PM Direct at Vodafone
Prime Minister David Cameron was at Vodafone in Newbury as part of his 4-day economic tour.
Prime Minister
Im delighted to be here. Im actually particularly delighted to be here. Im a customer
[inaudible]
But I was brought up just down the road from here, and so I remember when this site was just a green field. I can remember Newbury before Vodafone. Actually, my mother was the local magistrate here for 35 years.
I think it was 1985 that the first mobile phone call was made in Britain, and it was made from here, in Newbury. I was checking out on the way here, 1985, Shakin Stevens was number 1 in case you were wondering, and actually I was working at Parcel Line in Hambridge Lane as a holiday job, packing parcels.
But the real reason for being happy to be here today is your extraordinary news. This is a great British success story, a huge British brand, a huge global brand and youre making some massive investments in the UK. Youre creating 1,400 new jobs, youre investing in stores up and down the country, youre building out your network, and that really matters to Britain because we want to be a leader in technology, in telecoms, in connectivity and in mobile comms. And all that youre doing in building out 4G, completing your network, is so important for our country.
And the only other thing I want to say before taking questions and please ask questions about anything you like; dont hold back. Say what you want.
This is a really important week for Britain and our economy. This governments got lots of things its got to do, lots of things Im very proud of, but the most important thing we have to do is turn this economy round, get more of our fellow countrymen and women into work and make sure Britain is 1 of the success stories of the 21st century.
And this week is very important in that respect, not just because of the great announcement that youre making, as other companies are making, but this is the week when we cut the rate of company tax, corporation tax, in Britain down to 21%, to make us one of the most attractive countries anywhere in the world to invest.
This is the week when we say to people, You can earn 贈10,000 before you start paying any income tax, because we want people to keep more of the money that they earn to spend as they choose.
This is the week when, particularly, we say to small business that were going to give you back the first 贈2,000 that you spend on National Insurance contributions because we want more companies to take on more employees.
This is the week when I hope the economic growth that were seeing, the success that were seeing accelerates, and more people feel that this country is on the move, that the jobs are coming, the business is coming, the economy is turning round, the deficits being dealt with and we can look forward to a more secure and stable future.
Theres a huge way to go. Im actually confident Britain can be a success story, and itll be companies like Vodafone and the new technologies that can really help us be that success story.
Its a fascinating thought that back in 1985 when that first mobile phone call was made no one really thought texting was going to be something people would want to do, and I always think thats a great example of how the politicians and the experts cant always cant always forecast what the new businesses, the new industries will be. But what the politicians should do is invest in the future, by backing science, backing universities, supporting technology, helping businesses to locate and grow here, because if we do that we can be a real success story.
That was all I wanted to say. Congratulations on what you are doing this week, the shops you are going to open, the high streets youre going to re-enliven, the services youre going to provide and, above all, the completion of the network. So, no more not-spots.
Right. Now okay, questions.
Question
Good afternoon Mr Cameron. Ive got an 8-year-old son. His name is Joe, and when he was 7 he saw you on the telly and he says, Look Dad, thats David Cameron, and I was quite surprised to learn that he knew who you were. So do you know what he does? He says, Not really, but hes the Prime Minister. So my question is just out of curiosity, for infant school or junior school children, do you think its important for them to know who you are and who the leader of the country is?
Prime Minister
I do. I dont think we should try and push politics on our children too early but I think teaching children about the political system, about democracy, about citizenship, about what we do, what our responsibilities are, I think that is important and that now does happen as part of the curriculum in our schools.
The way I always explain it, so you can use this if you like, is every school today has got a school council. So I go into a primary school and I say, Look, youve got a school council, you elect people to that council, whats the point of that council? Who runs the school? The head teacher. Well, what do you do, does the head teacher run the school on their own? No, they listen to the school council, and so that you listen to the ideas that come up through this council. So I always explain that the school council is really like Parliament, and the Prime Minister is a bit like the head teacher. Its quite a good way of explaining that actually we have a democracy, we have a parliament, we listen to peoples ideas before we take decisions and thats similar to a school. And I think thats probably enough politics for primary school; it can get a bit more developed in secondary school.
Question
As operators, we develop and manage an integral part of the national infrastructure. What more can and should the government do to further support us in the development and expansion of the network?
Prime Minister
Id say there are 3 things we need to do.
1 is we need to make sure we properly protect critical national infrastructure. We need to make sure that we really know, as a government and as a country, what the critical parts of our infrastructure are so that theyre resilient resilient from floods, resilient from extreme weather, resilient from terrorist attack. And so its very important that operators like Vodafone, BT, water companies, gas companies, all work with the government to ensure we can properly protect the national infrastructure in times of need. I think were much better at that than we used to be, but theres still more work to do. I think thats the first thing.
I think the second thing weve got to do together is actually deal with the not-spots, with the gaps in our network. I think Britain has a really proud record in terms of mobile technology networks.
[inaudible]
but weve still got a problem
[inaudible]
when you reach a not-spot and you cant carry on with your business.
Now that matters for UK Plc, that matters if were going to be a success story and so together we need to deal with this. And I was talking to some of the team here before this meeting about whats called the Mobile Infrastructure Project: how can we make sure with the other 3 main operators, we invest in more, more network, more towers so that we can fill in those gaps and those spots?
Vodafone is committed to doing that; the government is committed to putting in more money to doing that, because its not always in your commercial interest to fill in the last bit of the network. But weve got to do better at delivering that, and I think thatll be a key thing for Britains competitiveness.
The third thing weve got to do is really make sure were a broadband success story. Now, again, the picture is pretty good. Were on track to have one of the fastest and most extensive broadband networks anywhere in Europe. But here we are in West Berkshire, a relatively rural part of our country I represent West Oxfordshire, just down the road and, you know, for businesses in rural areas rural broadband is not just a sort of nice to have issue, it is a life and death issue. Its like not being connected to the road network, its like not having any access to a railway station; its absolutely critical.
And so the government is spending 贈790 million on rural broadband to fill in the parts that wont be done by the commercial operators, commercially, but we need to work with you, Vodafone, as well to see what 4G can bring in terms of filling in the gaps and making sure we get to 90%, 95% and then beyond 95%, because as I say, any business in this part of the world that needs to download advertisements, upload data, its going to be at a massive disadvantage if it doesnt have that access.
So I think those are the 3 absolutely critical things, and time is pressing. Weve got to get our broadband network faster and better than the rest of Europe quickly, because it will be 1 of the key determinants as to whether Britain is a success in the future or not.
Question
I look after the Police Liaison Team here at Vodafone, so we ensure that police get the information that they need to help fight crime. Now, given that the communications environment is changing and the government now more than ever need to balance security versus privacy, Im interested in what your view on that right balance is?
Prime Minister
Public procurement in this area hasnt always been a success. Not always, but these technologies are vitally important for our public services.
Where are we on this balance of liberty and security? Look, as Prime Minister, I feel a real responsibility to help us fight terrorism, to help us fight serious and organised crime, and I think that our intelligence services deserve proper support and backing. We are under a permanent risk. The situation in Northern Ireland is much better than it was, but there are still dissident Republican groups that would love to be able to do damage not just in Northern Ireland but here on the mainland too. We still face a threat from extremist Islamist terrorism; weve seen that on the streets of our capital and I would say that every year since Ive been Prime Minister at least 1 major plot that could have done major damage to our country and killed many, many people has been stopped.
So I come at this thinking a lot about the security aspect of it. I would argue that when you look at what we do in this country in terms of either intercepting and listening to peoples telephone calls or indeed getting hold of whats called the communications data, which is simply the data of who called who from where and when, but not the content of the call, I would argue we have very good rules, regulations and laws in place to deal with that. Very simply put, to listen in to someones telephone call in this country you have to have a signed warrant by the Home Secretary. A politician at the top of the Cabinet has to individually look at the case and sign it. I think that is a very big thing.
In terms of getting the communications data, who called who and when which is absolutely vital in solving not just terrorist crimes but solving crimes about missing children or abductions in order to have that information you have to use the regulation of RIPA. You have to go through that Act and get it signed by a senior official. So I think given that there is a balance between liberty and security, I think we have well regulated security and intelligence services in our country and we operate the law properly, but its going to take a lot of work to make sure that continues to be the case. But I would always err on the side of making sure we can keep the country safe; I see that as one of my most important priorities.
Question
Today I heard that the EU announced that all data roaming charges will be abolished, so whats your opinion about EU regulation and do you think the British people will benefit from EU regulations in the long run? And do you fear the outcome of a referendum about the EU in England?
Prime Minister
First of all, I think happily, because Im surrounded by Vodafone employees I think actually Vodafone and the British government are in the same place as this, which is we want new EU regulation to level the playing field but were not happy with the content of that current EU regulation.
And so were going to work with Vodafone and with the other operators to make sure that in Europe we make sure this regulation works for Britain, works for Europe and obviously its better for consumers. I think roaming charges are expensive in Europe and we need to deal with this issue. Weve got to get it right.
But this does raise a bigger and more important issue, which goes straight to the debate about Britains EU membership. My view is very simple: I think the EU isnt working properly. I think we need to change the way it works, we need to make it work better. And I think thats perfectly possible to do that; Ive proved that by cutting the budget. That was something that was spending too much money and I insisted the budget came down, and it is coming down. So you can get change in Europe, and I want less regulation, less bureaucracy. Yes people should be able to move and work around Europe but they shouldnt be able to just move to Britain in order to claim benefits.
[Political content removed]
And so I think its absolutely crucial that we stay in the single market, which is at the heart of the European Union and the bit of the European Union were most enthusiastic about.
We often win these arguments about regulation. Id say more often than not we do, partly because when Im sitting around that table in the European Union I can actually point to our telecoms market, where youve got companies like Vodafone that arent the national operator, youre not the inheritor to BT, you are an independent company that has succeeded all over the world. Most of my colleagues sitting round the table are batting on behalf of Deutsche Telecom or France Telecom or Telecom Italia; theyre dealing with the old state monopolies that are becoming a bit more competitive, but they havent got the great new insurgent companies like Vodafone that I have.
So we have a lot of clout round the table, we do win a lot of these arguments, we need change in Europe [Political content removed] But we should fight for that reform first.
Question
What do you think the battleground will be for the next election the top 5 key battleground elements?
Prime Minister
I think you can always run through the things that people care about the most: jobs and the economy, immigrations a very big issue, the future of our health service, our schools and whether theyre providing for our children, the issue of Europe is often number 5 or number 6 issue. But I think personally that the issue will boil down to 1 quite simple but really, really important thing, which is this: our country has been through a very difficult economic time. We had the longest and deepest recession in living memory, and I think the challenge for the government, the challenge for this generation of politicians, is who has got the best ideas to get the economy moving again, to create jobs again, to get the deficit down and to demonstrate that Britains got a strong economic future.
But it wont be won just by talking about the facts and the figures and the statistics. I mean: 1.3 million more people in work than when I became Prime Minister, 400,000 new businesses working in Britain since I became Prime Minister, were exporting again, were manufacturing again. These are all great statistics. But I think the key in convincing people about whether were on the right track will be the values behind all of that. What people really want to know is are those new jobs going to mean more families with a wage earner, bringing home a pay packet, able to provide for their families? Are these new businesses really about people setting up and being able to achieve their dreams of going it alone? Is Britain going to be able to earn our way in the world in such a way that were going to be able to reduce peoples taxes and help them to live a better life? In the end I think what people will want to know is who is the best team to provide the stability, the security, the peace of mind so that they know this country is going to be a great place to live in the future?
And I think thats what I want to get across, and I think the battle I have, frankly going to be a battle obviously with my [Political content removed] opponents; about whos got the right plans, whos got the right ideas, whos got the right values, but Ive also, I think, got a fight, a battle, to explain to people whove become depressed about Britain and worried about our future, who worry is this going to be a great country to bring up children, for children to go to school, for children to get jobs, people worrying about the future generations.
Now, Im an optimist, and Im not just optimistic because Im Prime Minister and I want to talk up Britain. I actually do believe that we can be a success story. If we get our education system right, if we invest in apprenticeships, if we help people to get the qualifications they need, England, Britain, United Kingdom, weve got a lot of things going for us: the English language, great universities, very good companies, were very inventive, were a trading nation. We can be a success story, but that success has got to be based on really good values in education, on hard work and on a government that understands that enterprise is the key to a countrys future success. Thats what I think its going to be all about, but the difficult thing about my job is I dont get to choose, you get to choose. And Ive got a big job interview coming up in 2015 and Ill have to do my best when the time comes.
Question
With the facilities that through Vodafones fixed and mobile network we can provide to people and businesses throughout the UK with that in mind, why is it so important to spend so much money on a high speed rail link between north and south?
Prime Minister
I think youre going to see a lot more people doing business over the internet, video conferencing, all of that, but I think the idea that people arent going to want to travel for business or leisure or whatever, thats clearly not the case. And what Id say about HS2, first of all let me give you a bit of reassurance, because I think there are people who live not on the line, as it were, people living here in Newbury or in the south west of our country who think all the moneys going on HS2, right? Thats not true.
We are spending, in the next parliament, 3 times more on other road and rail projects, including the electrification of the West Coast Main Line coming from London through Newbury and off to Cardiff in Swansea; indeed, were spending 3 times as much on other road and rail projects as we are on HS2. But heres the case for HS2: the West Coast Main Line between London and Birmingham is full. Every day thousands of people arrive in Euston station having been standing on the train all the way from Birmingham, thousands of people in Birmingham having travelled all the way from London standing. Its full. We need another railway line.
The question for us: do we build an old fashioned Victorian-style railway line or do we build one of the new-fangled high speed railway lines? Just as we want to have the best broadband, the best mobile, the best telephony service, all of that, we want to have one of the best transport infrastructures in our country, so I say we should build that high speed railway line. It gives us the capacity we need between London and Birmingham, it will free up an enormous amount of railway use for other routes, and then as you go north from Birmingham, going to Manchester and going to Leeds, youre going to end up connecting Britains largest cities through one high speed rail network.
And we all know the truth about Britain: economic activity and wealth and prosperity has been too concentrated in the south east of our country and in London, and I think high speed rail will be a really important way of helping to spread that wealth and prosperity. Im almost old enough in fact Im just old enough to remember West Berkshire before the M4, and a lot of people thought, Why do you want to build the M4, whats that all about? Its been the most extraordinary generator of wealth and prosperity and businesses. This has become a sort of silicon corridor for our country. The M40, hugely important; think of High Speed 1, and what High Speed 1 has done between London and the Channel Tunnel and the transformation of East Kent. We need that to spread to the other parts of our country, so Im passionate about going ahead with high speed rail.
We should be a country taking long-term decisions to invest in the future. Thats what youre doing at Vodafone, building out your network. Governments should do the same. Thats why were investing in nuclear power, thats why were investing in offshore wind, thats why were building high speed rail, thats why were making sure we can afford our pension system for the future. Governments normally take short-term decisions, not long-term decisions; Im determined this one is going to be different and we do things that our children and grandchildren will turn round and say, That was the decade they actually took some decent decisions and put this country on track for a better future.
Question
Whats the thing youre most proud of that youve achieved in this parliament? What do you regret the most in this parliament? And what are you going to do differently in the next one?
Prime Minister
I think what Im trying to say today is there are lots of things that Im proud of. Im proud of the fact that we kept our promise to give 0.7% of this countrys GDP in overseas aid to the poorest countries in the world. I think there are lots of countries in fact I could name them and lots of politicians and I could probably name them as well who would have broken that promise. But I think you dont break your promise to the poorest people in the poorest countries in the world, so Im very proud of that.
Im proud of smaller things like National Citizen Service. It is now a great way for 16-year-olds to take part in community service, to go away from school, away from home and actually learn about citizenship, about volunteering, about communities, and 1 day I want every 16-year-old in the country to do it. Im hugely proud of that. So there are lots of individual things I could point to, but really I think what this government is about and must be about is turning round this economy. And the fact there are over a million 1.3 million more people in work, bringing home a pay packet, that is the most important thing this government has done.
What do I most regret? Well, obviously I regret not winning the election outright because I have to expend a lot of energy working in coalition. So that is a regret, but weve made it work. I think its important in politics that youre dealt a hand, youve got to get on and play it. The country wouldnt understand if we bickered all the time, they want us to get on and govern and make decisions. But obviously I regret not winning.
Whats the biggest thing we can do in the next parliament that we havent done in this? The short answer, I would say, is complete the job. You know, we havent finished the work. We inherited a deficit that was 11% of our national income, bigger than anywhere else in the developed world. Weve got it down by a third, next year itll be down by a half, but I want to get rid of that deficit. I want us when were growing, I want us to be paying down the national overdraft, not adding to it paying down the national level of debt. I dont want us to be in a position when the next time the storms hit and storms do hit in international economics the next time storms hit I want us to be in a stronger position, paying down the debt so we can withstand what can be a very tricky economic world.
It might be unromantic to say finish the job, but there are still too many young people unemployed, there are still too many parts of our country that arent feeling the wealth and prosperity of growth, were still borrowing too much money and politicians love it when they can get off the need to take difficult decisions and start spending all your money. We shouldnt be doing that; we should be focussing on the job in hand, completing the job, and that is why Ill be seeking re-election for a full term when the election comes.
Question
How do you think that mobile and government can come together to increase governments reach to the people?
Prime Minister
I think we should be transforming, and we are to an extent, transforming the way government delivers its services so it is digital by default. You should be able to pay all your bills, council tax, pay your taxes, get your drivers licence, apply for your passport; you should be able to do all of this digitally by default. And I think your companies, with the technology you have, you should be helping us to do this, and then I think we should be working with you to sell this around the world. Theres a small company Ive done a bit of work with they come on my business trips around the world called Monetise. When they started, they were nothing, a tiny company, they do mobile banking services; theyve now got millions of customers all over the world.
This is an enormous revolution about using mobile telephony for banking, government and other services, and we are good at it here. We should be even better at it and then we should sell it round the world. Some people say why dont we just make voting much easier, so you can vote by internet, vote by phone, and then well get the number of people voting up? I think theres something wrong about that, and Ill try and explain why. Im not against making it easier to vote, but I dont think thats the problem. People dont vote because theyre not convinced it matters enough. And I think if we just say, Im going to make it easier for you, I think theyll say to us, You havent really solved my problem, Im not voting for you because Im not convinced youre going to make a difference. And as someone who cares passionately about public service, about politics, about the future of our country, I want to convince people that voting is worth a rain-sodden trip to that polling station. Its really worth wearing out the shoe leather, putting the cross in the old fashioned box, because you get to choose who governs you, and that is something that people in this country have died for, and people around the world are still dying for.
So, yes, okay, lets have a debate about making it easier, but lets not miss the point, which is to try and demonstrate through our politics and our public life that it can make a difference, we can make good decisions as a country or bad decisions as a country. And I think for young people, they are the most idealistic of all in many ways. And I think simply pandering to them by saying, Ill make it so easy to vote; itll be just like, you know, voting on X Factor, misses the point. They want to know that the politicians theyre voting for have got a beating heart and really care about the future of this country and theyre going to take decisions that will give them a better future. So, Id rather crack that than simply just use your technology to save someone a trip to the polling station.
Question
Do many of your Cabinet use social media and, if so, do you encourage them to?
Prime Minister
Yes, I think they all do and I encourage them. The fact is if youre in politics, you need to use all the means of communications in order to discuss ideas and to convince people of your plans and also to get the feedback from them. And I think using Twitter, using Facebook, all of the modern methods are politicians should all be doing that.
So, I tweet. I dont tweet that regularly. I think I still think that politicians have got to work out how to try and make decisions in a thoughtful and considered way in a not just a 24-hour news environment now, in an hourly, minutely news environment. I sometimes sit in the Cabinet Room, which is such an extraordinary honour to sit in that room where Churchill sat in May 1940 and he was trying to decide, with his Cabinet colleagues, about whether we should fight on against Nazi Germany. And theres a great book about it called Five Days in May. Can you imagine that today? Youd have, like, Five Minutes in May. Youd have Sky News outside say, Well, I think the Prime Ministers dithering. When are they going to make a decision? Im coming up to a deadline. Youd have, you know Im not asking for sympathy because, you know you do this job because you love it, but the pressure of media deadlines, the Twittersphere going round and round so quickly means that it is difficult for politicians to stand back, take decisions in time. And we need our politicians to do that.
So, what I try to say to my colleagues is, Use social media to communicate and to listen but also try and take the time to think through the big decisions so that you get them right. And I think thats going to be its going to be just a challenge we have to learn to live with. It sometimes means that you have to just let a bad thing roll on for a while, while everyones saying, Why cant they make up their mind? Why cant they make a decision? Because you sometimes you need a bit of time to work out what the right thing is to do.
Question
As leaders, in Vodafone we understand the importance of getting work life balance right. Earlier, you just mentioned your schedule just for today. How on earth do you manage to get that right, or strive to?
Prime Minister
Well, I have the advantage; I live above the shop most of the time so Im able to wander upstairs and see my 3-year-old. And I get to see my children when they come back from school. Ive a long working day but I can pop and try and make a bit of time. My 3-year-old has an interesting experience of life because of course she was born when I was Prime Minister and so, shes never lived anywhere else other than Downing Street. So, she actually thinks that Number 10 Downing Street, Number 11 Downing Street, the Cabinet Office and most of Whitehall is actually her home.
My view is that it is possible to be a good Prime Minister, a good husband and a good father at the same time. You have to recognise that you often have to drop everything and concentrate on a national security issue and the job that you have, but it must be possible to do those things. I think, though, increasingly in our country, people are finding it very difficult particularly to make the child care numbers add up. I think for working parents, when you look at the costs of child care, you look at what you can get paid and making all that work is incredibly difficult and I think we need to do more here.
Weve done the 15 hours a week of free nursery care, but whats coming in next year is this concept of tax relief on your child. So, if you are a working couple, if youve got a child and youre spending, say, up to 贈10,000 on child care, you should get the first 贈2,000 back to help you with the bills, because I meet far too many people now who say, You know, Id like to I work 1 day a week. Id like to work 3 or 5. I cant because if I pay the extra child care Im really not making any money. And obviously we hope that pay levels Im sure we all do hope that pay levels will go up in time as we grow in competitiveness and productivity. But I think the government should be helping with tax relief of child care not to force people back to work, not to point a finger at a family and say, You should do this, or, You should do that, but to give people the option to support people with the choice that they want to make. And I think thats the biggest things we could do right now for work life balance.
Question
If we were to go ahead with fracking in the UK, what impact do you think thatd have on the economy and also the prices from the energy companies?
Prime Minister
I think its really worth standing back and looking at the big picture of whats happened in America and theyve been really going for this for some years now. Their gas and electricity and energy prices are now somewhere like half of ours. Theyre seeing this phenomenon, which we want to see here in Britain, of reshoring, of manufacturing businesses relocating back into the United States, and their economy is really benefitting from this unconventional gas. Theyve also become more energy independent. It means that theyre going to be now a net exporter of energy. Theyre less reliant on sources of fuel from difficult parts of the world. So, its been a real success and so I think we would be totally wrong to cut ourselves off from this and say: Were not going to look at it.
The figures are pretty depressing. In Europe as a whole, weve got 75% of the shale gas reserves they have in America. Theyve dug 10,000 wells; weve dug 100. So, if we think about Europe, our continent, we are missing out. We are falling behind and, in this business, you know that if you fall behind on technology, you fall behind and you get beaten by your competitors. Its the same for our country. So, I really think we need to look at it. I think that we should be and we are now digging some unconventional gas wells.
I believe it can be done safely. It can be done with environmental safeguards. I think there are a lot of scare stories put out about it. Weve put in place now quite generous packages for local people. So, if a well is dug in your area, you immediately get 贈100,000 for the community. You then get 1% of the revenues not 1% of the profits, 1% of the revenues, which could be as much as 贈10 million over the life of that well. And having seen what were doing on onshore already with conventional oil and gas in for instance Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, I think we should be investing in this. I think we should be pushing forward with this and I think the best test of all will be when it is there for everyone to see and people can see whether it is environmentally damaging and see what the traffic effects are. And I think theyll be hugely reassured.
I think its a little bit like the Newbury bypass controversial thing to say. I remember before the bypass arrived, we sat in traffic on the way into Newbury. You sat in traffic in Newbury and it made peoples lives a misery. Then the bypass proposal was made. There were massive protests. Now the bypass is there, would anyone want to sort of rip it up and replant the grass and go back to traffic jams? Of course not. I think this is about progress and I think governments and countries need to be on the side of progress if were going to be prosperous and successful in the future.
Question
When you came to power, there was a much heralded bonfire of the quangos and one of the bodies that survived was our regulator Ofcom. And I just wondered how well you thought they were doing in terms of promoting the needs of business?
Prime Minister
There are some quangos you cant get rid of. You have to have a regulator for telecoms and media. What we tried to do was look at regulators and decide whether were they really policy makers, in which case policy should be made in government, or were they regulators with a function where you have to be impartial and away from politics. And if they were those things they should be left, but if they were policy makers they should be abolished and brought into government. And we have saved a lot of money and we have had a bit of a bonfire. But Ofcom does have a very important role in terms of awarding licences and policing behaviour and the rest of it.
Do they always get it right? No. Did Ofcom almost become perhaps too big with too many responsibilities because of the arrival of telecoms, media, broadcasting, everything within this one body? I dont know. Someone could write a doctoral thesis about that. I would argue overall if you look at the state of the industry that youre in, if you look at Britains very competitive telecoms market, very competitive mobile telephony market, pretty effective broadcasting market and domestic TV production market, the industry is in good hands. Now, thats mainly down to you and businesses like yours, but I dont think we should say that the regulators had nothing to do with it. They may have made decisions that youve disagreed with but, overall, I think they do a reasonable job.
Question
Whats your most impressive selfie been?
Prime Minister
Well, I can certainly say the most the one Ive had the most grief for, which is obviously the one in South Africa where I dont think any copy of this selfie actually exists. The Danish Prime Minister has said to me that shes never going to release this picture of me, her and Obama, which I think until weve all retired is probably a very good measure.
Although you are responsible for great technology, youre also responsible for making my life a lot more difficult because everywhere you go its not just the selfies but people film everything now. And the quality of the video is remarkable and the speed of upload is incredible. So, something you say, you know, one minute is uploaded on the internet the next minute we live in and thats in a way, thats a very good thing. It makes politicians more accountable. It makes things more direct but it certainly means that, when you stop for a cup of coffee at Newbury service station, it takes you longer to get the cup of coffee because there are quite a few people who want selfies on the way through.
Question
Do the government have any plans to support retail and get customers back on our high streets?
Prime Minister
Well, first of all, this does give me an opportunity to end where I began with a thank you to Vodafone because actually its quite interesting for a business that is so much about new technology, does a huge amount over the internet, that you are doing what I think people call bricks and clicks: you are investing in high street stores as well as running a great service on the internet.
And that I think is hugely important because I love our high streets. I think that actually the high streets a really important part of British culture. I love shopping. Id like our towns our market towns to have investment in them, and seeing boarded up shops is incredibly depressing. So, what Vodafones doing is going to help 140 shops that should be 140 high streets is really going to help with that.
What can the government do here? I think a number of things we can help with. First is we can help by dealing with the issue of business rates, which we did in the budget. We took 贈1,000 off the business rates of a lot of small shops to give them some relief. I think that is important. Second thing we can do is employment allowance. So, were saying to businesses, particularly small firms, You dont have to pay the first 贈2,000 of your National Insurance contributions. So, as you walk down the high street and you see the florist and the store and the caf辿, and all of them are going to have 贈2,000 off their tax bill which will help them run successful businesses.
I also think we need to change some of the rules. There are very strict rules that if you have office space it has to be used for office space. If you have retail space it has to be used for retail space, and I think this has meant that high streets havent been able to change fast enough to reflect the changing way that people live and shop. Were lifting some of these restrictions. So, if youve got unused office space you can turn it into residential space or into retail space and vice versa. This sort of flexibility is important because increasingly people are going to be using the high street for going to a caf辿, for meeting people, perhaps for going to a store, having already done the research on the internet. The shopping experience and the high street experience is going to be different.
So, the governments got to help by freeing up the rules, cutting taxes for businesses on the high street, helping local authorities with advice about how to get high streets going, which Mary Portas has been helping with. But, in the end, it does come down to all of us. If we dont use our high streets, if we sit at home and we order everything on the internet and we dont use our high streets, we will lose them. We do need if we care about the high street shops, the high street culture then, as consumers, weve got to make sure that were using and caring about what we love. Vodafone is making it easier by putting these very attractive, interesting shops on our high streets where people are going to want to go to see your great products.
So, thank you for what youre doing today, but above all, thank you for the very warm reception youve given me here back in Newbury. Its lovely to be back. Best of luck with what youre doing, best of luck with your investment and thank you for the jobs youre creating today.