The british Prime Minister has said the government will proceed with maximum caution when coronavirus restrictions are eased. Boris johnson is due to announce his plans for england, in a speech on sunday. Ministers have insisted any short term changes to lockdown measures will be modest. Theres been another big jump in the number of americans applying for unemployment benefits, as the us grapples with how to emerge from the coronavirus lockdown. A further 3. 2 Million People filed claims this week. The numbers idetinfying as homeless have also reached record levels. The french government has announced more details of how it will ease one of harshest lockdowns in europe. Authorities have issued a colour coded map of the country, outlining areas that can lift their restrictions, depending on the rate of infection. Passengers on Public Transport will have to wear a mask. Now on bbc news, hardtalk. Welcome to hardtalk, im stephen sackur. The death toll from covid 19 in the us has risen beyond 70,000. It is the acted top 100,000 by the end of the month. At the same time, donald trump is doubling down on his calls for american states to ease the lockdown and get back to work. In this president ial election year, dealing with the pandemic has become the dominant elliptical issue. My guest today is jaime harrison, a senior official in the Democratic Party who is running for the us senate in South Carolina. Has covid 19 changed americas political
landscape . Jaime harrison, in South Carolina, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you, stephen. It is good to see you again quite it is great to have you back on this show. I wonder, as a politician who is running for the us senate in november, id just wonder whether covid 19 and the pandemic feels like it has changed everything in us politics right now . You are right, it has changed everything. There is now a new normal as it relates to even campaigning. We were one of the very first Senate Campaigns that pulled down all of oui campaigns that pulled down all of our public event and went virtual. Ever since the beginning of march we have been doing virtually everything, from town halls to even
community service initiatives, we have been raising funds for Community Organisations online in order to support the efforts that they are doing and the communities. It is different. It is very, very different and many us politicians, we are so different and many us politicians, we are so used to having these large gatherings, rallies, in the south, oui gatherings, rallies, in the south, ourfish gatherings, rallies, in the south, our fish fries and spaghetti dinners, it is food and getting people together, it is very integral in terms of how we campaign particularly in the south but we are not able to do that right now and so it is different. You paint a graphic picture of the way politics works in the deep south, but id just wonder whether it is a real problem for you asa whether it is a real problem for you as a challenger, the underdog. You area as a challenger, the underdog. You are a democrat who is facing senator Lindsey Graham who has held the South Carolina senate seat, one of the two of them for a long time and because you are not getting the
exposure, because you because you are not getting the exposure, because you are because you are not getting the exposure, because you are not able to do the rallies, doesnt it play into the hands of the incumbent . can see that there is an advantage for some incumbent in this race but i dont see that in my particular race, and that is because the frustration level with Lindsey Graham is so high in the state copy there are a lot of people who are very agitated by him, even in the age of talking about the coronavirus, he has put his foot in his mouth multiple times. Right now he is demonising many of the folks here in South Carolina, there is almost half a Million People who have claimed unemployment, so Lindsey Graham right now is fighting, he said over his dead body will the us senate allow for an extension of the 600 benefit to those individuals, and that is making a lot of people agitated and upset, and so for many incumbents versus challengers, the incumbent does have an advantage but we dont see that in our particular race.
have be looking at a lot of polling across the us about peoples attitudes as this pandemic sweeps across the United States, and there seems to be in a sense a real contradiction in peoples attitudes. 0n the one hand, a clear majority say that they believe that their lives will return to normal within the next few months, but at the same time, a clear majority say that they believe america will never be the same again, that it will have long term consequences in terms of work, healthcare, education, travel and even socialising as well. As a politician, what is your message to the people of South Carolina, that this is a watershed moment, that changes everything in american 0r simply that this needs managing so that america can go back to normal . I think things will change in this country as a result of the coronavirus. It has exposed some of the disparities that have been here
for generations, and now we are seeing how they can be, how they are amplified and impacting all types of communities, not just poor communities, not just poor communities or communities of colour 01 communities or communities of colour or rural communities, but all of our communities, so what it is going to mean is, we are going to need a whole new generation of political leaders in this country that will focus on making sure that if this type of situation happens again, that some of the difficulties that people are experiencing right now, thatis people are experiencing right now, that is not what happens next time around. From the healthcare disparities to just the fact that here in South Carolina, prior to the coronavirus, a third of our state did not have access to broadband. So, just about that. This is 2020. It should be just like you have electricity lines going into your home, you should have broadband being piped into your home. Interesting that you say this is a
time for a new generation of political leaders, of course the truth is that your country is led by a70 truth is that your country is led by a 70 something and he has been challenged for the white house by another 70 something, and is at the reality that you have to face as a democrat in South Carolina that right now, the good or ill, President Donald Trump is dominating the political debate, he is sucking out all of the oxygen from the air when it comes to the United States and its response to coronavirus, and the democrats look as though frankly they dont really have much to say. Iam not they dont really have much to say. I am not seeing that from our perspective. At this point, you take a look at the polling numbers right now, and when folks are taking a deep performance from the white house, it is not very positive, and it is partly because what we are seeing is, instead of having leadership on all levels, from the federal to the state to the local level, all singing from the same hymn books, you are seeing this
discombobulated sense of strategy, and what the American People need right now is a steady hand, the American People need someone who, or a group of leaders, who will focus on doing what is in the best interest of the people of this great nation, and to do it singing from the same hymn book, so we are not seeing that from the white house right now. Many times, some of this conference is, the president will say one thing and his advisers will say one thing and his advisers will say another, so we just need to focus on letting folks understand that things are going to get better, theres going to be some hard times, but things will get better and we will provide the type of leadership that they need. Seems that the Democratic Party has a message right now, which is telling the us public that donald trump, in his constant messaging that America Needs to get back to work, needs to be open for
business, your message seems to be that, mr trump is obsessed with putting money over human life, with markets over medicine, as one progressive wrote in the New York Times recently, but that could backfire on you guys, because there is no doubt the American People who have seen unemployment in the last six weeks saw by some 25 30 million new jobless, they want to get six weeks saw by some 25 30 million newjobless, they want to get back to work. I think we all want to get back to some sense of normalcy, and i think that is what you are hearing from our party as well, but we understand that the greatest asset, the thing that makes America Great is, yes, we have great businesses, but the thing that makes this country great are our people, and we get to, first and foremost, make sure that we are investing in the greatest asset we have, which are oui greatest asset we have, which are our people, and that is all of the people, not just a our people, and that is all of the people, notjust a select group or a select few. That is what we are working on right now, making sure
that we are doing things that are really in the best interest. That is what i am working on in my campaign right now. I am making sure that the seniors are taken care of in this country, or, in South Carolina. I am making sure that the folks who are essential workers, these are people who are making barely minimum wage, that we take care of them as well, so that we take care of them as well, so that is the greatest asset, because if we dont take care of our people. But, hang on, jaime harrison. Lets be specific about this. South carolina has a republican governor who wants to get stuff opened as quickly as possible, id believe he has announced that restau ra nts id believe he has announced that restaurants will soon be able to serve customers again, albeit out of doors, he then wants to open them up more widely, he wants to get retail going again, you want to get people going again, you want to get people going back to work on a much larger scale, he says it is time are using to your people in South Carolina that he is wrong . I am saying right
110w that he is wrong . I am saying right now that the medical experts have not said this is good. When you look at South Carolina and the escalation of the coronavirus cases here, there has not been 80 nine in South Carolina. There has not been a decline in South Carolina. So that brings me great caution. What you are seeing is, and what ive mentioned earlier on, that you are seeing that what was said on a state level is sometimes what is different on the local level, so many of the yea rs, on the local level, so many of the years, when the government moved to open up our beaches, the mayors of that town said no you are not opening up our beaches because we dont want to see an increase in the coronavirus cases. With all of this debate about whether it is time and the dangers of opening up too soon, where is joe biden . The dangers of opening up too soon, where isjoe biden . He is your figurehead, he is the guy thats going to take your party through the november president ial election, and to quote one aggressive lawyer and commentator in the nation magazine,
he says joe commentator in the nation magazine, he sastoe biden has got to do better. If he wants to be a president , he has got to start acting like one. He goes on to say Elizabath Warren has a more concrete and detailed plan for taking her dog ona and detailed plan for taking her dog on a walk thenjoe biden does for leading this country through the current tragedy. What is going on . Liston, Vice President biden has been, every day that ic, he is a lwa ys been, every day that ic, he is always on television talking about what we need to do as a nation right 110w. What we need to do as a nation right now. He is bringing some calm to the storm that we are constantly in, and thatis storm that we are constantly in, and that is what we all have to do, that is what i am trying to do on my race. Eat my grammar had a saying that, you control what you can control. And that means, you do what you can do within the power that you have to do it, and i think that is what the Vice President is doing. He is trying to be a sense of calm in
really great storm that we have. I am trying to be a sense of calm here in South Carolina. We are doing things on the ground to help people right now. We have this programme called harrison helps, where we have helped 10,000 people, we have given them hygiene kits, we have done things on the ground to help people, so things on the ground to help people, so id constantly tell people, go to my website and see what we are trying to do here to bring some calm to South Carolina. Let me be blunt, do you think race is a factor here, we have seen that covid 19 has disproportionately hit the black, latino, ethnic minority communities across the United States and in your state of South Carolina. Do you think that donald trump and his desire to open up the country, get back to business, all those phrases he uses, is discounting those lives . It is not about, i think discounting
lives, but the existing health and racial disparities, the existing economic disparities that were here prior to covid, are now being amplified because of the situation that we are in. Many of the essential workers, the people who are working at grocery stores, working in all of these jobs that we need to still operate, the folks who occu py need to still operate, the folks who occupy those jobs are, it tends to be minorities or lower income folks, so be minorities or lower income folks, so these folks are at the front lines. They dont have the opportunity to say that they can work from home because of the economic anxieties and disparities that they face, so right now what it is exposing is the disparities that we have in our society and that is what we have to work on. We have to work on here in South Carolina the lack of medicaid expansion. Republicans refused to give Health Insurance to workers in the state, asa insurance to workers in the state,
as a result, that has amplified the problem that we have. Rural hospitals have closed in South Carolina, the covid had amplified that particular situation, so that means when we get out of this, we need to address those problems that are underlying in this pandemic that we are facing right now. 0ne one other element is Donald Trumps co nsta nt one other element is Donald Trumps constant attack on china. He began by calling it the wuhan and chinese virus and right now he is saying there has to be a way china pays for what he describes as the chinese failure to control the pandemic. I wonder how you democrats are going to deal with that . A lot of democrats an hour talking about making china pay. The public,
according to the polls, now take a very negative view of chinas role stop what are you and your party going to say . Right now, the people i talk to, the Small Business owners in South Carolina, the folks working in some of our hospitals that still do not have ppe s, instead of talking about china, they want to hear from talking about china, they want to hearfrom our leaders talking about china, they want to hear from our leaders about how youre going to make sure we have the materials we need in order to protect ourselves, our families and oui protect ourselves, our families and our communities. That should be our focus right now. This and tat back and forth twin china and the United States, you can do that after the coronavirus has passed us, lets focus on the fact that people are suffering right now. Folks do not havejobs. Some people still do not havejobs. Some people still do not have the payments from the carers act which the white house, senate and white house promised they would
get. Focus on the people of South Carolina and the people across this country. Use all the other political stuff with china when we have the bandwidth in order to focus with that. We do not have the patience to address that in our state. Lets consider whether you have been reading us politics right over the last couple of years. I am very mindful that a couple of years ago you spoke to me and you said this, what donald trump is doing to the Republican Party is killing that party in the long term. He is splintering it, hes almost like a secret weapon for the Democratic Party. Here we are, two years on, the polls show that donald trump still has an incredibly loyal court support, admittedly the polls also show he may be five points behind joe biden in the president ial race right now but everybody says that, anything keep battleground states, it is too close to call. Donald
trump is much more durable, is he not, then you have ever expected . Just remember, i also reminded you that the democrats would take the house back and they did. Make another doctor i am going to put my nostradamus, i am going to when against Donald Trumps disciple. What the American People are looking for is real and true and tested leadership, someone who is not going to demonise the American People but is going to be there to protect them, fight for them, push for them, theirfamilies them, fight for them, push for them, their families and immunities and thatis their families and immunities and that is what democrats, joe biden, that is what democrats, joe biden, thatis that is what democrats, joe biden, that is what democrats, joe biden, that is what i am trying to do this each and every day. Republicans have their battles to deal with and i will let them deal with that but what we can control is the message we can put out, the policies we put
forward and making our case to the American People that, under our leadership, things will get better. That you do not have to worry about crazy tweets at night, that we can focus on the issues that you are dealing with on a day to day basis, not harking back to the past look to the future of where this country and by state is going and that is what we are focused on right now. by state is going and that is what we are focused on right now. I want to talk about your state because it is interesting to see if you can make a breakthrough in the south but before that, one more question about the horse race to the white house. How comfortable are you supporting joe biden that you have come out in strong support of him that when you, over the years, have been a man who has defended womens rights, spoken out very strongly on feminist issues and you now find thatjoe biden is facing accusations from tamera reed that way back into the 1990s he
sexually assaulted her in the us congress building. It is a very hard for some democrats not to take seriously the painful words coming from a woman who feels she was abused by joe from a woman who feels she was abused byjoe biden. From a woman who feels she was abused by joe biden. Listen, i believe we should always listen to women and we should thoroughly review all these allegations that come up and i believe that is what is happening in this case. The media has thoroughly reviewed these claims, the washington post, the New York Times, and there is nothing i have read from those reports and assessments that i have heard that has shaken my confidence in Vice President biden. I will always keep an open mind and i will always listen to hear these allegations and to see the review of those claims, to see the review of those claims, to see the validity of those claims and, again, i have not seen anything
that i have read thus far that has shaken my confidence. You say youre going to be nostradamus and predict your victory in november in South Carolina but the polls suggest youre not going to win. Lindsey graham hasa youre not going to win. Lindsey graham has a lead over you just as donald trump has a lead overjoe biden in South Carolina. Is it not the truth in the south of the Democratic Party still has a fundamental problem and it certainly is not making inroads across the working class, the poorer white people that you would need to draw into your coalition if you were to win in South Carolina . That is not thatis win in South Carolina . That is not that is a bunch of falseness. At the end of the day, the pole that is the most valuable is the pole that takes place in november when all the people cast their ballots. What were seeing here in south is the emergence of a new south, New Southgate is bold, inclusive and
diverse. I am southgate is bold, inclusive and diverse. Iam running southgate is bold, inclusive and diverse. I am running against a guy who has been in washington, dc for 20 years. I am a newcomer, poor kid that grew up on welfare and food stamps. Last what i outraged Lindsey Graham. I hear you but look at all the names we have seen who have been regarded as the bright new hopes of the Democratic Party into the south, stacey abrahams, George Andrew gilling, better 0rourke in texas, all these names have all these in common, they ended up losing. And you will probably end up losing as well . I do not think so, my friend, the democrats are going to win the house, were going to win at the senate and i am going to win as well. We are seeing the changing of the guards in South Carolina. Just this past week, dick wilkerson, the head of mission in north america the
largest corporation in South Carolina, who has worked with Lindsey Graham and me, he supported Lindsey Graham and me, he supported Lindsey Graham and was in his finance committee when he ran for president. Dick wilkinson came out and supported me in this race. That isa and supported me in this race. That is a huge and to give you the equivalent, think of mount olympus, thatis equivalent, think of mount olympus, that is what michelin is here and Dick Wilkinson is zeus and for him to say you are going to win this race, that is why we were going to do it. As this is a great figure. The Democratic Party is not going to ta ke the Democratic Party is not going to take back the white house unless all of those leftists and progressives within the Democratic Party meet common cause with joe within the Democratic Party meet common cause Withjoe Biden and people like you, a well known
centrists but the progressive look at the joe biden centrists but the progressive look at thejoe biden agenda and see very little, to quote some of them, that is different, frankly, from donald trump. Why are the Bernie Sanders people coming over to you in november . This is what ive been telling folks across South Carolina. At the end of the day, this is not about progress versus republicans, progressive versus conservatives it is about what is right versus what is about what is right versus what is wrong. There is a lot wrong going on in the United States, right here in South Carolina stop if we as a party and leaders of this party can focus on the right things, we will see that we will attract not only democrats but progressives, independents and even some moderate republicans on board. We have already seen that in this race we will see more of that as we get closer to november. Jaime harrison, we have run out of time. Thank you
very much for being on hardtalk stop we will revisit this after the election in november. we will revisit this after the election in november. I was good to see you, stephen, take care. Hello there. Friday marks the 75th anniversary of ve day and its going to be another very warm and a sunny day across much of the country. The sunshine a little bit hazy at times. And into the afternoon, the high temperatures could spark off a few heavy, maybe thundery, showers pretty much anywhere. Now, the pressure chart reveals High Pressure dominating the scene through friday. Weve got this weather front pushing in to the north of scotland. Thatll introduce more cloud here with showery bursts of rain throughout the day. Well also start the day with some showery bursts of rain across southwest england. Its moving northwards
and tending to ease down, but it will be rather grey to start across irish sea coasts. Most of that cloud should run back to the coast. Most places across the country should be dry with sunny spells, but a few heavy, thundery downpours developing into the afternoon. Temperatures range from 18 to 2a degrees across the south. These temperatures more like july than may. Now, the showers and thunderstorms continue to rumble on into the evening, and then it will tend to fizzle out. It should be dry for most areas but more low cloud returning across irish sea coasts and it stays quite wet across the far north of scotland. But a milder night to come for many of us. Into saturday, this is when we start to see some changes. That cold front begins to move southwards across northern scotland, but further south, you notice the orange and yellow colours still in abundance. So, another warm day, in fact, for many of us on saturday. Again, in response to the high temperatures into the afternoon, we could see some showers or thunderstorms developing. It will be turning windier and colder across the north of scotland with outbreaks of rain. So, a big temperature difference on saturday 7 to 10 degrees in the north
of scotland, 18 to 2a or 25 further south. But the cold air wins out saturday night into sunday. That arctic plunge spreads south across the country, with a band of cloud, a few showery bursts of rain on it, which will eventually clear southwards. And then its a brighter afternoon, but much colder, with a very brisk, cold north northeasterly wind. Thats blowing a few wintry showers, in fact, into the north and east of scotland. And look at these values. Weve been experiencing temperatures closer to what wed expect injuly. These are more like march temperatures. Factor in the wind, itll feel even colder than that. And farmers and gardeners, beware. Some will see a widespread frost in places through sunday night. Stays chilly as well into the start of next week with chilly nights, but then temperatures start to return to normal as we move deeper on into the week. And with High Pressure nearby, its going to stay bright and dry. This is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. Im Lewis Vaughan jones. British ministers insist plans to ease the lockdown will be modest and closely monitored. The Prime Minister will outline the changes on sunday. Jobless and homeless with 33 million americans now unemployed, new yorks subway is a haunting symbol of the pandemics impact. And are trying to figure out how to make ends meet and so pa rt how to make ends meet and so part of how they are doing that is to stand on this line, pick up is to stand on this line, pick upato go is to stand on this line, pick up a to go meal and make ends meet that way. France is to begin lifting whats been one of harshest lockdowns in europe, bringing an end to two months of confinement. And marking 75 years since world war i ended