Prime Minister has achieved since the Washington Summit is to broaden the agenda, so that it's not just about finance. It's about the economy and about low carbon …
ANDREW MARR:
Okay. This specific summit?
DAVID MILIBAND:
… and the green summit will be in December. It's the Copenhagen Summit. It will design a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol.
ANDREW MARR:
(over) It's the same Copenhagen Summit? There's not a new summit of working this out? Okay.
DAVID MILIBAND:
(over) Well I haven't read the newspaper report, but …
ANDREW MARR:
Alright, I just wanted to be clear about that.
DAVID MILIBAND:
The world has the responsibility this year to sort out the climate issue.
ANDREW MARR:
Foreign Secretary, thank you very much indeed for joining us.
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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