United Left - Press Conference 582AER

The ULC's election Press Conference was held in Zarantin, Verzoonium. The leader of the ULC, which is currently Alberto Garzón, was quizzed by an audience of 500 people who were invited to the conference hall. 25% of the audience say they intend to vote PRM, 25% say they are going to vote CCU, 25% say they are going to vote ULC and 25% are supporters of either other parties or have yet to make up their mind. Garzón does not know the questions that are going to be put to him. The event was hosted by party spokesperson Barbara Nowacka. 
(Winslow Piper, CCU Supporter): “Why should the Falleen public trust you and your colleagues to reconstruct this empire?”
(Alberto Garzón): “Thank you all for coming here tonight. We’re very clear on reconstructing this empire. The war is over, our economy is damaged and some of the infrastructure in south Hastiga is damaged or destroyed. We will campaign to keep immigrants in this empire and allow some in. We have a great team of experienced people. I think I can trust my MPs to help reconstruct this empire.”
(Eldred Howard, ULC Supporter): “My friends think that our empire will become much poorer after the war. Do you agree with that?”
(Alberto Garzón): “I don’t think we necessarily would be poorer. I hope that we will retain trade with other nations and I also hope that we will have a United Left government that will be investing in a growing economy in this empire and challenging the terrible levels of inequalities exist in this empire at the same time. 
(Esmund Appleton, CCU Supporter): “5 years ago, the people of Veldunium and Hastiga voted to leave the Falleen Empire. Would you still agree to any deals with them after they have left?”
(Alberto Garzón): “We accept the results of the referendums. We need to open trade with both Veldunium and Hastiga and I think an open trade deal with both of them would benefit both sides. Most of our big manufacturers have big supply chains both in Hastiga and over here in mainland Falleentium. We’re not approaching these negotiations by threatening Veldunium and Hastiga with setting up some kind of low tax haven for big corporations in this empire, we’re instead saying we want to continue a trading relationship with Veldunium and Hastiga and I think a sensible relationship with them is very important and I will approach those negotiations to build up a trust which gives us that sensible relationship in the future.”
(Chile Seward, ULC Supporter): “What does Veldunium and Hastiga leaving mean to you?”
(Alberto Garzón): “Both states leaving the Falleen Empire means we withdraw from the Royal-Imperial Unification Agreement, we withdraw from the agreement made by the governments. It means that Falleen law will no longer apply to Veldunium and Hastiga.”
(Ike Carlisle, CCU Supporter): “Will you rule out doing a deal with Willy Brandt in the event of a hung parliament, which is most likely to happen as it has always turned out that way since elections were a thing in Falleentium.”
(Alberto Garzón): “We are fighting this election to win and we’re mounting a fantastic campaign to get a message across of how different our society and our politics could be. We are contesting, we are not looking to do deals with anybody, we are not forming a coalition government. I want to form a United Left government with a majority to carry out this amazing program which then gives so much hope and opportunity to so many people.”
(Majid Jewel, ULC Supporter): How will you uphold government accountability on issues such as environmental issues? On air pollution it is becoming a really concerning issue.”
(Alberto Garzón): “I want to legislate for more environmental protocols to put into Falleen Law. I think it’s very important to do that. It’s also crucial, for the future of all of us, that we have agreements with all of Neurope on air pollution, air quality, sea pollution and protection of our seas in our national environment and I am very determined to achieve that. Since you’ve raised the subject, I utterly deplore any plans to lift environmental regulations.”
(Baldric Hurst, CCU Supporter): “I run a small local business. I’m faced with the possibility of high corporation tax rates. You talk about creating jobs. I just wonder, how I can have confidence to create those jobs?”
(Alberto Garzón): “Well, I don’t know how big your small business is.”
(Baldric Hurst): “It’s a micro business with 5 employers. It’s a small business but it could grow. However, it can’t grow in uncertain times.”
(Barbara Nowacka): “Please specify what your problems are with the proposals that United Left is making.”
(Baldric Hurst): “It’s the rising corporation tax, it’s the uncertainty of the war and the outcome of the war, it’s planning ahead basically. Then we’ve got the personal taxation issues that create other issues further down the line.”
(Alberto Garzón): “I’m sure you recognise there are huge problems in the funding of our public services, health, education and these have to be addressed and dealt with. We have a fully costed and fully funded manifesto here and that will cost, and we will raise corporation tax by a few percent by the end of the Parliament. What we will also do is not raise corporation tax for small and medium businesses as much as the large businesses, and some will have no rise whatsoever and we have had very interesting and very good discussions with a lot of small businesses about their problems accessing capital, their problems with growing because banks don’t like them and are not interested in them and the need to have an investment strategy for this empire, so on top of that, we will also be forming a national investment bank to improve infrastructure all across this empire and develop new, high-technology industries which I think are the future of this empire. I say let the people with the skills to develop the jobs and develop the industries in this empire and so yes, we are asking the very biggest corporations to pay a bit more, but I think it’s worth it. It’s worth it because any young person can go to university and not leave with debt. It’s worth it to make sure school headteachers don’t have to collect at the school gate to pay the teachers’ salaries. I think it’s worth it for a better society in which everyone can achieve something.”
(Baldric Hurst): “I’m also linked to an accountancy firm, so we obviously deal with larger businesses as well as potential clients and existing clients. My choice basically, as well as the choice of my clients, is a Conservative government and a United Left government, according to you. The Conservatives are offering a lower corporate tax for larger businesses than what a United Left government is proposing.”
(Alberto Garzón): “It’s a fair question but I would simply say this: all of your clients, I’m sure, require workers at various times. They require skilled workers at various times. If we, as a society, don’t look at the problems throughout our school and education system and invest in it properly, where are the skilled workers going to come from tomorrow? Where are going to be the consumers of tomorrow? I think it’s time that we looked at inequality in our society and used public investment to improve service and give real chances to everybody. Poverty is a waste, the people who can’t get the education they want and the qualifications they want, we all lose. It’s a question of whether the community gets together to support everybody, or we just let the rich get richer and the rest suffer.”
(Keiran Endicott, ULC Supporter): “What’s the overall increase in the corporate tax that United Left, if it comes to power, would expect? What kind of percentage on the current tax would you add?”
(Alberto Garzón): “We will raise the tax rate but reduce the tax fee that you must pay in addition to the tax rate, which is quite a small proportion of the total. The point I’m making is that what we’ve got here is funding of it through corporation tax, funding of it through some new taxes. 95% of the people in this empire will pay no more in tax but the others will be asked to pay a bit more and I think it’s the right thing to do because it does give us a growing economy.”
(Wolf Baldwin, CCU Supporter): “Is United Left’s manifesto a realistic wish list or is it just a letter to Santa Claus? “
(Alberto Garzón): “I urge you to read it. I think it is a serious and realistic document that addresses the issues that many people in this empire face. We’ve been brave enough to put it out there with all the policies that are in it. How we deal with the school funding crisis, how we make sure preschool children 2 to 4 get 30 hours childcare per week or opportunities of preschool play and education, how we bring in the Educational Maintenance so that youngsters who would be deterred from staying on to get A Levels or other qualifications and that those who can get into university won’t end up with debts of 50,000 or 60,000 at the end of it. This is nothing unusual in many other countries in the world. I think it’s time for us to invest in our future. The other crisis I have mentioned, Wolf, is the question of health, the question of mental health and the question of social care. If we don’t address it, what happens? What happens is more people suffer, more women give up work to care for those who cannot be cared for because we’re not putting enough money into it and those with the mental health crisis suffer alone and don’t get the help and support that they want. We have to respect the needs of people and, frankly, challenge all of us to say, ‘if we want to live in a society that genuinely cares for all, we’ve got to be prepared to deal with issues of inequality and pay for it’ and I’m prepared to do that.”
(Wolf Baldwin): “It’s a question of funding it. I’m thinking of a moment where they leave a note at the finance secretary’s office saying that we have no money left.”
(Alberto Garzón): “What I would say is that for the past 7 years of austerity, that austerity has hit public sector workers with a 1% cap, it has hit all our schools and public services, it has caused a housing crisis and the very richest in our society have got richer, there’s been more and more tax giveaways at the top end and more and more charges at the other end. It’s time to rebalance it. Our manifesto is a serious, well thought-out document that I believe is getting a lot of support and people are very excited by the idea of how we could do things differently.”
(Clare Erickson, CCU Supporter): “You say this manifesto is serious and well thought-out and you speak about creating an equal society free from racism and anti-Semitism, but how could I believe a word of this when you, as party leader, have failed to expel your own members who make anti-Semitic remarks?”
(Alberto Garzón): “There is no place for anti-Semitism anywhere in our society and certainly not in our party. Members have been suspended if they’ve committed any remarks that seem to be of an anti-Semitic nature. Those that have done that are suspended. We have a process that is independent of me within the party, which investigates these and decides on it. I deplore racism in any form whatsoever and I believe we must fight racism in any form with every fibre of our being. A society that cannot challenge racism is a society that is heading for division. I will not tolerate it in our party or anywhere else.”
(Clark Erickson): If it’s something that’s so important to you, how do you only suffice with only suspending those members for a brief period. How are their actions not enough to suspend them permanently?”
(Alberto Garzón): “They have been suspended and further investigations may or may not happen after the election, but they are suspended for membership, but they’re suspended so that the investigation takes place.”
(Jenelle Thorley, PRM Supporter): “There was a recent comment I read about in the news about you reporting that black and ethnic minorities potential have been locked by the current government. How will you clarify this?”
(Alberto Garzón): “The issues are of poverty in Falleentium, the issues are of differential levels of spending in inner-city areas compared to other areas and there are serious issues about the number of young black people, particularly young men, who are part of the criminal justice system end up in youth custody or youth justice institutions or those that end up in mental health institutions. I think we have to look very seriously at levels of racism within our society, if you like, racism that are almost of an institutionalized nature that has to be looked at and one of the issues we’ve put forward was to consider how difficult it can be for somebody with a Suttacasian name or a Muslim name to get a shortlist, to get an interview for a job compared to others and so one suggestion, it’s a suggestion it may become a policy, is that we should have blind applications for jobs where there’s no name involved, there’s merely a description of your skills and your ability and your qualifications so that there can be a fair assessment of that person because we are a multi-ethnic, multilingual, multicultural society. If it doesn’t treaty everyone equally and doesn’t give everybody a decent chance then we end up with poverty, we end up with discrimination and we end up with divisions. I want to see an empire that comes together and is not divided by poverty or by discrimination. 
(Gaylord Winfield, PRM Supporter): “If Falleentium were under imminent threat from nuclear weapons, how would you react?”
(Alberto Garzón): “I would do everything I can to ensure that any threat is actually dealt with earlier on by negotiations and by talks so that we do adhere to our obligations that we do encourage the Red Federation to bring about talks in resolving the issue of nuclear weapons and we will do a deal with the Red Federation which would result in them not developing any more nuclear weapons. I think the idea of anyone ever using a nuclear weapon anywhere in the world is utterly appalling and terrible, it would result in the destruction of the lives and communities and environment for millions of people and, so I would be actively engaged to ensure that danger didn’t come about. I would also be very aware of other dangers that we face. We must be secure here, we must protect our society and our empire, but we also must engage in the rest of the world to make sure we don’t have huge ungoverned spaces such as in Draaz which can become the basis of some terrible events that are going to take the lives of many other people. We must deal with those issues here and globally, that is the function of a responsible government.”
(Rickie Phelps, ULC Supporter): “Your party is committed to renewing our nuclear program, are you saying there are no circumstances in which you’d use a nuclear weapon?”
(Alberto Garzón): “I’m saying that our party has committed to renewing our nuclear program, that is a decision taken by us, I would view the idea of having to use a nuclear weapon as something that was resulting in a failure in the whole world’s diplomatic system. There must be no first use, there must be a process of engagement to bring about, ultimately, global nuclear disarmament. It’s not going to happen quickly, it’s not going to happen easily, but we must have that wish. You cannot countenance a world in which we could all be destroyed by a nuclear war.”
(Rickie Phelps): “You say no first use and you wouldn’t push the button. In retaliatory use, would you use nuclear weapons?”
(Alberto Garzón): “I say no first use of the weapon and I think that has to be the basis on what we do.”
(Gaylord Winfield): “I find it incredibly concerning that you wouldn’t ever commit to doing that, it’s our safety we need to look out for first and foremost any government, but what particularly annoys me is that the current nuclear program isn’t just a potential Alberto government, it goes beyond that, so when you’re making the decision whether to support this or not is not just for right here right now, it’s threats we can face in the future.”
(Alberto Garzón): “Fair point, but we have to do everything we can, obviously to protect ourselves, but the best protection is having good and reasonable relationships with the rest of the world, so we don’t descend into a mentality where there are military blocs starting to threaten each other and I’m utterly determined to do everything I can to bring about a more peaceful world. I’ve spent a lot of my life with organizations and protest unions trying to bring about principled, no first use principles of disarmament and principles of bringing about peace around the world, that is surely something we can all work for. I think we must recognise that there is deep inequality and injustice in the world. The other threats are of environmental disaster around the world and large numbers of people fleeing from environmental disaster, in effect, environmental refugees which is why I was so disappointed that our world is entering a period of global warming. We must try and convince communities to work together to try and protect and sustain this planet, we’ve only got one planet, let’s get together when we live on it and, above all, let’s not destroy it.”
(Angel Darby, ULC Supporter): “Going back to the nuclear issue, you are Chancellor, you’ve said you would have no first use, you wouldn’t countenance Falleentium’s nuclear deterrent which your party is restoring, rebuilding, maintaining and you wouldn’t have a first use. As Chancellor, would you use it in retaliation? You’re speaking to the empire about what you would do with the most expensive defence weapon that we have. Are you saying you would never use it under any circumstances?”
(Alberto Garzón): “People tell me that the most effective use of it is not to use it because it’s there.”
(Angel Darby): “You’re dodging the question. Are you saying there are no circumstances under which you’d use it?”
(Alberto Garzón): “Any circumstances where anyone is prepared to use a nuclear weapon is disastrous for the whole planet, that is why there has to be a policy of disarmament, globally, but through a multilateral policy, not a unilateral policy.”
(Angel Darby): “That’s the idea, but what about the reality where you’re faced with the prospect that you may have to use it? I’m just asking for a simple answer.”
(Alberto Garzón): “The reality is that we have to, obviously, try to protect ourselves, we would not use it as first use and, if we did use it, millions are going to die. You have to think this thing through.”
(Meredith Rhodes, CCU Supporter): “Would you use it as second use or would you allow the Red Federation or some idiot in Vanossium to bomb us and then say ‘oh, we better start talking’? You’ll be too late!”
(Alberto Garzón): “No, of course not.”
(Meredith Rhodes): “So you would allow them to do it?”
(Alberto Garzón): “No, of course not because that is why I made the point, a brief time ago, about the need for an agreement with the Red Federation to be upheld. It’s quite important to promote disarmament in Genorcasia. That is difficult, I appreciate.”
(Tranter Terrell, PRM Supporter): “You’re asking a massive wish when you’ve got one of the biggest arsenals by your side. I’d rather have it and not use it than not have it at all, especially in today’s day and age.”
(Alberto Garzón): “I will not comment on that.”
(Sherley Clifford, ULC Supporter): “I have a question regarding human rights. I don’t know why everyone in this room seems so keen on killing millions of people, so I think it’s worth moving on from that debate because we are talking about murdering people. I want to ask a specific question about your immigration policy. You’ve mentioned that you want to reunite families that have been forced apart by immigration policies made by a couple of state governments. My husband is in Cantonos, he was deported in December, he was told he was to highly educated, despite studying here and getting an undergraduate and a master’s degree. I want to know whether you would consider reducing the financial threshold for family migration to be further in line with the national minimum wage or living wage.”
(Alberto Garzón): “Yes, our manifesto has addressed this issue. It is very painful, some of the decisions that are made where the arbitrary level of income is chosen, couples are split apart, families are split apart and people, like your husband, have invested a huge amount of time and energy into this empire are then removed from this empire. Who loses? We all lose. The family loses, the children lose, we lose as a society and we will change those immigration laws so that there can be proper family reunions, I think that must be the right and sensible thing to do.”
(Dan Waldroup, ULC Supporter): “Are you in favour of reducing immigration overall into this empire?”
(Alberto Garzón): “What I think will happen is that we have managed migration from outside Neurope, which is based on family reunion and skill needs or investment. We now have free movement from within the Nilira Alliance, but we must also manage migration from the rest of Neurope. We must also recognise that those who have migrated to this empire made a massive contribution to our society, the health of all of us depends on the work that’s done by many people that made their homes here. What I think will happen is there will probably be some reduction in Neuropean migration because we will also prevent there being recruitment of groups of low paid workers from West Neurope to come here to undermine existing conditions that are often not very good themselves and damage the life chance of people in this empire and not actually very good for those that have been brought in so we will end overseas only recruitment and end those contractual arrangements by which people are brought in particularly into the construction industry. Another issue we do have to address and that is the skill shortage and skilled problem in Falleentium because we have not invested enough in industrial training, we’ve not invested enough in skilled training, we’ve not invested enough in training more doctors or more nurses in this empire. Until we do that, then we’ve got a big problem and so our whole approach to our manifesto is about investment for the future.”
(Dan Waldroup): “When the war ended, do you think immigration was at the forefront of the people’s minds?”
(Alberto Garzón): “I think it was a key factor in it, I don’t think it was the only factor, but I think it was the main factor, but it was a key factor. There is also an issue that communities and state governments are often not sufficiently funded to deal with groups of people coming in and so we would introduce a migrant impact fund.”
(Logan Jack, CCU Supporter): “Mr Garzón, we’ve talked about nuclear weapons before but one thing that worries me more is, at the moment, as somebody growing up in a family business, is the change in the minimum wage. I read your manifesto yesterday, but I did not see anything on minimum wage and then your party members released statements that your party will raise the minimum wage to 20 Fall. The current forecasts say that up to 300,000 people could lose the jobs because of those increases in wages so, firstly, what statistic have you been given by your economists or whoever works for you as to how many jobs will be lost if it goes up to 20 Fall an hour and, secondly, how will you help the 15 million micro businesses in the Falleen Empire who employ many people on the minimum wage and already struggle to do that?”
(Alberto Garzón): “Fair point and fair question. When the minimum wage was first introduced there were a lot of similar concerns and predictions which turned out not to be the case and in fact there was not any substantial number of jobless people.”
(Logan Jack): “The wage increases were so small. If you look at the economic comments around that time the wage increases were so small, all the commentators said that. This is a massive wage change, there is such a bigger margin of error now in your policies than what was brought in when the minimum wage was first introduced.”
(Alberto Garzón): “What we’re proposing is 20 Fall an hour by 585, it is a living wage. There are many big companies that can well afford to pay it and shouldn’t be just paying the minimum wage, there are companies like, I suspect yours, small companies that would have problems, we fully recognise that, we will therefore work with them, either to give them tax relief or support in order to make sure that the living wage was paid but they didn’t close down as a result of it because, as a society, we have 30,000,000 people earning less than the living wage, there are 5,000,000 people on zero-hour contracts, we have wage levels as a proportion of national income actually falling at the present time, I think more money in the pockets will mean people are better off but it will also be an economic boost itself. I absolutely recognise the problems for small and micro businesses, being the owner of one myself, and that’s why there will be a pathway to it for them with support from the government to achieve it.”
(Allen Long, PRM Supporter): “Zero-hour contracts provide an effortless way for students like myself to get casual, flexible work. How will scrapping these contracts affect us?”
(Alberto Garzón): “First of all, zero-hour contracts for many people mean a lifetime of stress and a lifetime of great difficulty. Imagine what it’s like if it’s your sole source of income is a zero-hour contract job. You wake up in the morning, you contact your employer to see if he wants you in that day or not, you don’t know what your income’s going to be. I do understand the point about students and others, some companies, some employers say ‘ok, we need people in a bar, in a shop, in a packaging place, those kind of enterprises, we will pay you x number of hours a week on a flexible basis so that you will have an average pay of, say, 10 hours per week’. That means that those people are loyal to the company, those people know what their income is going to be and that seems, to me, a much fairer way of doing it so then you have some security of what’s going on and there are some employers that do that in towns with a large student population with students and it works quite well.”
(Allen Long): “Well, I was talking about more, coming from us, having the option for students and go to employers saying, ‘we want to work this time and this time’ and not just getting told you’re working this many hours.”
(Alberto Garzón): “Yes, I think the agreement should be that you come to a discussion with the employer ‘I can work for three hours on a Monday, six hours on a Thursday, 2 hours at the weekend’ or something like that and that’s my work pattern. It’s not simple to manage for any employer, I fully understand that, but it does give the security to the individual, it also gives the employer a wide range of workers that weren’t working and will be loyal to that employment.”
(Daniel Siddall, CCU Supporter): “You have rarely covered the issue of terrorism during your campaign. Why is this?”
(Alberto Garzón): “I have deplored all acts of terrorism by anybody in Falleentium or anywhere else. I don’t approve of any terrorism of any sort or any terrorist acts of any sort, it only divides communities and kills people.”
(Daniel Siddall): “Many people have died at the hands of terrorism, though, didn’t they?”
(Alberto Garzón): “All deaths are wrong, all killing wrong, we have to develop a very effective peace process and I think we should pay tribute to those communities that come together to bring about that peace process.”
(Jerrold Stacey, CCU Supporter): “You talked earlier about the nuclear option. Talking is the way you want to go. Are you saying you will never ever, under any circumstances, press a red button?”
(Alberto Garzón): “I think we’ve discussed, at some lengths, about the aspirations we all have. I do not want to be responsible for the destruction of millions of people, neither do you, therefore we have to work for a world where they’re not available and they’re not used.”
(Emil Paulson, CCU Supporter): “Back to economics, it’s all very well for a socialist to stand there with his very nice, little red book and say, ‘we’re going to fund all these lovely programs by taking more money from big business’ but what’s your plan for the economy when those businesses turn around and say ‘ok, you can keep your high taxes, we’ll go elsewhere’?”
(Alberto Garzón): “The businesses we’re talking about are actually doing very well, they’ve done extremely well over the past 6 years because their tax has been cut a great deal. I think we must look at the problems of our public services, we have to look at the issues of what kind of economic future we have. We cannot go on being a low-waged economy, underspending on our public services, investing less than any other industrialised empire in our future, I would much prefer that we develop a national investment bank and strategy regionally-based to improve rail, communications, road communications, that we improve investment in our industry for the future. We have a lower proportion of manufacturing industry than Balcher, we have a lower level of productivity than Balcher, we have a lower skill base than Balcher. Why is there a difference? Because successive Blacherian government, almost irrespective of which party it is, have been prepared to invest in their infrastructure and their future. I think we should think about that and improve the economy of our own society and that would lead to better economic growth, it would lead to better opportunities for everybody and I think this is an offer that’s important and I think it’s time that we actually invested in our future rather than be presided over our decline.”
(Barbara Nowacka): “I’m sorry, but we have to stop you there. Thank you all for coming here to Zarantin to put questions to our leader. Good night.”
===Opinions===
After the press conference, people were then asked who they would vote for in the next election after the conference. *Coalition of Conservative Unionists: 34%
*United Left Coalition: 34% 
*Popular Republican Movement: 26%
*Other/Undecided: 6%
===Responses to the Conference===
The ULC News agency asked people about what they are thinking and asked if our leader have convinced them to vote United Left. 
(Merlin Tyson, ULC Supporter to ULC Supporter): “The world is in tatters. Here comes a man who chooses to see good in it and he’s getting grief for not being a warmonger. Why are we scared of an alternative? In this time, we need someone to go toe to toe with the CCU in the opposite direction that Brokenshire is going. That is not Whitehouse. Geelakkar has Hedinnson, we need Alberto. Let us try something different. With Alberto, at least we know where we stand.”
(Riley Hurst, PRM Supporter to ULC Supporter): “James Brokenshire doesn’t give one solid direct answer to any question he is asked, I am normally quite different when it comes to elections. Sometimes UKIP sometimes Socialist but I think Brokenshire has been awful throughout his whole time as an MP. I am not a huge fan of Garzón but at least this is a passionate man that knows what he’s talking about and will lead on his vision to achieve greater balance in this empire and not just a flippy floppy school headmaster that is trying to better his own career and her friends.”  
Category:The Imperial Constitution